Zoysia grass - anybody used it on their lawn?

[Trekbike]

In general my yard is pretty sorry with most of it being crabgrass.   Due to some construction going on, I've now having areas which are worn bare.   I've seen advertisements in the past about Zoysia grass, specifically the plugs but haven't ever tried it.    

 

Really thinking about trying it but looking for any feedback anyone may have to share.   If you have it, did you use the plugs?   

 

http://www1.zoysiafarms.com/whzoysia.jsp

[Dolomite_supafly]

I am also interested in hearing any real world experience with this stuff.

 

Dolomite

[TGO David]

Some folks down the street from us had their yard plugged with Zoysia a few years ago and I can't tell a difference.  I don't know if they just did it wrong or the grass didn't take or what, but their yard looks as bad as anyone else's.

[Peace]

PM if you want to chat over the phone. I don't much, but I'll tell you what Ive learned. My knowledge is worth what you are paying for it. :)

I had a neighbor who (has) had zoysia for 30 years. I was the first LCO they ever let touch it. I did quite a bit of reading before and while I cared for it. (2 seasons).

I've also seen friends plug with sad results. :)

1st things 1st. Call your Ag extension office and ask about soil sample testing. Get a soil sample from several spots in the yard and get it analyzed. Then find out what you need to do to make zoysia happy (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium - the ratio is the numbers on your fert). Amend the soil and get it set before you get your zoysia.

A lot of folks are willing to spend >$900 on mail-order plugs, but won't spend ~$15 to listen to their dirt. It can seem petty and useless, but it is the simple key to mastering your turf.

If you can control the water content, nutrients, and pH of your soil, you can win the war (it is easy once you get to know your dirt and your grass) Zoysia does take more time to fill out a yard than other summer grasses (you might have a 5yr plan), but if you do it right, it is fantastic.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Soil and nutrients are going to make the most difference with any particular grass you try. No expert here at all, but I haven't

seen a great looking yard by plugging a yard until they work on it intensely, like having some company start on their yard and

continue to maintain it. My nextdoor neighbor took a good yard and hired someone to make it the prettiest yard on the street.

Looks good, but it will fall back to mediocre when he quits his contract. Mine is good enough for me, but I'm not trying to keep

up with the Jones's, either. Mine has patches of blue, fescue and whatever that stuff that grows best under trees scattered

around. Most of my yard is in the shade, also.

 

If you try the plugs, get ready for the nutrients, because they'll need it. Only bare spot my yard has is under one tree that

blanks out all the sun. Water also stands there during a rain.

 

Zoysia grass is beautiful, but probably too maintenance hungry for me. I also won't get that picky how I cut my yard. I've heard

it's also a good idea to start on the yard in the fall. Maybe not.

 

It's also a young man's sport, working on a yard. :D

[Peace]

Zoysia is hard to start and easy to maintain once established (despite what you've heard, most people that struggle never get it well established and healthy (soil) --or else they insist on following some laborious yard voodoo myth that "must" be done.... Sort of like breaking in an LWRC barrel ... or cleaning an LWRC rifle - ever. :).

Since it is a warm season grass, plugging after the last frost is what I would do.

Anything from seed, especially your tall fescue types need to be seeded Sept. 15th in our neck of the woods (TN). Also. Freebie for the day: Do not aerate in the early spring! It falls right into the evil plan of 90% of weeds. If you need to aerate before fall, wait until June 21st or so when the weeds are done germinating.

Bonus with any warm season grass: Imagine that it is spring or summer, you see some weeds growing. You either, A. dig them up and put dirt in their place, or B. spray them with an herbicide. New grass grows back and you are done.

With cool season grasses, you have to wait until fall to successfully reseed. Edited February 13, 2013 by Peace

[R_Bert]

I zoysia sodded 20x20 bare patch in my front yard about 7 years ago.  The side yard, and front yard are now 95% zoysia, and it is creeping into the back as well.

 

You will still have to tend to weeds. Henbit is pretty persistent in my yard, along with the occaisional violet, so I stll keep a jug of 2-4D around.

Edited February 13, 2013 by R_Bert

[peejman]

Peace seems to be the expert and in my limited experience, he's right.  The hard part is getting it established and happy (soil testing).  Once you get there, the issue becomes keeping it out of flower beds and such.

 

Early spring weeds are still a problem.  Henbit for me too and I also try to kill it with 2-4D, though it comes back every year.  I have a large portion of bermuda in my yard and it will choke the weeds out, it just takes until July for it to get there.  I don't fertilize as that just makes the fescue portion grow at an absurd rate. 

[BrasilNuts]

The soil in Oak Ridge must be good for Zoysia.

I've had it in my yard for at least 20 years, all I ever do is mow it. It started out as a small patch about the size of a dinner plate in one corner of my yard, over the years it has taken over and is absolutly beautiful in the summer time.

[Peace]

Peace seems to be the expert..."

 

 

peejman, you probably know just as well or better than I  ... I just love to help and run at the mouth.

 

Henbit and Chickweed germinate in the fall... so.... because you have a warm season grass and don't have to overseed in the fall, you can put down a pre-emergent in early Sept. when everyone else is overseeding!  (something you cannot do when overseeding a cool-season grass - point to zoysia!)  There are some organic alternatives, but your mileage may vary (corn gluten meal, I believe - it's been a few years, you guys are giving me a workout!).

edit:  here, found this  http://www.hfrr.ksu.edu/doc1997.ashx    good stuff!

 

You might also put out pre-emergent in February if you are having trouble with spring-germinating weeds.

 

 

BrasilNuts - your post is awesome for the guys to know.  If you really want zoysia, my experience says patience will be your greatest ally.

Edited February 13, 2013 by Peace

[peejman]

peejman, you probably know just as well or better than I  ... I just love to help and run at the mouth.

 

Henbit and Chickweed germinate in the fall... so.... because you have a warm season grass and don't have to overseed in the fall, you can put down a pre-emergent in early Sept. when everyone else is overseeding!  (something you cannot do when overseeding a cool-season grass - point to zoysia!)  There are some organic alternatives, but your mileage may vary (corn gluten meal, I believe - it's been a few years, you guys are giving me a workout!).

edit:  here, found this  http://www.hfrr.ksu.edu/doc1997.ashx    good stuff!

 

You might also put out pre-emergent in February if you are having trouble with spring-germinating weeds.

 

 

BrasilNuts - your post is awesome for the guys to know.  If you really want zoysia, my experience says patience will be your greatest ally.

 

 

Good info there, thank you. 

 

I've tried the pre-emergent stuff and it seemed to have zero effect.  But it's possible (even likely) I applied it in the spring rather than the fall, so that may explain the lack of results.  Or I may have used the wrong stuff, it's been several years ago.  I'll try to remember this in the fall.

 

The chickweed is growing now so I may go ahead and start spraying.  When I get frustrated, I just spray it with brush killer and accept the brown spots.  The bermuda will fill in come summer time anyway.

[R_Bert]

I sprayed 10 days ago.

[Patton]

I have been around the turf grass industry my entire life, unfortunately. Understand that zoysia grass is a warm season turf grass that requires a minimum of 5-8 hours of direct sunlight a day, which honestly is just a little bit more than a fescue grass needs. If you have this much sunlight and live in southern TN I normally recommend Burmuada grass. It is a more heat and drought tolerant turf, faster recovering, and you can use a lot more chemicals to keep it nice. I am a huge fan of Bermuada grass and most people have all the wrong ideas about it.

My biggest complaint about Zoysia is large patch, this is a fungus somewhat resembling fescue brown patch. The large patch is very costly to treat and is not very successful. Also, Zoysia is a thick hard to cut turf but with a good horsepower mower you will. It notice except for frequently dulling blades.

I will say that if you have enough sunlight and want a turf to just do it's thing. Zoysia will pretty much look good naturally. He chokes out a fair amount of weeds naturally and requires very little supplemental nutrients.

[Peace]

^^ double like.

 

dulling the blades often comes from the lower blade settings used on zyosia.  you suck up a lot of dirt/sand/abrasives into the mix when you are that low.

 

semi-regular dethatching can be necessary with zoysia - depending on your conditions.  I don't think it's a big deal, and a nice, flat yard with healthy zoysia is like having a major-league outfield for your backyard.  amazing.

 

... and no matter what anyone tells you, you do not have to bag zoysia clippings.  If they fall back into contact with dirt, they will compost!

 

 

Patton, can large patch be pre-emptively managed by making sure your drainiage (and watering times - morning! morning!! not evening!!) is sorted out?

Edited February 13, 2013 by Peace

[Dennis1209]

Never again!

 

The last place I lived had zoysia grass in the front yard and it was a nightmare for me. Admittadly, I didn't spend the required time thatching, fertilizing and plugging as I should to have kept up with the Jones's but...

 

If you plan on cutting it with a push mower, never let it go longer than two weeks between cuttings. Even though it doesn't look that bad, it's so thick it will quaddruple your cutting time.

 

It is the first to turn brown and the last to turn green.

 

I've always heard zoysia would take over crab grass and everything else. Not so, the crab grass, clover and other weeds took over the zoysia.

 

I tried to burn it off one breezy early spring day. I'm here to tell ya, if it had not been for concrete on three sides of my lawn, half of Illinois would have gone up in flames.

 

My front yard was about 30' X 60' of zoysia. When I finally got possession of the place the first thing I did was cut the grass. It had not been cut in probably 4-6 weeks. The back yard was regular grass maybe 10 to 12 inches high and an area of about 30 yards by 40 yards. The front yard zoysia actually didn't look that bad height wise?

 

Anyway, it took me three hours to cut the high grass / weeds in the back yard and four hours of constantly restarting and raising the front of the push mower. And another hour to re-cut it to make it look decent and reduce the grass clippings. I hate the stuff, I'd rather have a lawn strictly of weeks or an astroturf redneck front yard.

 

Did I mention I hate the stuff?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Lots of expert opinions, but here is limited inexpert personal experience since you asked for experience stories. My back yard, I feel lucky if there are weeds back there, anything green is better than dirt patches. Have seeded and put garden soil in spots of it for many years and it usually sprouts up then dies off or gets taken over by weeds. I'm not gonna water every day etc. Just ain't gonna do it. If I have to do that then the weeds are welcome to the back yard.

 

About 3 or 4 years ago we experimentally ordered one box of zoysia "mats" or whatever they are called. I took gardening soil from walmart and a good old iron digging pike. Each plug of zoysia, I would hit the ground with the pike and then twist it around to make a hole about 6" deep and 3 or 4 inches diameter at the surface, then fill the little hole with gardening soil and plant a plug of zoysia. Did that in a 1 foot spacing grid and broke down and actually watered it daily for about a month.

 

Some of the plugs died, maybe in too-shady areas, but it hung on in about the 15 foot x 8 foot area I plugged. In the ensuing 3 or 4 years of little if any watering or attention, it has filled in the gaps to make a solid patch of zoysia and crowded out the weeds and other grasses in that 15 x 8 foot region and its gradually invading other areas. Its strange because sometimes there will be one boundary where the zoysia is real slow to invade, wheras some other area it will run a "linear invasion" and sprout a row of "spots" of zoysia coming up many feet in some random direction out from the main patch. Maybe the zoysia likes the soil or sun better in those directions, dunno.

 

Note that it goes dormant with a "pretty" shade of brown in the winter, so it you don't like brown grass in the winter, don't get zoysia. I can't much tell between a petunia versus clover versus crabgrass, so the easiest way for me to tell where the zoysia has made inroads is in the winter so I can see a particular kind of matt of brown grass, compared to the green weeds and other grasses that stay green over the winter.

 

The mat has got big and solid enough, unless I get distracted, am gonna try taking plugs out of the zoysia this spring and try setting up other invasion beach heads in the back yard. Was thinking maybe this time, rather than using the pike and making relatively small holes, take the post hole diggers and dig out about 6" down and about a foot square areas, separated several feet over the rest of the yard, concentrating on the worst spots that even the weeds have trouble with. Fill each 1 foot square with garden soil and cut little plugs out of the center of my successful zoysia to transplant. And fill the plugs I cut out of the zoysia with garden soil to help the zoysia patch heal itself. Kinda "gradually over years" replacing the soil in the back yard I guess. :)

 

So if I can get more "beach head" invasions in other parts of the yard, maybe after another few years there will be more grass than weeds in the back yard. Or not.

 

Old dad has done the same thang with bermuda transplants, over years in several yards he had. Take several years and eventually the bermuda takes over and kicks everything else out.

 

So for you experts out there, would it be better to do the transplant plugs when the zoysia is still brown, or wait till it starts greening up?

[peejman]

Old dad has done the same thang with bermuda transplants, over years in several yards he had. Take several years and eventually the bermuda takes over and kicks everything else out.

 

So for you experts out there, would it be better to do the transplant plugs when the zoysia is still brown, or wait till it starts greening up?

 

 

I've been transplanting bermuda in my yard the last couple years.  I had some very large patches of crabgrass/weeds.  I sprayed them with brush killer and waited about a month.  Then I dug up the bermuda in "square shovels" about 6" deep and planted it in the dead areas.  I took the dirt from the dead areas and filled the holes where I dug up the grass.  I made an effort to water them daily for a couple weeks and they've filled in pretty well.

 

I did that in mid summer when the bermuda is thriving, I'd do same thing with the zoysia. 

[kieefer]

+1 on the soil sample no matter what you're growing.

 

My wife's family has a cemetery that I took over maintaining almost 30yrs ago. When I started on it.. it had nothing but packed leaves for ground cover and four huge trees at each corner and a few sassafras seedlings.  Anyway the lot is 50x50 and over time I tried to develop a lawn worth mowing and used Zoysia plugs on the back half thinking I could get it to spread. To this day I'm still trying to get it to spread to the other half which is mostly KY31. I have a lawn worth mowing but it's not all zoysia.

 

Granted, this lot is not where I have water access too, it's on a slant with about 5 hrs of sunlight on the majority of the lot and I seldom have used fertilizer and never got soil samples. Now, the zoysia area looks great, not a weed in it and I like to have it in my lawn at home.

Every Fall I dig up 6"x6" plugs and replant in other areas. Maybe in another 30?

 

Like any plant you'll need to know what makes it flourish and provide the right environment for it to do so.

[Trekbike]

Wow...thanks for all the feedback guys.   That was way more info than I was expecting.   I'll do some reading up on the info you guys have provided.   

 

In general I have no desire to keep up with the Jones or spend a bunch of time tending to the lawn other than cutting it and generally spraying for weeds when they get real bad.  I'd rather spend my time on more pleasurable things.   I know to some lawn care is a hobby but that's not me.  

 

I've been at the same house for 21 years and over that time it's gotten progressively worse I guess.   Over the years I've tried seeding and have never been real successful.  Since this recent construction work on the house has totally trashed some areas, I've got to do something.     I live in a subdivision and my yard is on a slope.   I get the runoff water from my neighbors from behind me so I have the occasional erosion repair to deal with.    Not having good grass to slow down the water exacerbates the problem.   

 

So in summary, I'm looking for my best option for the least amount of work.  

[swim615]

Wow...thanks for all the feedback guys.   That was way more info than I was expecting.   I'll do some reading up on the info you guys have provided.   

 

In general I have no desire to keep up with the Jones or spend a bunch of time tending to the lawn other than cutting it and generally spraying for weeds when they get real bad.  I'd rather spend my time on more pleasurable things.   I know to some lawn care is a hobby but that's not me.  

 

I've been at the same house for 21 years and over that time it's gotten progressively worse I guess.   Over the years I've tried seeding and have never been real successful.  Since this recent construction work on the house has totally trashed some areas, I've got to do something.     I live in a subdivision and my yard is on a slope.   I get the runoff water from my neighbors from behind me so I have the occasional erosion repair to deal with.    Not having good grass to slow down the water exacerbates the problem.   

 

So in summary, I'm looking for my best option for the least amount of work.  

 

 

For the best options for the least amount of work I would use Fescue for the cool wet months and Bermuda for the hot dry months. Just let them mix and and do their own thing.

[Dennis1209]

P.S. I forgot to mention, if you have kids or use the same path frequently to your door / porch, etc. Zoysia doesn't hold up well under any traffic before you have a dirt path.

 

Sure does look good if you're willing to spend a lot of time with it instead of the important things in life like, hunting, fishing, camping, trapping, giving the spouse what for, washing the 4X4 and boat, etc.  :rofl:

[peejman]

P.S. I forgot to mention, if you have kids or use the same path frequently to your door / porch, etc. Zoysia doesn't hold up well under any traffic before you have a dirt path.

 

I've not seen any sort of grass that holds up well with frequent traffic.  That's why I'm building some stairs and a path from the side door of my garage around to the back patio. 

[I_Like_Pie]

Fescue + crossbow is the combination that works well in my part of the state...Several people have zoysia, but it is hard to get it started over large patches without spending large money.

[mcurrier]

I did a LOT of research on Zoysia last year, my head was ready to explode.  At the end of summer I concluded to hold off and wait until Spring to figure out what to do.  I have a guy coming over in a few weeks from the Ag Ctr. 1/4 mile away, if that,  to look at my dirt.

 

At first I was happy to see this post on TGO, but now my head feels like it's ready to explode again.  I just want some grass damn it!

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I've been transplanting bermuda in my yard the last couple years.  I had some very large patches of crabgrass/weeds.  I sprayed them with brush killer and waited about a month.  Then I dug up the bermuda in "square shovels" about 6" deep and planted it in the dead areas.  I took the dirt from the dead areas and filled the holes where I dug up the grass.  I made an effort to water them daily for a couple weeks and they've filled in pretty well.

 

I did that in mid summer when the bermuda is thriving, I'd do same thing with the zoysia. 

 

Thanks peejman. Dunno if zoysia roots keep growing/expanding when the topside is brown, or whether the top and bottom both hibernate. The species I bought starts browning pretty early in the mid-fall, so if I transplant it too late in the summer it will only have a couple of months to take hold and spread out, unless the roots keep growing after the top goes brown. The species I have doesn't spread very fast but holds its ground real well so far.

 

When old dad was a young man we moved to atlanta about 1958. Moved into a subdivision house so new we were practically moving in as the last nail was driven in. It had a luxurious front and back yard of bulldozed red clay with erosion gullies already forming. Old dad would get obsessive at times and he found a wild patch of bermuda near his office at the railroad yard. Every day after work he would dig up a basket of bermuda sprouts or whatever you call em, then come home sitting on a low stool sticking all the sprouts in that red clay. Next year it was solid lush bermuda, so that grass must have really liked the atlanta climate. He would also dump manure on the yard while he was nurturing it, and the place smelled pretty bad at times early on. :)

 

Something wife has planted around borders of the yard that will take over and seems about as indestructible as kudzu, is monkey grass. But maybe it would have to be cut pretty high. Maybe regular low cutting could kill it, but it will sho nuff take over once you get it started.