Lawn Care in Spring | Scalping My Zoysia Lawn | Why and How | Texas | DIY Lawn
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 เม.ย. 2020
- Spring has finally arrived, the front yard Emerald Zoysia is greening up. Scalping (mowing at lowest point) the lawn will cheer the lawn up and grow healthy down the seasons. This video show:
- The reasons for scalping.
- Scalping plan (how to scalp lawn to 1")
- Weather in Texas overview and Zoysia growth
- Scalping in action
Hope it helps. Thank you.
#HealthyLawnAhead
Date: 4/8/2020 Wednesday
Grass type: Emerald Zoysia
Location: McKinney, Texas (30 miles from Dallas, Texas)
Hardiness zone: 8A
Reel mower: Fiskars StaySharp Max
Best Zoysia grass care and maintenance video EVER! Thank you SO MUCH for the detailed drawings, explanations and mowing videos.
Thank you!
This is great information!! I am just moving to your same area soon and you have convinced me to go with emerald zoysia, your lawn look like my lawn goals!!!! Anything else you post im sure will be helpful
Glad it was helpful!
Great. Was looking for reel mower for my newly sodded Emerald Zyosia. Living in Plano close vincinity makes this even more relevant. Thanks.
Thanks! Yeah, Fiskar StaySharp Max reel mower + Grass Catcher is the way to begin with. Small size, and easy to maintain.
Hi Peacemaker! Thank you for the video. I am in the St. Louis MO area known as the "transition zone". My zoysia needs help and I will be following your advice on scalping and fertilizing. This is the best video I've seen on why scalping is needed. I'm going to do some soil tests in the near future to see if my soil needs any special treatment, if I see something odd I might ask you a question later. Otherwise, I'm planning to follow your fertilizer advice too. Everything is so well done and makes sense to me. BEST ZOYSIA VIDEO on youtube in my opinion. Thank You!
Glad to hear, Thank you! Hope your lawn do great ! Feel free to ask any question, despite different zone, i'll do my best to answer.
Love the artistry & explanation!
You are a very patient person for cutting that lawn with a real mower. I’ve been watching a bunch of TH-cam videos on caring for zoysia and you’re the first to use a real mower. You have a beautiful lawn, I hope to someday have your patience. Thanks for posting.
Thank you Maico. Appreciate it. This type of Zoysia is indeed beautiful.. just that needs a bit of caring, such as reel mowing, edge trimming with long scissors, even coverage of sprinkling [i will show in upcoming videos on which sprinkler head to use to achieve best coverage]. I replaced with Emerald Zoysia 3 years ago because the existing Bermuda lawn was killed by the big live oak trees shade due to my lack of knowledge in lawn care. Since then no regret with the decision, I'm still loving it ! ^_^
Peacemaker Vic. I’ve been at my current home for 3 years, and am just now getting serious about caring for my zoysia! I look forward to your future videos!!
Thank you Maico ! That is awesome you got Zoysia on your existing lawn!
Zoysia loves a reel mower, push or gas is the only way to go. I started with manual reel as well. Makes such a difference in appearance! Good luck from san antonio! El toro zoysia on my lawn !
True! Reel mower only, really huge difference on Zoysia.
Good job. Like your drawing it gave me some basic lessons on lawn. Aloha and Mahalo.
Great explanation, thanks for sharing
My pleasure !
Great advice and explanation. Thank you so much!
Great video! I'm in san antonio with el toro zoysia it just needs tlc and it will repay you with a thick dense beautiful lawn ! Good luck this season!
Thanks The Mini Lawn! very true, Besides scalping, Not over fertilizing + Mow with reel mower + Even coverage of irrigation + trim the big live oak trees to allow sunlight pass through, were all I did ! No other magic. I see a gas powered reel mower in your YT videos. Congrats !
Thank you! I got very lucky with the mclane lol.. Yup very little nitrogen needed for zoysia unlike bermuda lol !
Yup ! Indeed !
I love it thank you!!! You alot about zoysia!! I have el toro zoysia in Florida I will try this next season
hi Joshua, Thanks! Zoysia loves Florida weather!
Nice Video. I'm also in Mckinney and have Zoysia...
Thank you! So far I have came across one house and one commercial building around my area that got this Zoysia. Very cool that you have it too, Richard !
Well done good info I learned something new thanks.
Glad to hear it!
thanks for the video. Im gonna start saving all the grass clippings to make compost. a layer of cardboard and a layer of sod clippings, then a layer of cardboard then add more clippings on top , repeat for a few days till is good to use for plants etc. (using wood pallets as walls for aeration is the key ). If you have an area in your back yard this can be done really easy. Thanks for the video again.
Sounds great!
I have emerald zoysia and a Fiskars, too. My only thought would have been to put the reel at 1.5” then drop down to 1”. You’re going over multiple times anyway might as well make it easier. Nice vid👍
good approach too. I finally had enough on pushing hard and got a motor reel mower John Deere SL180. bringing down to around 1 inch :)
Thank you for this video. God bless.
Thanks！
I’m also in mckinney! I’m getting zeon zoysia sod installed next week
Awesome ! Note that Zeon Zoysia grows quick, like Bermuda. Emerald Zoysia is slow.
Thanks! From Virginia!
Great video! Thanks! What’s the instrumental song in the background? It’s beautiful.
Thanks!. the song title is "Firefly", free at youtube studio library
Hi Peacemaker. Here again watching your video to follow the steps.
I have a question. After scalping, Do I need to irrigate and fertilize?
I can fertilize through my irrigation system.
Thanks for your time.
Kind regards
Can irrigate If the soil feels dry. Use a screwdriver to test if it poke all the way in without needing to use body weight. Fertilize if temperature warm enough (above 75 day time, that’s usually around mid April in north Texas Dallas region)
Great video. I'm in Kagoshima, Japan. There is really only one type of zoysia turf at garden centres here. I'm trying to level it a bit now.
I gave up on my manual reel mower and bought an electric reel mower. Sooooo much easier.
Japan isn't lawn country. Lawns are usually parking space sized. Mine is actually larger than your front lawn and I try to take care of it.
Wendy On nice one! I’m curious to know which electric reel mower u got !
@@peacemakervic1290 Ryobi LM-2810
Wendy On it looks neat and easy to store! Looks like only available in Japan. Thanks for sharing !
By the way, is the zoysia you got the Mattrela? Fine blade
@@peacemakervic1290 looks to be marrella. I'd show photos but can't in TH-cam replies. To be honest they only have one variety of sod in stock anywhere so there is no choice. It has fine blades.
This link is to an article written by someone using photos from my city (so I assume they live here). It's a pretty drought resistant grass. Rainy season finished two weeks ago. 1500mm of rain over two months. Now it's 37C and no rain in sight. We aren't traveling this summer so I'm trying to level the lawn some. But... it's hot so it's a slow going evening thing
realjapanesegardens.wordpress.com/2017/06/23/japanese-lawn-in-comparison-with-western-lawns/
This was incredible helpful information. I wish when I planted Zoysia in March, 2019 in Southern California that I was aware of this information. I was told that this grass did not require mowing. This is why I selected it as it is planted behind my pool. A year later, it is now over 6" thick in some sections. Is it too late mow now? Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!
hi M KB, indeed there is a type of Zoysia that does not require mowing. I didn't see it here in USA. My old home in Asia has that type of grass. We called it Taiwan Grass/Korean Grass, its scientific name is Zoysia Tenuifolia
6" is tall. I believe it under a shady area thus it try to reach out for sunlight ?
Thanks for your compliment!
@@peacemakervic1290 Hello, yes. The grass that I planted last spring is Zoysia Tenuifolia. Do you think that I can scalp it down now as it is getting too high in spots? And overall, I believe it is getting plenty of sunlight. Maybe I am watering it too much...
HI M KB, Southern California is mild compared to Texas. Absolute you can scalp it! if that spot is lower, then try fill it up with soil.
Hi Vic. Thank you for the fine tutorial. I have Empire Zoysia and don't know if it can be scalped. My grass is thicker on top and looks best if I keep it tall. It's brown if I cut it short and appears very sparse. I'd like to see if I can get it thicker in the spring if I scalp it, but I'm afraid it won't recover and will be sparse and brown all year. Can you share your opinion? Thanks so much. I live in the Florida Keys.
Empire zoysia might grow faster than this Emerald Zoysia. Just try it on a smaller section :). But I would do it all, that’s the only way to get dense and short and more golf course look :)
@@peacemakervic1290 Thank you so much Vic. I'll give it a try come Spring. I hope I time it right. I appreciate your reply and so quickly.
Very helpful. My zoysia is incredibly thick but half an inch below the top of the blade it’s very brown and full of thatch. Right now it stays at about 3.5 inches. Anything below 3 inches I start getting brown spots. I’ve tried dethatching with a pull behind with my John Deere but it’s so thick the mower will hardly pull it. Looks like I need to scalp it. I’m in the same zone as you. Would it be ok to scalp at the end of June before a week of rain comes?
It's approaching July, where extreme hot temperature could occur, so likely will be a bit stress for the lawn. I would do for part of the lawn and see how it works out. I believe coarser zoysia is tougher. what's your type?
Peacemaker Vic I’m not sure which one it is. I think it might be emerald. The blades are thinner. The testing idea is a good one. Thanks!
Sounds good !
Edit - would you recommend this Fiskars for a 5,000 sq ft yard with challenges like tree roots, sloped/non flat ground, two level backyard (retaining wall)? I am putting down new Zeon Zoysia sod in my back yard (pre existing St. Augustine in the front) so I am trying to figure out how to care for it myself or if I should hire it out. I am nearby in Southlake - do you know any lawn companies that do a good job with Zoysia?
Hi Barrett, it is possible to mow 5000 sqft with Zeon with those obstacles, just that have to dump the clipping quite many times. For example: I dump the clippings around 7 times for 850 sqft Emerald Zoysia lawn, where half of the area under full sun (Under full sun area the grass will be much thicker thus more clippings). So it's like 5x in comparison. I would chosse a motorized one, eg. California Trimmer, John Deere 220 SL PrecisionCut, McLane, Swardman, etc..
I did try to find a lawn company that mow with reel mower but was not able to find one.
I can understand why you state bagging your clippings is a must when scalping since you are removing most of the grass. Leaving the grass on the lawn could cause thatch. Do you feel bagging is a must when mowing your lawn regularly during the growing season? I see many opinions saying you are returning nutrients to the soil when not bagging.
Hi Jeff, the lawn usually has a thin layer of clippings (from the old lower stems and blades that died).
Due to its character (has ~3x the blades compared to Bermuda in 2" height), when leaving the clippings on lawn, when excessive (after 2 to 3 mows), after maybe 10 times of watering, white mold will develop in the clippings, as the clippings stays cool on the ground, shaded by thick blades from sunlight. I think would be worst (fungus) if weather is humid for a period of time.
When purchasing the sods from the sod shop, this is what i was told, to bag the clippings. I was skeptical at first and leave the clippings and found the above symptoms.
Can you burn it off as it comes out of dormancy? I knew a man who had a warm season grass (can't remember what kind) and burned his yard every year.
i accidentally did it on a section of Bermuda at backyard during dry winter month. it came back awesomely, fast and dense. You may try it, but with absolute control (grass has to be very short and dry thus won't put up too much smoke that trigger neighbor's attention/cops), with water hose in hand in case it goes wrong, and beware of sprinkler head that is too tall.
Hi there. I just installed zoysia emerald sod 3 weeks ago and I want to fertilize. Any recommendation which fertilizer brand to use? I would appreciate your response.
Hi i responded to you on a similar question you ask on another video. Thanks
Thinking of getting a live oak for my home. Yours are pretty close to your home, have the roots caused any problems? How far do you have your trees from your home or driveway? Thanks!
My advice is get a non-evergreen tree. Live oak tree root is ok I only got one root (outside tree ring) that quite close to surface, around 2 inch deep so that section dry up faster. Live oak even though it’s evergreen but it sheds lots of leaves throughout winter and early spring, I had swept around 3 to 4 times and pretty sick of it. Leaves that stay on the tree also block spring sun light form reaching soil, another downfall. I almost chopped them down but decided to live with it, so had to HARD trim them in mid/late spring to allow more sun light. Zoysia loves full direct sun, the more direct sunlight the thicker it becomes.
They are about 6 feet from the drive way. They’ve been there since the house was built in 2005 I believe. Pretty old
Nice vid, bro u should've cut it at 1.5 first then at 1 inch. Those manual are hard to push when trying to cut too much. If u have the cash get a power reel which cuts even lower.
Looking for gas powered one at the moment :)
Thanks, time for my yard, should soil be wet, moist, dry ?
moist. but you have to deep water it. temperature high at 75-90 (usually april through june every 3 days, eg. mon, thu,sun,...), above 90 high (usually july through mid sept every 2 days , eg. mon, wed, fri ). i have a video talking about irrigation too :) it shows the screwdriver technique by poking into soil to see the stiffness of soil. My area is clay soil so it gets very hard when dried, needs long watering time (20 mins) to get the water slowly absorb by the soil and go deep enough into the ground
Without a doubt this was a very informative video, better than most, one question though. Why didn’t you dethatch the lawn. It looked like it could have done with it?
Emerald Zoysia is slow grower, slow in recovery (3x slower compared to bermuda). Dethatch does a lot of damage. As long as not over fertilizing or leaving too much clippings on the surface, I still wonder when i'll need a dethatch (maybe in the next 5 years?)
@@peacemakervic1290 i was planning to dethatch this year due to I didn't get good results with my lawn last year (my first).
I have already buy a sun Joe scarifier & dethatcher..😢😢
What you think?
@@paulmiguelcastroquiroz7654 perhaps can do it on the most sunny area so it recovers faster.:)
@@peacemakervic1290 thanks a lot for your time. Kind regards
@@paulmiguelcastroquiroz7654 you’re welcome
So I just laid down some emerald zoysia sod 5 days ago and some of it is starting to turn yellow and is getting crispy. I live in Houston and the days have been in the 90's. I water it quite a bit and the soil beneath is moist, but the sun seems to be baking the blades. Any suggestions? Thanks.
BTW, your yard looks amazing!
Hi, Thanks for the compliment. This year weather seems hotter, these 2 weeks been crazy hot with no rain until next week, that's a challenge indeed. April would be the best time to sod, but don't worry, as long as you baby it, keep watering it whenever it show sign of such drought stress. its root will likely go deep enough in in another 3 weeks or so.
@@peacemakervic1290
Thanks for the reply. I think I picked the absolute worst time to lay sod. Lesson learned. I subscribed to your channel in hopes of educating myself on zoysia. I've only ever had St. Augustine so this zoysia is a new world for me. Thanks again!
@@randalljames5232 You're welcome! Irrigation is another very important thing, ensure no dry spots. Zoysia is very very slow in recovery after damaged (eg. scalping in the middle of season, dog urine), at around 4x slower than St Augustine, 2.5x slower than Bermuda.
Our Palisades sod just south of Austin required 30 minutes twice a day for 2 weeks. Layed in July last years and doing pretty well.
Can you scalp down to 1 inch with my rotary if it goes that low, or do you recommend a REEL?
Absolutely, some gas powered rotary can go quite low. When grass is growing, to maintain the grass blade health, definitely reel, you won't regret with the result, grass will be happy. One drawback is gas powered reel are costly and very heavy thus i stay with manual reel for this small yard.
Do you cut it short just once during the Spring?
yes. and/or whenever it grew too tall and legs turned brown.
So you scalp it but maintain it at a taller height?
Yuppie
Is it too late to scalp now (5/25)? Also, I'm having a party in a week and a half and would like the yard to look nice (have recovered from the scalping) by then. Thoughts?
Can scalp every as long as not during the very hot summer (>90° F) . This zoysia (Emerald Zoysia) takes 3 weeks to recover to ok looking . Bermuda about 1.5 week to two weeks to good looking
@@peacemakervic1290 I scalped it 9 days ago (the 14 day forecast only had one day at 90, go figure). It’s generally coming back nicely but it’s much thinner than it used to be. Should I be concerned about that? Anything I can do to help (water more until it fills in?)?
@@billjones9876 it takes time for it to produce new shoots from ground. it looks thin because there weren’t much grass stems (when it was tall it focused on the upper leaves and shaded the ground thus less stems). Im currently scalping to 0.35 inch with new John Deere mower :). It is also looking thinner on those area which under full sun all day but it’s coming up.
@@peacemakervic1290 thanks for the feedback!
@@billjones9876 no problem. Do now frequently every 3 days or so then it will “know” to grow short n dense
Does this apply to palisades zoysia as well?
Palisade has almost same texture, size as Emerald.
I have this Zoysia too since June I am 2 hours from Tx in Monterrey México, any maintenance schedule you could share? I Will subscribe, Will check ir you have More videos of maintenance regarding Emerald, I Will follow your recomendations. Thanks
Yes, I do have some videos on fertilizing and mowing, please check it out. Monterey is further south so you will need more Nitrogen per year. The video has the calculation method.
Use a dethatcher to thin it out then scalping is easier.
on bermuda that works. but emerald zoysis will take 3x - 5x longer time to recover..
Shows me I couldn’t do my 2 acre yard like this. 😥 that’s a lot of work.
Craig Wheeless wow! 2 acre needs a gas powered reel mower
Peacemaker Vic
I love your grass and it seems that it could be less maintenance overall in regard to weeding and feeding. I currently have Bermuda which looks better than my neighbors tall fescue yards. A few blocks from me is a guy with fine bladed Zoysia but he keeps it about 3” tall. It looks beautiful, lush and no weeds!
Craig Wheeless True! Only weed free if it grows dense enough. occasionally weeds still get through but rather easy to spot on and pull off. Bermuda can be weed free mowed very low like 0.5 inch. (Need a gas powered reel mower, meaning needs to scalp till the ground at the first place), and have full sun all day.
Fine blade Zoysia looks best at 1 inch , max 1.5”. :) next year. 3 inch is likely gonna have problem in area with constant footsteps (it easily gets flattened, grass underneath will die off and became bare spot).
Peacemaker Vic
I see. Dying off would be terrible. The guy’s retired with no children at home so its always lush and beautiful. I wish Zoysia were easier to get started but that’s also why it’s special and not common. 👍
I don't have a reel mower. Can I use the regular mower to bring it down to 1 inch? :/ Btw, thank you for this video. It has a lot of information that I needed.
I think there are regular mower (gas powered one) that can go that low. I just didn’t go search for one.
Need a better reel mower for Zoysia, too thick and your leaving interrupted cut marks.
Next time don’t cut the full width. Cut only 1/2 or 1/3 the width out push mower. You will get a better result in a shorter time and you won’t give yourself a heart attack from trying to push the mower through the grass at full width.
that's true. after few years of scalping i finally switched to gas powered reel mower this summer. cost much more but it saves me lots of time.
Very good explanation at the start but the video, not so good.