Last few mows of the season, do I raise the deck or drop it?

[Oddjob]

In my part of North Carolina fescue was the most common type of grass, but we were always right on the edge of being too hot for fescue. Today we have clearly moved onto the warm season grasses like Bermuda or Zoysia. I have stuck with fescue so far but it is a struggle to keep it alive through the hot and increasingly dry summer. The lawn guys at NC State recommend keeping the blade high to give the heat stressed fescue a better chance of surviving. We also need to aerate and seed in the Fall to maintain fescue lawns. Do cooler climes aerate and seed?

 

[slomo]

Do cooler climes aerate and seed?

yes.

In OKC, Zoysia takes at least, double the water compared to Bermuda the world standard warm season grass. I have the Mayer blend of Zoysia. It is ultra dense and chokes weeds and everything else out. But you got to lay the water out on her. If you can afford the water bill in the summer Zoysia is great.

My Zoysia only needs 6 hours of sun. It is a low light hours type turf. It actually floats my fat azz and my Snapper RER. If you hit the brake hard you can feel the tires rock on the turf. Kinda weird for sure.

If I was looking for a low water full sun turf, first would be Tifway Bermuda. Then the old stand by Bermuda. Tif is a super small bladed Bermuda cousin. Also used on putting greens.

If one can afford the water and lower mowing characteristics, Mayer Zoysia all the way. Zoysia needs 2+ inches of water per week. Not much fertilizer at all.