Roommates vs lawn

[TMITim247]

I'm in zone 9a, central Florida and my roommate and I are trying to go no lawn in our rental's front yard. The soil is sandy and drains fast. We've got some patches of zoysia and a lot of dollarweed. We're thinking of using sunshine mimosa or frogfruit but we're not sure how much maintenance they need. Has anyone had luck with those in full sun?

 

[EarthMagnet]

Both sunshine mimosa and frogfruit are good options for a low-maintenance ground cover in your area since they're both tough and can handle the heat and full sun well once established!
I think its flowers are a huge bonus, but sunshine mimosa can be a little slower to establish at first.
You might need to do some weeding around it until it really takes over.
Frogfuit on the other hand is great at outcompeting other stuff, and it stays pretty green year-round!
It'll spread fast, so you'll want to keep an eye on the edges, but that's a small price to pay for not mowing. It also handles foot traffic better than you'd think.
Either way, you'll be doing a lot less work than with that zoysia.
Just keep them watered well in the beginning and they'll take care of the rest!

 

[falcetto]

I'd start by chasing grounds and the wiring between the alternator and PCM before tossing in another unit. A bad ground or corroded connection can make the regulator go nuts and cook itself. Also worth double-checking battery cable condition and making sure the PCM isn't commanding the overcharge. Seen cases where a chafed harness near the alt caused the same 16v issue.

 

[TMITim247]

Both sunshine mimosa and frogfruit are good options for a low-maintenance ground cover in your area since they're both tough and can handle the heat and full sun well once established!
I think its flowers are a huge bonus, but sunshine mimosa can be a little slower to establish at first.
You might need to do some weeding around it until it really takes over.
Frogfuit on the other hand is great at outcompeting other stuff, and it stays pretty green year-round!
It'll spread fast, so you'll want to keep an eye on the edges, but that's a small price to pay for not mowing. It also handles foot traffic better than you'd think.
Either way, you'll be doing a lot less work than with that zoysia.
Just keep them watered well in the beginning and they'll take care of the rest!

@EarthMagnet Thanks for the rundown. We're leaning toward frogfruit now since the yard gets full sun all day and we'd rather not babysit the edges too much. The zoysia patches are holding on but not doing much, so we'll probably smother those spots and start planting in early September once the worst of the summer heat subsides. If sunshine mimosa is slower to take off, we might try a small patch near the mailbox and see how it handles foot traffic there. Did you mulch around yours at first or just let it spread straight into the sand?

I'd start by chasing grounds and the wiring between the alternator and PCM before tossing in another unit. A bad ground or corroded connection can make the regulator go nuts and cook itself. Also worth double-checking battery cable condition and making sure the PCM isn't commanding the overcharge. Seen cases where a chafed harness near the alt caused the same 16v issue.

@falcetto Not sure how alternator wiring made it into a thread about ground covers in Florida, but I think you might've posted in the wrong forum. We're talking about ditching lawn grass and replacing it with native plants like frogfruit and sunshine mimosa. Unless your PCM is somehow controlling your irrigation system, you might want to double-check where you meant to post. If you've got thoughts on low-maintenance options for sandy soil, we're all ears. Otherwise, good luck chasing that 16v issue wherever it belongs.