Best mower for Emerald Zoysia Lawn?

mgrant – posted 20 March 2007 16:44

Last year I installed 8,000 sq ft of Emerald Zoysia at my new house. It was beautiful. It seemed to survive its first winter well, and it is already starting to green up. I currently have a 4 year old 21″ trusty Honda push mower that does okay but I want to buy a new mower.

I am trying to decide between a powered reel mower like a true-cut or used Toro and a zero turn radius rotary mower. Or should I just buy a new Honda push mower? Has anyone used a powered reel mower on zoysia? 8,000 sq ft is a lot to cut with a reel mower. My yard is mostly flat but there are a lot of curves, so if I do a rotary I want a ZTR. My biggest concern is quality of cut.

green in atlanta – posted 23 March 2007 07:02

If quality of cut is your top priority, then a good reel mower is the only way to go, and a rotary, homeowner grade walk-behind should be your last choice. Nothing looks worse than a rotary-mowed zoysia lawn with perfectly round scalp marks from every time the mower made a pivot turn at the corners of the lawn. Rotary mowers in general just aren’t going to have the torque to muscle through turf as thick and dense as Emerald Zoysia. Besides, Emerald is one of the most expensive Zoysia cultivars out there. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that if you can afford to put in 8,000 ft of it, then perhaps you should step up and get a 2gang or 3gang reel mower. JMHO. BTW, I’m in the market for a mower myself, but I have Empire Zoysia — which can be cut with a rotary mower. My next door neighbor has Emerald, and all summer I watch him struggle with his rotary mower. Another thing — after years of rotary mowing his lawn, the thatch buildup has been enormous. Walking accross his grass is like walking on a trampoline. And at the points where his lawn ends at the curb and the driveway, you can see that the grass is 4-5 inches high. It could look soo much better if maintained with the proper equipment.

[This message has been edited by green in atlanta (edited 23 March 2007).]

Asian Cajun – posted 29 March 2007 19:15

I agree with Green in Alanta. Me heard dat because of da grass is so thick you might get alot of thatches if you don’t bag it, and get you a bad ass mower dat do all da dirty deeds for thee and bag dem sucker grass blade too. I have empire zoysia and right now it ain’t looking good NO, still brown from dem dame winter. Dem grass been dead like a gator waiting for bait! Anyhow, may de force be with thee in chosing the best mover. Just make sure you go in different direction everytime you mowe the grass so it won’t leave any tire runt marks on your lawn. Good luck man!

Brad – posted 11 April 2007 06:19

Go with a reel and you’ll never regret it. I bought a house in Atlanta with Emerald Zoysia and mowed it one year with my old rotary. The next season I bought a Trimmer reel mower from Peachtree Mower http://www.mindspring.com/~reelmowers/ and it made all the difference in the world in creating a manicured golf course type appearence. I actally have people stop and get out of their cars to touch my grass. Trimmer’s are more expenseive than some other reel mowers, but they are very good quality and they’ll last forever. You’ll also need to have a mower repair company sharpen the blades and back lap the bed knife once a year which is also sort of expensive ($75 – $100 ?), but you will love the look of your yard if you cut it with a high quality, sharp bladed reel mower.

woodman – posted 11 July 2013 06:43

I purchased a used Jacobsen PGM 526 from an EBay seller in Ft. Meyers, FL in the spring for my Emerald Zoysia lawn. The lawn looks great. I catch all of my clippings.You can also sharpen [backlap] the reel. There is an instructional video available on the internet. It seems that sharpening will be necessary more frequently when cutting zoysia than with bermuda grass. I used an electric drill to turn the reel in reverse for backlapping. Backlapping compound is available on EBay. I use 120 grit.