# Thinning out Last Season dead zoysia Grass / Thatch?



## raymond (May 4, 2018)

All - Happy hump day! Trust yall are doing well.

I have a Zeon Zoysia yard in Atlanta and year over year i find it difficult in the spring to get the yard to look full and get thick since the prior season dead grass lingers for months. Of course mowing clears a bit each mow, but overall i'd think clearing this out would allow the yard to thicken up a lot quicker.

Is a power rake / dethatcher the answer to my problems? Since this is old dead grass still standing rather than thatch near the dirt i wasn't sure. OR am i S.O.L. since what really was needed was to be scalped earlier in the season? Any input is appreciated.

Example picture:


http://imgur.com/uUdo8Ev


Thanks in advance!


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Lawn SOS? Thanks


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

This is only my second season with Zeon. Mine was very thin and thatchy this spring as well. I'd be interested to see what the smart people say.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

SCGrassMan said:


> This is only my second season with Zeon. Mine was very thin and thatchy this spring as well. I'd be interested to see what the smart people say.


Thanks for the reply. Worse case I'll try dethatching in the coming weeks and I'll let you know the results in this thread.


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## gatormac2112 (Sep 14, 2017)

I dethatched my Zorro this year and it looks similar, it's taking so long to look green. I don't have an answer. It's mid May, basically almost Summer and it's still half straw colored. It's crazy.


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## gpbrown60 (Apr 7, 2018)

SCGrassMan said:


> This is only my second season with Zeon. Mine was very thin and thatchy this spring as well. I'd be interested to see what the smart people say.


Guys, I have no knowledge of Zoysia nor am I one of the smart people. However, I scarified/dethatched my lawn (Tif 419) at the end of March this year for the first time and my experience has been positive. If I had a lawn pic to share you would see nothing but green turf. There is no dead grass or thatch to be seen. I am pretty happy with it considering this April was the coldest on record for the last 10 years. It will be a part of my lawn program from here forward.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

I wonder if (as mentioned by The Grass Factor on YT) that given the freeze-warm-freeze-warm cycles before the spring that the grass is struggling to find the energy to green up. Who knows


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

Good to hear @gpbrown60. You give me hope 😝


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## thegrassfactor (Apr 12, 2017)

Zeon is waify, frustrating. Are you reel mowing it?

I just plugged all mine, had to hit a few with fungicide as there were huge areas of large patch, and am following up next week with molasses and AMS.

Ughhhg


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## TigerinFL (Mar 29, 2018)

Zoysia owner here and living in the FL panhandle. Here is what I believe has happened to my zoysia this year. We had a fairly warm February and early March. Then the cold showed up dropping our night temps into the low 40's. I believe my lawn used up a lot of its energy in February and March. When the cold showed up it just shut itself down.

Then it warmed up and cooled off again. April was really cool here as well. So I am guessing it totally confused the grass. All of a sudden it got hot and in a hurry plus we have lacked for rain here as well. It hasn't rained in almost a month.

In the past two weeks my lawn has finally begun to take off slowly but surely. From what I am told Zoysia doesn't like those wild temperature swings were were having.

I may be totally wrong in my observations. I am just happy to have some green grass finally.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

it's been an odd spring. i've got neighbors 'muda and zoysia that mow at a rotary level -sure, they still see straw. my tifgrand was green but hadn't really grown much either, still showing some baggage from last years dormancy.

i've got some trouble areas in the back shade ...i'm going to be applying fungicides preventatively this fall, rather than reactively.

i will say, this week it's all growing as we're getting up there where the low + high ~ 150 degrees....and i have yet to apply any fertilizer to my zoysia this year. i had cut saturday and then wednesday due to the growth so i think "it's on" from here


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

raymond said:


> All - Happy hump day! Trust yall are doing well.
> 
> I have a Zeon Zoysia yard in Atlanta and year over year i find it difficult in the spring to get the yard to look full and get thick since the prior season dead grass lingers for months. Of course mowing clears a bit each mow, but overall i'd think clearing this out would allow the yard to thicken up a lot quicker.
> 
> ...


Scalp it now, and let it grow back. Dethatching is even harder on grass because it is pulling on the root system. I actually do not want Zeon to get too thick. I maintain a couple of Zeon lawns in Hawaii. They get difficult to keep healthy if there is no sun or it is shaded. They also totally lose all vigor if temperatures during the day go below 80 or drop below 70 at night. Heaven help you if it is cloudy and cool for more than a week or two, then most Zoysia varieties with the exception of Emerald are really hard to keep.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

Greendoc said:


> raymond said:
> 
> 
> > All - Happy hump day! Trust yall are doing well.
> ...


+100 - Greendoc is THE Smart guy when it comes to Zoysias and most other things.


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## gpbrown60 (Apr 7, 2018)

raymond said:


> Good to hear @gpbrown60. You give me hope 😝


Thought I would share a few pics.


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## gpbrown60 (Apr 7, 2018)

raymond said:


> Good to hear @gpbrown60. You give me hope 😝


Couple of pics.


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