Does your lawn actually have a thatch issue and needs to be dethatched? Regardless, I would wait until spring when you do your first scalp. Dethatching puts lots of stress on the lawn which isn't something you really want to be doing going into winter dormancy. My first season with Zoysia I mistakenly used a dethatcher this time of year and ended up with a lot of bare spots the following spring.

That being said, a Sun Joe with the scarifying blades would be perfect for your size lawn.

 

Thanks man, it made sense to wait until the spring but someone I trust posted on a forum the other day that his company was detaching zoysia lawns here in the fall. I honestly thought it might leave my canopy too thin.

It appears the consensus is to wait until the spring which is exactly what I’ll do. I’ve heard horror stories of zoysia owners running into thatch issues and wasn’t sure what the protocol was.

I currently use a earthwise and maintain at 1”, should I maintain it over dormancy at this height or should I go lower to 0.5”?

really not sure how how much longer I can maintain with the manual push. Iknow it’s only 2300 sq ft, but it takes me multiple passes with a 15lb weight on top. The Honda hrx rotary just seems to bog down as it’s so thick in some areas.

 

I'm in central Florida and did a reset/ dethatch in mid August. The thought was that it will help brown patch, and fungus issues going into oct-dec when we get humid days and cool nights.

We don't go brown in the winter, otherwise I would do it in spring to remove all the dead grass.

 

I do my Zeon in the spring, once fully awake. My neighbor was jealous of my lawn last season and finally decided to take my advice and do the same this year on his Palisades. Sun Joe with the spring tines to barley skim the dirt, not dig into the dirt. His lawn looks the best it ever has right now, it is new sod on it's 3rd season with moderate shade. Zoysia is slow to recover when any stress/ damage occurs. Make sure to keep your rotary blade sharp, my Zeon dulls my blade very fast, I sharpen twice a month.

 

I do it in spring time around May each year. Then I’ve done it in early August before to thin it back a little and help with fungus, but other years have left it alone late summer. So it’s ok to do it late summer, but I wouldn’t do it going into fall since it takes some time to get over the stress.

 

If mine will go fully dormant this winter I plan to burn it in the spring. Did not go dormant last winter so I just did my normal 3/4” scalp with my HRX then maintained my HOC on next notch up from that.
Manual reel mowing zoysia sucks. Been there, done that! As mentioned, sharpen the blade on your Honda frequently. Consider using a PGR during your growing season if you are not already. That keeps mine more compact and easier to mow.

 

I would verti-cut with a SunJoe in early/mid spring when it's growing well.