Browse Forums Landscape & Garden Design 1 Feb 24, 2013 5:41 pm After reading extensively on this forum (Thanks!) I decided to do some landscaping and replace the turf. It ended up being quite a large project, with limestone retaining walls and edging, relevelling, lots of soil amendments, 200m2 of EZ and a lot of work. I followed the recommendations in the excellent "Fu Manchu's Guide to Soil Prep & Laying Turf" in this forum without scrimping. Lots of hire equipment, Bentonite clay, organic compost, zeolite and even a few bags of sheep manure that I came across. Being a novice, and having only novice assistants, the progress was pretty slow for while and the weather wasn't kind; 35+ every day that we worked. Well, we finally got everything in place in early December 2012, and the result was everything we wanted it to be. What a transformation! Well worth the money and effort. With plenty of water from the bore (for the first 6 weeks where water use is unrestricted here in Perth) and lots of sun the EZ has consolidated and is progressing well. However, I do have a couple of questions and observations about its maintenance: 1/ How high should it be mowed? I didn't mow it for about a month to allow it to consolidate, and then I only took a bit off the tips to level it off. This left a thick but soft cover where your feet would sink into it by about 30mm. The next mow was about a week later and a notch lower, and this had the result that there were quite a few large patches that browned off. I think that all of the leaf of the plant had been taken off, leaving just the crown, but the crown was still quite thick at a height of around 25mm above the soil. It appears that EZ requires a high cut, leaving a lot of leaf. This looks rather luxurious but a bit unkempt. Can the mowing height be gradually reduced? 2/ EZ is supposed to be a slow growing variety. If so, I can't say I've noticed. It needs a mow every 9-10 days at present, but hopefully this will slow down when the weather cools off. 3/ The initial colour for the first 2 or 3 weeks was a magnificent emerald green, but this is now a lot less intense than it was. Still pretty good but a bit patchy and spotty, particularly where it got scalped. Should I add some fertiliser or let nature take its course? Re: Mowing and maintaining Empire Zoysia 2Aug 28, 2013 10:11 pm High five for awesome prep work! From what I've seen around the net, EZ is recommended to be mown at a height of 35 - 45 mm (http://www.empireturf.com.au/turf-maintenance-tips.html). I too notice that my EZ is a pretty vigorous grower - in warmer months and when it's got lots of water and nutrients. The link above suggests holding back on fertiliser to avoid having to mow too often, and I'm sure it would make Fu happy too As for colour, ours hasn't been that deep emerald green since it was laid. We treat our lawn mean though so that's probably why it's a light/med green! Re: Mowing and maintaining Empire Zoysia 3Nov 08, 2013 3:36 pm I've read a lot about mowing heights for Zoysia and while they say it can be kept at 1.5" or so I find mine keeps best at 3" minimum and this is what I currently keep mine at. The longer height leaves it looking lush, requires less mowing and work and helps prevent weeds getting a foot hold. The only downside is the lawn may be too spongey for some, depends on personal preference. Still need to mow it every 9-10 days but doesn't get scalped or yellow anymore. Make sure the blades are sharp. I also haven't given it its organic fertilizer treatment for many months which has helped control its growth a bit. The soil below is absolutely fantastic though and packed with worms now (1.5 years later) I recently went through a similar renovation and move scenario when updating our family home. We also swapped some rooms around and tackled a major… 2 9755 OK it's been a little while! I've been busy getting time where I can to work on this. I started by grading a pad (borrowing a… 26 19952 Unless the room is for storage then it's non compliant BCA V2 2019 S3 P3.8 You have 2 options 1. The builder deconstructs the section and rebuilds as per plan /… 7 10657 |