Talk of The Villages Florida

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)

- The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)

- - grass bagging (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/grass-bagging-352189/)

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Originally Posted by Switter (Post 2360689)

I have been actively working to make the amount of grass in my yard as small as possible (per ARC). I'd rather spread mulch once a year and be done with it. I just wish I could find Cedar mulch around here. Love the smell of it when it gets wet.

One thing that annoys me about Saint Augustine is you can't buy grass seed for repairing the lawn. I have Bermuda grass invading my lawn and the only thing you can do is use round up to kill everything and plant sod or plugs. That means digging down the area to remove soil for the sod/plugs. So much easier to plant grass seed.

On that note, does anybody know of a sod farm for Saint Augustine? I know you can get plugs from Lowes or Home Depot but they are ridiculously expensive.

I agree with keeping your lawn as SMALL as possible. That way you can cut it yourself and eliminate the commercial lawn butchers, that race through our streets and may be criminals. You can use an Electric mower and thus improve the air around you and leave more oil for pharmaceuticals in the ground. You don't have to pay so much for high priced water. You decrease the fertilizer run-off into our lakes. There are many social advantages. Good work !

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelhug52 (Post 2360739)

That is fine in limited areas. Perfer to help the Bees and enjoy natural landscape.

I have seen very few bees here in The Villages in the last ten years.

Quote:

Originally Posted by village dreamer (Post 2360443)

why do people bag the grass , golf courses dont , landscapers dont. i dont and my grass looks great and less work than bagging it. and the clippings are good for the grass.

Maybe pull up and ask those that do and they might be able to answer as to why they do it.

I'm curious why someone would ask about such a thing.

I mowed my lawn at my first home in The Villages. I mulched the lawn and several times a year ( maybe once a month) I would bag the grass. This second home has way too much grass to mow, so I have a grass cutter. There is no comparison of the two lawns, the first lawn was a show piece, the second just gets cut! Ish that I could get back to mowing my lawn again!

I could care less what other people do with their lawns, until they try to force me to bag the clippings.

What irritates me are the people who buy a house with a big beautiful oak tree, who then insist on raking the leaves instead of mowing them, and finally get so tired of the raking (that they don't need to do) that they invent an excuse for cutting down the big tree, which they could have avoided buying in the first place.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DAVES (Post 2360769)

For what it is worth. People in the Villages mostly have either St Augustine or Empire Zoyzia. We have Empire Zoyzia. Saint Augustine also has different varieties I don't recall what variety they use-I would look it up. If, you lawn is bad there is a reason. Likely sun, fertilizer, insects, water, soil, etc. First you need to determine the problem and solve it. Ridiculously expensive? So is everything else. Far as plugs. Assuming areas of you lawn are good, same as you would plant plugs, AFTER YOU SOLVE THE PROBLEM and they will spread. You can remove plugs from your lawn and it will quickly fill in. A long handled bulb planter with a push out rod works great for that. It is a lot of work. You do not need to do it all at once.

Been wondering which precise version of Zoysia we have - just north of Hillsborough Trail. *Fabulous* grass. Long history of battling lawn turf issues at previous locations in the southeast - mostly unsuccessfully. In our short time here I've had some success with my experiments with transplanting this stuff from one part of the lawn to another. The rate of "fill" has been acceptable during the growing season, but I'm continuing my learning process as to whether it's going to be possible to control the "mixing" with the Bermuda - which seems to be able to spread much more quickly than the Zoysia. The area that is about to become "birdcage" covered seems to have significantly less Bermuda ingrowth, so I'm having some fun seeing what I can do with my little spade-aided transplantation. (Folks thinking I'm nuts seems to have stopped being a problem a few decades ago). There's a guy in NC on YouTube that shows how using a combo of a couple of chemicals can get rid of the Bermuda and leave the Zoysia. Looks like Florida doesn't allow the shipping in of said chemicals.

I mow the lawn myself (the self-propelled type gave me irksome problems in the past, so I don't even have that feature) and I
find that keeping to that 1/3 to 1/4 of the length thing to keep from scalping it means mowing it about every four or five days or so. No problem, as this stuff looks just *so* pretty! You ought to come by and walk barefoot on it! The Bermuda doesn't look all that much different, so if the project fails, it'll still be "good enough". Oh, and I don't bag the clippings. The lawn seems to appreciate the free N, P, and K from them. If I'm a hair late getting to the mowing and there's some lines of clippings showing, going back over hose areas seems to take care of it. If not, spreading it a bit by foot disperses it easily enough for esthetic purposes. The lawn isn't all that big. Oh, and my edging skills are now *massively* improved. Those ninety degree edgings were surprisingly influential in our choosing to move here to this pretty place. :-)

Dean's has sufficiently taken care of my recurring tawny mole cricket issues. At least it's helped me learn how readily the holes in the lawn can fill in. Nice to have found a new, possibly fulfilling, hobby. :-) That long handled bulb planter *does* sound intriguing for some touch up work. . .

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich Iwaszko (Post 2360748)

the recommendation is to always bag zoysia clippings.............leaving the clumps on the good grass will Forster disease, rot, and death of the good grass and create unwanted thatch............

that being said, contractors are not going to pick up clippings as they do so many lawns it would create a costly issue

When you see clumped dead spots on your zoysia it is most likely due to dead grass smothering and killing the good grass. The dead grass won't break down fast enough to do any good.

the answer to the quiz question is: Drum Roll..........BAG IT and remove, how you do that is the next quiz question. If you dont you are killing your own grass.

Capt. Kangaroo for all of you older folks:bowdown:

I have zoysia and was told to do the same thing. Before that, I just mulched it back into the lawn. Same as I did up north

But at the end of last year I got motivated to dethatch, and the amount I pulled out was astounding. I don't want to have to do that every year, so I now bag. I have a pretty small lawn, so I don't even fill up a yard bag 1/3. I try to mow twice a week when it is growing heavy, but when it goes dormant, maybe once every two/three week.

I'm sure I'm still leaving plenty on the yard, so I feel I'm getting enough benefit of decaying grass without the excessive thatch build up. FYI, all of my neighbors say my lawn looks great.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rocksnap (Post 2360652)

Bring on artificial grass lawns!

Would not do that for my front lawn, but my back yard that gets only limited sun and seems to grow nothing but weeds is very tempting. They make some pretty good artificial grass now, especially from a distance.

Home Depot will install it. Would be curious is anyone has ever done that, what was the size yard area, and what was the cost?

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Originally Posted by GizmoWhiskers (Post 2360596)

Depends on amount of weeds with seeds on them. Bagging helps reduce weed spreading. Thatch can also get too thick so yep, depends on how often you mow and whether you want to de-thatch at least once a year when aeriating the soil for better water absorption and to allow fertilizers/pesticides to seep into the soil more efficiently.

I do all of the above. Bagging only when there is significant rains to create more than average grass growth. Aeriating the yard with really dorky looking metal sole 3" long spiked shoe adapters - work like a charm. Balancing all the factors and yard looks great.

I have Empire Zoysia that I mow to 1.5 inches and recently I wear epoxy shoes with the 1 inch spikes every time I mow. The grass does look noticeably better after 2 months with less watering an broader leaves. It is easier to walk than the 3 inch spikes :)

I side discharge and take a leaf blower to any clumps. Mulching zoysia just clogs and ruins the lawn. I am tempted to bag during rain season cuz the clippings overwhelm the lawn but I am too lazy.

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Originally Posted by MorTech (Post 2361676)

Weirdly, had totally forgotten that there is such a thing as side discharge. Guess mine is a mulcher. :-)

If the clippings are long, are allowed to accumulate atop a thickness of thatch that does not allow rain/watering to absorb and if there isn’t routine aeration, then bag: so says this Hawaii & Oklahoma MG…. No expert just seems rational from my knowledge base…