2

9/29/2011 12:07:46 PM

imma re-post my question for p2...


anyone have any experience with zoysia? i'm getting tired of the normal fescue headaches. I have a tiered front yard where the small upper tier is not really visible from the road and i've had major problems with the fescue dying in the summer, so I'm thinking of experimenting in that small patch (~800 sq. ft.) this spring with some zoysia. I know it turns brown when it goes dormant in the winter, but i'll take brown in the winter over brown/dead in the summer. Looking for any experience with planting (plugs vs. sod vs. seeding), maintenance and overall satisfaction with the stuff. thanks!

9/29/2011 3:22:12 PM

I seeded about 3 acres of zoysia last May/June. Not one freaking blade of grass came up. Not sure what I did wrong. I got soil samples and had the local extension office tell me how much lime and stuff I needed. I fertilized according to http://www.turffiles.com, and watered every day. I have a yard full of weeds now. I have at least 4 50lb bags of grass seed left that I think i am going to sell and try something different.

9/29/2011 7:15:36 PM

^^ I have Zoysia Zeon in my yard in SC. Great grass, thin bladed, thick as hell, best lawn in the neighborhood (most people have Centipede). I'll try to post some pictures when I remember to take some. We bought it as sod rolls and put it down two years ago. It has done really well, but here are my cons regarding the grass:

1. Not drought tolerant at all. You'd better have a well or cheap as hell water rates and a good coverage sprinkler system. It will start to turn brown after 10 days if it is hot and dry.

2. Make sure you Round-up your entire yard and kill damn everything especially any other grasses as they will work their way through the Zoysia and start overtaking those areas. I did not plan on sodding my backyard so I bought what I needed and used weed killer where I thought I needed it. Well I had some extra sod and tried to put that down over some bare spots with just a few centipede runners that I did not Round-up. The centipede grew right through the Zoysia and now is growing over the top of it too. Impossible to stop and it will eventually choke out the Zoysia.

3. Zoysia will go dormant early in the winter and it will not green up til late in the Spring. It stays dormant much longer than Centipede or Bermuda. It is frustrating having a brown lawn a couple weeks longer than the rest of the neighborhood, but once it goes green, it looks great.

Some other pros:
4. I've not had to use weed killer on the grass for the 1st two years, but will need to next year. Some weeds still can seed themselves through the turf, but I don't think this is any worse than with any other grass. I fertilize 2X per year (spring/fall) using 10-10-10 that I get dirt cheap from the local Ag supply store. I use 10-10-10 based on the advice from the guy who grew our sod.

5. The Zeon grows really well in the shade (like house shade). I do not have huge trees in my yard so I cannot speak for how well it'll grow it trying to compete with huge tree roots.

6. Zeon shoots out little runners like Centipede, but they grown slower and are much less agressive than Centipede. They are relatively easy to pull out of flower beds assuming you get them early before they spread or go too deep.

7. BEST PART - Grass grows at a moderate to slow pace. I only have to mow every two weeks and weed/edge 1-2 per month. The grass even when it needs to be cut still does not look bad. I could go a month and it not be a big deal except around the driveway/road and flower beds. It's great if you like to travel during the summer.

I had to pay probably a 20% premium to get Zoysia over Centipede and 30% over Bermuda, but I just wanted something a little different than the rest of the neighborhood. In retrospect, I probably should have just gotten Bermuda as having Zoysia really adds no value to the home (which we just sold - I'm going to miss my bad ass lawn). Bermuda just needs more mowing.

9/30/2011 1:36:48 PM

^^ did you seed it in the existing grass or was the ground bare/tilled up because that makes a huge difference because zoysia will probaly not come up unless the yard has been sprayed with round up and then tilled up or was already bare to begin with...zoysia seedlings need a lot of light and established grasses and/or weeds are going to block the sunlight from the buds that emerge from the seeds otherwise you are pretty much just watering and fertilizing the existing weeds while the seed has no chance to survive because any of it that does start coming up is immediately engulfed by healthy weeds


also when you put seed down you have to keep it wet all the time for the first week or 2 (especially in may and june since it is common for the humidity to be low with the wind blowing) because as far as water goes the seedlings can't hold their own until they are mature enough to put a root down in the ground

10/15/2011 10:24:47 PM

http://io9.com/5623112/the-smell-of-freshly+cut-grass-is-actually-a-plant-distress-call

3/26/2012 2:00:47 PM

I don't know about you guys, but this year the chickweed is worse than ever. I guess it's the warm Winter or something, but I've got a serious problem on my hands. I've got so much area to cover that I got an el-cheapo 4 gallon backpack sprayer to try and expedite things.

A word of advice to anyone in the Raleigh area, if you need herbicides (roundup) or lawn weed killers (weed-b-gone) type products, I'd recommend going to Agri Supply in Garner. I got a gallon of Trimec lawn weed killer concentrate for about $30, way less expensive than a home improvement store.

3/26/2012 2:48:19 PM

Alright, so I have a lawn that is 50% clover and 50% grass. We haven't aerated, weeded, fertilized, or seeded yet. This is our first Spring in this house, and I'm not sure it's ever been taken care of, other than just cutting the grass.

Our plan right now is to aerate the yard, then weed/feed. Wait a week, cut the grass, then seed. Is that the right order to do this?

[Edited on March 26, 2012 at 2:51 PM. Reason : ]

3/26/2012 2:50:23 PM

Are you going to plant fescue? If so I would wait till the fall. The success rate for spring fescue planting in this area is pretty low. I've heard if you dump water on it over the summer you can have some success, but I'd still wait until the fall.

3/26/2012 3:15:18 PM

It's Kentucky 31.

[Edited on March 26, 2012 at 4:43 PM. Reason : so, yes]

3/26/2012 4:43:14 PM

yes, wait till fall before you do anything.

new fescue will not survive a normal summer, much less the inferno that we'll experience this year.

I'd just continue to mow the weeds until early september. Then go nuclear option on the weeds with post-emergent treatment.

wait a couple of weeks, then aerate and seed, and your lawn can look like this:



[Edited on March 26, 2012 at 5:37 PM. Reason : .]

3/26/2012 5:36:48 PM

I am still struggling with my yard. I would love a yard that looks like BobbyDigital's. But with roughly 5 acres to maintain from the road to my house, I just can't see Fescue surviving without watering in the summer. I tried seeding Zoysia and nothing came up.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a grass that will look half way decent when relaying only on mother nature in the summer for water? It takes me around 3 hours just to cut the yard with a 60 inch zero turn mower.

3/26/2012 9:42:21 PM

Your lawn looks great, but I am a little put out that I have to wait until Fall to get there.

3/26/2012 9:55:36 PM

shit it took me 2 years for it to look decent!

but i started with this:

3/26/2012 10:30:53 PM

Quote :

"Your lawn looks great, but I am a little put out that I have to wait until Fall to get there."

It is what it is. At least it's green for now

Only other alternative is to sod and that's some $texas from what I understand.

3/27/2012 9:14:35 AM

So my grass is starting to green and grow again. I've got a big weekend of buying/planting flowers and plants as well as doing my first big lawn day (mowing/edging/weed eating).

I do, however, have a few bald patches in the yard. They aren't huge and not terribly noticeable...but I'm really picky with my yard and would like to get them filled in. What do you, or would you, do for this?

My mom suggested this:



So I think I'm going to put this in the problem areas and just water those spots for a week or two.

Any other suggestions?

3/27/2012 9:20:27 AM

I bought a few rolls of zoysia 3 years ago from Supersod at the Farmer's Market in Raleigh to cover a spot up where I pulled a ratty dogwood out of my yard. I had a little left over and cut it into plugs and stuck it out in bare spots in the yard. It's starting to spread out noticeably, and the main spot still looks good with minimal care/watering.

Right now my yard is a mix of St. Augustine's, centipede, zoysia, and fescue. Every year that goes by it tilts more to more of the warm-season stuff and less fescue. The St. Aug's spreads like centipede, and I pull a few runners every couple of days from the thick spots and transplant it around.

Right now my yard still looks kinda ratty where it's still mostly fescue (and clover and dandelions and chickweed), but the warm season stuff looks good.

It wall all bahiagrass when I started (the stuff the DOT plants on the highway ROW, which looked like garbage) five years ago, so I had a few years of roundup/fescue seed before I started transitioning to a good warm-season grass.

3/27/2012 9:37:01 AM

You pretty much have to sod zoy. You can plug but it grows so slow youll mve away before it comes in. Have you thought anout bermuda? Superior heat tollerance to the fescue and much cheaper than zoy. Just get a good hybrid, not the common.

3/27/2012 9:37:32 PM

I posted this in another thread, but this really should have gone here probably:

Quote :

"I want to xeriscape the crap out of our yard over the next few years. Any suggestions on a variety of grasses and shrubs to use? I'm looking for some that will be foundation planters (running down the sides of our house) as well as to plant in new beds I'll be putting up around the yard. Low maintenance and drought tolerant are tops here. I'd prefer they weren't ugly but I'm also not looking for a really nice picturesque setup either. My yard has been a project (if any of you remember) that had NOTHING in it when we moved in so anything will be better than where we started. I've slowly been building up the grass around the yard via sod and seed and now I want to start carving out the areas where I don't want to worry about actually taking care of grass. I am planning some gravel walkways leading to some different mulched beds with a mixture of some hardwoods and evergreens and then lots of low-maintenance shrubs and grasses. What say you Tdub lawn experts?"

3/28/2012 8:10:17 AM

I just put down Lesco weed and feed in my lawn. I'd rather try to maintain the weeds myself instead of pay someone. However, the bag doesn't tell me how often I should do it. Also, I can't find a website for lesco.

Any advice?

4/2/2012 8:47:44 PM

I think lesco is sold by John Deere now. Search for John Deere landscaping or something. I have seen John Deere Lesco lawn maintenance schedules online before.

4/2/2012 9:01:19 PM

did , couldn't find much

4/2/2012 9:37:42 PM

Quote :

"I'd rather try to maintain the weeds myself instead of pay someone"

realistically, the cost of fertilizer and weed control is probably more than paying a lawn service to do it for you.

I tried it on my own and at best it was around the same cost.


I wouldn't recommend using weed and feed. It's not really good at either fertilizing or killing weeds.

Fertilize twice a year, early spring (late feb/early march) and fall(september).

Then use a separate broadleaf or selective herbicide as needed, and put down pre-emergent in either late fall or late winter, and you'll need less herbicide the following year.

4/3/2012 9:38:15 AM

How about aerating? Anyone know of a ballpark cost for that if I pay someone? Alternatively, anyone on TWW do aerating/weeding?

4/3/2012 10:40:00 AM

You can rent a commercial grade aerator from home depot/lowes for something like $80/24 hrs. Not hard at all. I ended up going in with a few of my friends who also needed it done and we split the cost 3 ways.

4/3/2012 10:54:52 AM

^I did the same last year...a few neighbors asked me to do theirs and I came out paying like $15 to do my yard. I probably could have actually made money if I had thought ahead and asked others in the neighborhood if they wanted theirs done.

4/3/2012 11:34:11 AM

That is an excellent suggestion.

4/3/2012 11:45:11 AM

I usually get together and plan with neighbors for renting an aerator. I don't do it for them, but we split the cost between 3 or 4 of us and it ends up being <$20 per person typically.

I agree that a lawn service usually ends up being cheaper or break-even as compared to doing it yourself. I just enjoy working on the yard, I take pride in it and it gives a nice sense of accomplishment just after mowing a nice healthy green yard in the springtime.

4/3/2012 11:52:22 AM

Quote :

"realistically, the cost of fertilizer and weed control is probably more than paying a lawn service to do it for you. "

For the larger lawns it might...but those large bags of Scotts fertilizer or pre-emergent with fertilizer cost $50-$60, and I can get 3 applications per bag. So I don't think it would make sense for me.

Quote :

"Fertilize twice a year, early spring (late feb/early march) and fall(september)."

I've heard 4 times, most recently from a golf course superintendent. What's the negative of 4, or fertilizing too often in general?

Looks like TurfFiles says 3 - http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/Maintenance_Calendars.aspx#004376
Though they do say not to fertilize after March 15th, which I was planning on. I trust TurfFiles a little more than golf course dude I just met I wonder why it's bad to fertilize too late in the Spring Never mind...just read it can cause fungus issues and brown patch
http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/plantpath/extension/fact_sheets/Turfgrass_-_Managing_Brown_Patch_in_Tall_Fescue_Landscapes.htm
http://www.walterreeves.com/lawn-care/fescue-diseases/

Quote :

"put down pre-emergent in either late fall or late winter, and you'll need less herbicide the following year."

Interesting...haven't heard this one before. Do you use pre-emergent with fertilizer or without?

Quote :

"I just enjoy working on the yard, I take pride in it and it gives a nice sense of accomplishment just after mowing a nice healthy green yard in the springtime."

+1


[Edited on April 3, 2012 at 1:20 PM. Reason : moar]

4/3/2012 12:55:58 PM

I did some Zoysia research last fall and the folks at Supersod (farmers market) sent me this care guide. I think it's a really nice comprehensive schedule of what, when, and how much product to use and they cover both warm season and cool season grasses. I hope it helps some folks out!

4/3/2012 1:31:08 PM

^ damn that one recommends 5 rounds of fertilizing for cool season grasses...they must sell the stuff

4/3/2012 1:40:19 PM

FWIW, I only fertilize twice a year, once in the spring and once in the fall and I have a lot of success for the majority of my yard. I have been chasing my tail in a couple of small areas that can't seem to get established, they get fried i the summer, i re-seed in the fall, they look good in the spring, but still not old/established enough to survive the hot summer. I might try to fertilize those trouble spots more frequently to help them grow deeper, faster.

4/3/2012 1:45:58 PM

Quote :

"couple of small areas that can't seem to get established, they get fried i the summer, i re-seed in the fall, they look good in the spring"

Hmmm what's different about these areas versus the rest of your yard?

4/3/2012 1:54:15 PM

They're more sloped so maybe water runs off and isn't retained quite as well, but I think it has more to do with a couple of large pine trees nearby who's roots are being water hogs in the hotter periods. Just a guess though.

4/3/2012 2:12:31 PM

I've been obsessing over my yard for a little over a year now...i moved in 2 years ago into my house and have finally got the yard on schedule with my own treatments.

After liming in the fall and putting out my pre-emergents, then going with the crabgrass & broadleaf preventer w/ fertilizer, and then AGAIN with Ortho Weed-Be-Gone hose connection solution, the yard is really shaping up very nicely.

I will take some pics tonight and post them for the hell of it.

4/3/2012 3:59:26 PM

BobbyD,

How much did you pay someome?

Quote :

"Fertilize twice a year, early spring (late feb/early march) and fall(september). Then use a separate broadleaf or selective herbicide as needed, and put down pre-emergent in either late fall or late winter, and you'll need less herbicide the following year. "

Are you saying to do this instead of paying someone, or do this in addition to paying someone.

I'm pretty new to lawn care

[Edited on April 3, 2012 at 4:17 PM. Reason : ]

4/3/2012 4:10:22 PM

I pay $46 per application (which may be fertilizer, lime, herbicide, pre-emergent, etc.), which happens 6 times a year. I use EPM, but pretty much every lawn care company does the same stuff. And my lot is 1/4th of an acre.

What I mentioned is what you'll want to do if you don't pay a lawncare company, and is pretty much the same schedule/program a lawn care company would do. It's worth it do do it yourself at least until you've learned the ins and outs of how to maintain your lawn.

a good resource if you haven't seen it is http://turffiles.ncsu.edu

4/3/2012 10:54:39 PM

^Website is down.

4/4/2012 8:14:24 AM

Naw that site is never down...you just need the www prefix for that site [dumb]

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/


To me one of the most important pages there is the maintenance calendars which I linked to above

http://www.turffiles.ncsu.edu/Maintenance_Calendars.aspx#004376

4/4/2012 9:42:46 AM

^Do you hire anyone, or do you pretty much just follow the calendar?

I also thought it was interesting they don't have anything about lime in that calendar. Is there anything else you guys apply you feel that calendar has left out?

[Edited on April 4, 2012 at 10:10 AM. Reason : ]

4/4/2012 10:02:00 AM

I do it myself.

And I always do a lime application in late fall...and i put down a shit load of it. Though I think I need to move to twice a year as i normally have some a some moss growing in a section of the lawn and I'm surrounded by pine trees. In the end though I need to get my soil tested instead of making guesses....

Testing site - http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/sthome.htm
General info - http://jones.ces.ncsu.edu/index.php?page=news&ci=ANIM+6
Pick up testing materials here: http://www.ncagr.gov/agronomi/index.htm

Process is you pick up the box and materials from the place above, take your samples, mail the box in, and access your results after 7 days [currently, that number changes]. Has anyone does this before?

4/4/2012 10:17:46 AM

I struggled with moss for awhile initially too. Same scenario with a lot of pine trees that drop a ton of needles. From my experience and what I understand, it's pretty difficult to "over-lime" your lawn. It's also cheap, so I generously spread lime 2 or 3 times a year. I also am sure to toss some on my garden just to be safe, and my veggies either like it or don't seem to mind it.

[Edited on April 4, 2012 at 10:45 AM. Reason : .]

4/4/2012 10:44:58 AM

^^So you just use the calendar? In addition to the calendar and lime, is there anything else you do?

4/4/2012 2:30:44 PM

That's about it. I aerate and seed every fall, and at that time I put down starter fertilizer (hoping that application fulfills the fall fertilization requirement...can anyone comment on that?), along with a thin layer of peat moss on top of the seed to help hold in moisture and increase soil quality.

If week kill is needed i usually use something that attaches to my hose and douse the yard...results take 2+ weeks to show for me but it always works well. Just did a round a few weeks ago as I made the mistake of putting a little leftover non-99.9%-weed-free seed down in the fall.

Oh and water ...I put down water in the fall after seeding, and in the summer when absolutely needed. Make sure you read this as it has important watering guidelines: http://www.walterreeves.com/lawn-care/fescue-diseases/

4/4/2012 3:29:05 PM

yeah, you can pretty much drop lime down whenever you want with the soil/climate we have.

4/4/2012 5:38:58 PM

Interesting, that turffiles said to only do it when the soil test says so

4/4/2012 8:39:46 PM

Personally I have always heard / read that for most people liming won't be a regular maintenance thing and that you should just get your soil checked every few years and use that to determine if you need to lime.

4/5/2012 7:45:53 AM

The premise behind lime is that fertilizer lowers pH and lime raises it. If you fertilize for nutrients, you need to lime to keep balance. Each turf likes a little different pH. Fescue likes soil to be a little more basic while many of the warm season grasses prefer a little more acidic, however the difference they like is <.5 on the scale.

4/5/2012 12:00:11 PM

^^^

yeah, that's _technically_ true, but it's one of those things that in practicality doesn't matter all that much. Our soil tends towards the more acidic side due to the low of amounts of calcium, and thousands of years of being covered with pine trees.

Getting from there to the ideal pH matters more for crop yields than for fescue growth, so you're really not going to "over-lime" your yard if you don't test first.

4/5/2012 12:15:35 PM

Quote :

"So my grass is starting to green and grow again. I've got a big weekend of buying/planting flowers and plants as well as doing my first big lawn day (mowing/edging/weed eating). I do, however, have a few bald patches in the yard. They aren't huge and not terribly noticeable...but I'm really picky with my yard and would like to get them filled in. What do you, or would you, do for this? My mom suggested this:"

The mulch stuff is a ripoff. Its $30 for 98% mulch and 2% seed

Buy straight seed from Patton Seed Co (ACE hardware usually carries it mid Summer too)

Plant by hand for best results or mix with sand in a spreader.

http://www.supersod.com/grass-seed/tifblair-centipede-ecograss-centi-seed.html

Do you already have centipede? Be aware that's it's really really slow to establish from seed. Youd do just as well replanting runners. Either way, you probably won't notice the centipede really fill in until next season.
     

[Edited on April 5, 2012 at 10:26 PM. Reason :      ]

4/5/2012 10:17:06 PM