Step 1:

Springtime (around the first of April) as the ground temperatures start to rise the Zoysia will start its process of recovering from dormancy and greening up. When you see this greening up happening is a good time to mow your lawn lower. That is, mowing off all the dead tissue off the turf areas. This may take several mowing’s in stages as the dead tissue needs to be bagged and removed in whatever way is best for you. Avoid mowing too deep into the nap of the plant, don’t scalp to the dirt, just to the thatch. As you mow, you may see some areas that are black. This is normal. If you do not have a bagger, then you may use a blower to blow off and collect the clippings. This is the only time that bagging or removing the clipping is recommended.
Spring Watering & Weed Control: Over watering and/or early season watering in addition to excessive rain, will defeat the pre-emergent weed control! Customers will not know the effects of over watering until the weed fest that will ensue in June/July. Many customers will feel like the first warm day in spring that somehow water will make the turf green up faster. It will NOT. In fact, the cold water like rain will slow the growth by cooling the soil temperatures. Green up is all about the soil temperatures. Warmer nighttime temperatures will determine the overall soil temps. If you are unsure what the watering schedule should be for your lawn, we have one available if you have not already received one. We will be happy to send one to you.

Step 2:
After the scalping, keep your mower at that low setting. I recommend just one notch up from the scalping setting you used in step 1. Continue mowing at the setting until the turf area is totally green. You may mow at the same setting for most of the growing season. Zoysia is a lot like fescue in that you may mow it at about the same setting all year.

Step 3:
Through the summertime, if you see your Zoysia grass yellow slightly as you mow, this would be an indication to raise your mower deck/blade, only 1 (one) notch (not necessarily one inch). At the end of the growing season sometime in September, your turf should be around 2-2 ½” tall. Do not raise your blades if it is not yellowing the grass when it is mowed, keep it low. Do not lower your mower blades at any point even if your mower is not clipping the top of the grass blades. Yes, the growing season is usually around 4 months and stops actively growing sometime in late September or October. It will be green longer than that, about 5-6 months but will be green until the frost forces it into full dormancy.

Step 4:
Weed Control: DO NOT MOW your grass at any setting lower than the last mowing of the growing season, probably at the first of September. You need to leave it tall through the winter! If you mow off the blades of the grass at this point you will cause many problems. Some adverse side effects of mowing short before or during winter include but are not limited to, serious weed control problems, winter kill, and overall dissatisfaction. Leave your grass tall during the winter until at least April. Then refer to step 1 to repeat the following year.

Other Important notes:
Shade/Thickness & Weed Control: Shade has a tremendous effect on thickness of the turf. Thickness of the turf determines the effectiveness of the weed control we apply. Thin Turf grass is not unlike bare dirt/soil, as weeds will grow where the turf is not. Weed control is only as good as the thickness of the Zoysia grass. To alleviate this condition, it is advisable to consider removing the item that is causing the shade or bring the bed lines out from the source of shade. Some homeowners will sometimes “limb up” the trees in efforts to bring more sunlight in. This simply not work for Zoysia grass. It’s the top limbs that cast the longest shadow. This type of warm-season grass needs can live with 6 hours of direct unfiltered sunlight per day in the growing season. If it doesn’t receive this amount, then the grass will go into decline and eventually become very thin and become weedy. This only worsens over time as the trees grow and get larger. Although Zoysia grass can be green longer, the growing season for Zoysia grass is only about 4 months. Zoysia grass simply cannot live in too much shade. Tree leaves, Weed Control & Nutrients: IMPORTANT: Under NO circumstances should you ever mulch your tree leaves into the turf! Even when bagging them there still is a lot of the chopped leaves that remain behind. You should blow them off and remove them before you mow! Mulching them will severely damage the health of the soil in several ways. Most importantly the volume of the leaves is still there, only in smaller pieces of course. These leaves chopped up like this will significantly change the pH of the soil causing several issues for the turf absorbing the nutrients from the soil. This can also cause weed control problems. The future pre-emerge will take longer to reach the soil where it is effective if at all. In addition, the nutrients and air for the root systems cannot penetrate this thatch layer.
Tree leaves, Weed Control & Nutrients: IMPORTANT: Under NO circumstances should you ever mulch your tree leaves into the turf! Even when bagging them there still is a lot of the chopped leaves that remain behind. You should blow them off and remove them before you mow! Mulching them will severely damage the health of the soil in several ways. Most importantly the volume of the leaves is still there, only in smaller pieces, of course. These leaves chopped up like this will significantly change the pH of the soil causing several issues for the turf absorbing the nutrients from the soil. This can also cause weed control problems. The future pre-emerge will take longer to reach the soil where it is effective, if at all. In addition, the nutrients and air for the root systems cannot penetrate this thatch layer.

Mowing Height & Weed Control: It’s in its name “Tall Turf Type Fescue.”, Tall! Under 4” is way too short! It is our recommendation that you keep your lawn height at least 5-6” tall or taller. The lawns that are mowed 5-6” tall have shown better health, weed control and drought resistance. This does NOT mean to mow your grass once every 2 weeks! Mowing once a week is required during most of the season. Mowing every two weeks will injure your lawn. In addition, this makes the plant grow faster being the plant must put its leaves back on quickly because the leaves are the food source. Short fescue will defeat the weed control, therefore, causing your lawn to have weeds.

Mowing Frequency & Weed Control: during the winter, Tall Turf Type Fescue is mostly semidormant so mowing every few weeks is ok. As the weather warms up in March-April, the frequency should increase to weekly. The frequency of the mowing is determined by the amount of leaf blade growth. You NEVER mow off more than 1/3 of the grass blade at one time. If the growth has gotten away from you and it’s too tall, then mow only 1/3 of the blade of grass and wait 3-5 days then mow again. Never mow more than 1/3 of the grass blade! This also affects the weed control by way of damaging the desirable turf.

Spring Watering & Weed Control: Over watering and/or early season watering in addition to excessive rain, will defeat the pre-emergent weed control! Customers will not know the effects of over watering until the weed fest that will ensue in June/July. Many customers will feel like the first warm day in spring that somehow water is needed. It does NOT. If you are unsure what the watering schedule should be, please refer to our watering chart.

Shade/Thickness & Weed Control: Shade has a tremendous effect on thickness of the turf. Thickness of the turf determines the effectiveness of the weed control we apply. Thin Turfgrass is not unlike bare dirt/soil, as weeds will grow where the turf is not. Weed control is only as good as the thickness of the Tall Turf type Fescue. For this reason, Tall Turf type Fescue must be aerated and seeded once a year and only in the fall. To alleviate shady conditions, it is advisable to consider removing the item that is causing the shade or bring the bed lines out from the source of shade. Some homeowners will sometimes “limb up” the trees in efforts to bring more sunlight in. This simply is not as effective as one would think. It’s the top limbs that cast the longest shadow. This type of cool-season grass can live with 4 hours of direct unfiltered sunlight per day. If it doesn’t receive this amount, then the grass will go into decline and eventually become very thin and become weedy. This only worsens over time as the trees grow and get larger. Although Tall Turf Type Fescue can live with a significant shade, Tall Turf type Fescue simply cannot live in dense shade.

Tree leaves, Weed Control & Nutrients: IMPORTANT: Under NO circumstances should you ever mulch your tree leaves into the turf! Even when bagging them there still is a lot of the chopped leaves that remain behind. You should blow them off and remove them before you mow! Mulching them will severely damage the health of the soil in several ways. Most importantly the volume of the leaves is still there, only in smaller pieces of course. These leaves chopped up like this will significantly change the pH of the soil causing several issues for the turf absorbing the nutrients from the soil. This can also cause weed control problems. The future pre-emerge will take longer to reach the soil where it is effective if at all. In addition, the nutrients and air for the root systems cannot penetrate this thatch layer.

For a copy of the Mowing Instructions and Watering Chart, contact our office by phone (706) 275-8181 or by email info@champion-green.com