Thanks Young--what an adventure your year has been. I would be worried about any areas of deep shade--can zoysia handle shade? Steady feeding with a fert high in slow release nitrogen is what I would suggest this first year. Once it is 100 percent thick, cut back in future years to reduce the need for too much mowing. Rust is a fall problem--should be Ok in spring. Remember zoysia is a warm climate grass--it will brown out at frost or when cold and stay brown until the temp hits about 80 in spring. Thin or new grass with topsoil added usually has a few weeds--be ready to deal with them when it happens. Does Gastonia have acid soil--probably. A soil test would reveal any need for lime. Ph of 6 to 6.5 is ideal.
http://www.seedswest.com/pdfs/Zenith.pdf

You may wish to apply a crabgrass preventer suitable for zoysia in spring, just before temp hits 80.

 

It does "ok" in the shade...not spectacular; definitely not as many runners as what you get in full sun. I'll probably put down a little more seed in the shadey areas this spring and topdress with some compost.

As suspected, weeds have been a problem for me this year. Crabgrass mainly. I was wary of putting chemicals on the new seedlings, so my only method of controling the crabgrass was manual pulling. I am planning to use a crabgrass preventer (pre-emergent herbicide) in the early spring to keep the crabgrass at bay.

I picked up some soil test kits from my county extension agent earlier this week. So once I get the results back, I'll apply lime as needed over the winter to make sure the pH is good for Spring. I suspect that the "shadey" areas where I didnt have runners was more due to acidity than shade. we'll see.

 

From what I've read, zoysia is the most tolerant of shade of the warm season grasses. If I ever decide to go that route, that's what I'd use.

I think once you get it established, zoysia should choke out most of the weeds, but a pre-emergent is definitely recommended. I'm sure many others can offer tips for zoysia e.g. greendoctor has a lot of posts and is an expert. I'd build landscape beds around the trees in shade for ground cover plus you won't have to fight the branches when you mow.

Great job with everything - I have been debating renovating my in-laws yard with zoysia. Was curious how zoysia seed would perform as compared to sprigging (sod too spendy) and am impressed with your amount of coverage.

Check out NCSU turffiles - they have a TON of good info and is readily accessible to homeowners. I'd recommend using their maintenance calendars as a guide and then supplement with your own research from others on Lawnsite.

 

I have heard many people talk about horror stories with Zoysia seed. I think the key is to make sure that you've got good soil contact and to make sure that you keep it moist.

Ironically, I think it was the hard rains that we got right after seeding that really helped my germination percentage by "beating the seed into the soil". The compost did an amazing job of "holding" the seed and keeping it from washing away - everywhere except for the hillside anyways.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably find someone with a turfseeder so that the seeds are actually buried underneath about 1/4 in of topsoil.

 

i some here in my back yard and my neighbors lawn is totally zsoysia. it does not take shade well at all as soon as it hits the tree drip line it stops dead in its tracks. goes no further. cool thing is it is at my property line. i am a fescue fan here. tall cut grass is the bomb. grass IS a ground cover and not an outdoor carpet. different grasses have to be cut at diff heights though. here we can cut zsoysia at 3.5 in with no preblems, loks pretty cool really and stripes really nice.

 

Get off of the "I want my lawn nice and short!!" kick and you should be fine. What is it with homeowners who think their grass should be as short as a MLB field? I swear I ride around just shaking my head at people who are mowing fescue at one inch all the time. I guess they think that since "everyone else does it" that is the right way.

Different grass is meant to be cut at a certain lengths and the best way to ruin a nice lawn is to constantly cut it too short. The grass should be mowed 1/2 and inch HIGHER not shorter than recommended. You want to keep it "nice and tight" to the ground, be prepared to up your maintenance costs and time taking care of it by 100%. It is a lot of work to keep a lawn up at its proper height, and it is even more work to maintain it at a lower length.

There is a laundry list of reasons why, just google it and do some reading.

Grass cut too short is prone to weeds and just about every other bad thing that can happen to a lawn.

 

Nah. I'm not on a short grass kick. 2 3/4 inches seems to be about right for my lawn. I would probably try for 2 inches but my lawn just isn't level enough for that. A lawn cut nice and short looks great but if your Terrain isn't just right it ends up looking splotchy and scalped on the high spots. Definitely not aiming for that.
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So, it's been a while since I've updated this thread so I figured I would stop in and provide a pic of what my Zenith Zoysia lawn looks like half way through my 3rd growing season. I still have a few places that aren't quite as thick as other areas, but on the whole I am very happy with my zoysiagrass selection. The only problem that I've had so far is a little bit of rust fungus but I've found that an application of 1/2 lb of nitrogen per 1000 sq ft knocks it right out. I would also like to say that I have yet to irrigate my lawn at all this year which is really making me happy. During year 1, I basically ignored my beds and put all my efforts into getting my zoysia established. During year 2, I lined my beds with monkey grass but really didn't do much else so my beds were really weedy. This year, I finally got around to putting down landscape fabric and mulch in my beds...I also trenched around my beds which I wasn't quite sure about at first but I am glad I did. It's a very nice look and keeps my zoysia out of the beds.

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/dd396/YoungClayB/photo-2.jpg

 

 

Way to go Young! If you are obsessive about it--eventually you will have beautiful thick grass. I am impressed.

 

Way to go Young! If you are obsessive about it--eventually you will have beautiful thick grass. I am impressed.

Obsessive is an understatement. LOL...I enjoy it though.

Keep in mind that this is a 90% seed established lawn. I only sodded where the seed got completely washed away. Some of my seeded areas look even better than my sodded areas!

Seeding Zenith is not for the faint of heart, but it can definitely be done. I still believe the key to my success was the layer of compost that I put down and power-raked into the soil before I seeded.

A few more pics that I took today:

 

Congratulations. Beautiful job. I won't argue with success, but Zoysia from seed is a Hail Mary. I agree with you on tall fescue ... seriously overrated grass. I might have tried the Thermal Blue/Dura Blue hybrid KBG. HKBG is not drought tolerant, but it is heat tolerant, a distinction that NTEP seems fond of ignoring. Since you are a religious waterer, I think it would have worked quite well, and would not go dormant in winter. But like I say, can't argue with success, you got a great lawn there!!!

 

How's that lawn looking so far this year? I live in Lake Wylie and I plan on putting in some zenith zoysia. I'm trying to decide if I should do sod or seed. I have about 25,000 sq ft of fescue. Even with irrigation, the fescue just is not made for this area. I haven't had any large scale experience with zoysia yet.

I experimented with zenith zoysia about 8-9 years ago or so at my other house. I put down some plugs about every 1 ft. It was doing great until I had drainage work done and they covered it with dirt. That development was built on an old cow pasture so the common bermuda that was there for the cows started showing up in the yard. I liked how dense and green it was so I moved low and used msma to kill the rest of the fescue. It looks awesome now. Best lawn in the neighborhood and I never have to water it and almost never fertilize it.

Anyway...I'm just curious to see how things are going with your lawn.

What tips do you have for getting the seed to grow? I'm thinking of using my spike areator then spreading the seed them putting down 1/4" of topsoil. The slits from the spike areator give a place to catch the seeds if we get a lot of rain but they are not too deep to keep the seeds from getting sun to germinate. The topsoil helps hold them in place as well and holds water to keep them wet.

 

Well you have captured my interest...got me wondering about trying this on my rear lawn.
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YoungClay, could you share what sort of mulch you used with the seed? The "standard" seems to be straw, but we are concerned about the introduction of weed seeds in the straw. What was your experience?

 

Hi KLawn75. It's been an interesting year with the lawn this year. It's looking really nice finally but it took a long time to green up in some spots. I don't know whether it's because I didn't put muriate of potash down last fall or whether it's due to some thatch buildup - or both. I am thinking about trying to rent a vertical mower and rip it up a little before the season gets away from me. But honestly, my normal "non grass nazi" standards, it's looking pretty fantastic.
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I didn't use mulch or straw. I put a layer of organic compost down about 2" thick and power raked that in. I then mixed the seed with sand, put it out using a broadcast spreader, and proceeded to attend church regularly until I had seedlings.
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Beautiful lawn! Thanks for posting the pics.

 

Great. Thanks for the info. I just prepared about 1500 sq ft of my yard to give some seed a try.

I mixed in some soil conditioner with compost and spread about 2.5 lbs of zenith zoysia seed.

Let me know where you find a vertical mower for rent. I've asked around a few rental places and they had no idea what I was talking about.

I don't know why everyone keeps trying to grow fescue around here. It's just too hot and dry.

 

Looks awesome!!!

You boys from Gaston county always have to do things a few times to get it right! kidding!


I just put down Zoysia sod in the front 10 days ago. After careful watering it's rooting! Thank goodness too.....104 this weekend...lol

Not far from you. I am right off Lake Wylie.

Really liking it. Now wishing I would have put zoysia in the back yard versus seeding bermuda last spring...

 

YoungClay,

I hope your Zoysia is still looking great.

It's been about 11 Months since I installed mine and it's just a thick as sod. I blanket sprayed about a month ago to get rid of some Poa that came up which yellowed the Zoysia just a little. It's greening up nicely now.

I have a small area where a pine tree is located and the soil doesn't absorb water well so there are some bare spots there. PH is good. The Zoysia is sending out runners like crazy in the bare spots so I top dressed with sand and top soil.

Two of my neighbors sodded with Zoysia last spring. Both look terrible so far this year. They let it get too long before mowing. One did half the yard with sod and the other half with Zoysia seed. They barely watered the seed but it still did okay. 50/50 grass and soil. They gave up on the seeded area, however, and had someone kill what was there and are getting ready to sod the rest. I think if they fertilized, top dressed and watered, it would look just a good as new sod by the end of summer.

This just shows how crucial it is to keep the soil moist 24/7 per the instructions.

I plan on adding four new zones to my irrigation system and seeding it with Zoysia in the next couple of weeks.