Q: I’ve read that you should not scalp zoysiagrass. What is scalping and why not zoysiagrass?

A: Scalping is cutting the grass so low that the crown (where the plant emerges from the earth) is damaged by the mower blade.

It’s obvious why this is bad for the zoysia…and for any other turfgrass. The rule of thumb is to mow often enough that you remove about 1/3 of the total height of the grass – keeping in mind that zoysiagrass looks best when mowed at 1 1/2 to 2 inches.