Thanks Spammage. Do you scalp your zoysia every spring? And would that be the time to level with some sand or would you wait until summer? My plan is to use a power rake to thin it out a bit, bag all of that, then cut it down to 3/4" with the rotary bagging all of that, then take it down to 1/2" with the reel mower catching the clippings, then possibly leveling with some sand. Is that too much at one time? Would I have sand in my lawn for months? :lol:Spammage said:
Questions About HOC
I'm a noob to all of this and have a few questions about HOC for the experts, and Zoysia experts in particular. I have Zorro Zoysia which has a recommended HOC range from 1/4" to 3". I've been cutting it at 2.5" as it's very thick and my Fiskars push reel bogs down immediately if I try to cut it at 2".
It looks pretty good for an average lawn, but I would like to get it down to 3/4 or 1 ". I tried cutting it down with a rotary and even that chokes out trying to cut it at 2" Its THICK! The places I did try to cut it down that low looked very brown, not straw colored....a dark muddy brown. The blades are dark down below 2".
My question is this: How low can you cut Zoysia and have it recover and how fast does it recover? Does it matter if you cut it down so low that the whole lawn is dark brown or would that be killing the lawn? In spring when you "scalp" the lawn how low does that mean? Does that mean set your mower to 1/4" and take it down to the soil or what? I honestly have no idea how much I can cut off at once, how low I can go to scalp, and whether or not taking it so low that it is dark brown is killing it or not, or how long it takes Zoysia to recover.
I'm throwing myself out there as the dummy because I need answers, and maybe other noobs will get some knowledge from it as well.
It looks pretty good for an average lawn, but I would like to get it down to 3/4 or 1 ". I tried cutting it down with a rotary and even that chokes out trying to cut it at 2" Its THICK! The places I did try to cut it down that low looked very brown, not straw colored....a dark muddy brown. The blades are dark down below 2".
My question is this: How low can you cut Zoysia and have it recover and how fast does it recover? Does it matter if you cut it down so low that the whole lawn is dark brown or would that be killing the lawn? In spring when you "scalp" the lawn how low does that mean? Does that mean set your mower to 1/4" and take it down to the soil or what? I honestly have no idea how much I can cut off at once, how low I can go to scalp, and whether or not taking it so low that it is dark brown is killing it or not, or how long it takes Zoysia to recover.
I'm throwing myself out there as the dummy because I need answers, and maybe other noobs will get some knowledge from it as well.
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Good deal, I will go with my plan, but do leveling after spring. Is it best to get it as low as possible when you do level, or just do it at the desired HOC?Spammage said:I do scalp every Spring. I certainly think you could begin smoothing the lawn with the Spring scalp, but the growth is slower with cooler temps, so it will take longer to cover than if you do it in late Spring or early Summer.
Scalping is just that. You are removing the growth point of the blades and the grass will have to create new ones. Might as well force the grass through that only once instead of stressing it multiple times unnecessarily.
Give me time, give me time :lol:Ware said:I prefer this look for zoysia. :thumbup:
Spammage said:Lawn recovering nicely from dethatch/verticut last week. Much less puffy to walk on as well.
I'm cutting every 3 days now as it is. For Zoysia it grows pretty quick.jayhawk said:Scalp in zoysia is cutting low enough that the black mold under the leaf canopy is visible is generally below the node of the growing leaves....and will set it back.
Wait til spring.
Going into dormancy healthy will allow a better start in the spring. It'll be torture and test your patience after.
It'll go low ...just remember you'll be cutting >1 week in all that sun.
1 - 5 of 14 Posts
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