My first inclination is to try to reply with a thinly disguised rude response but I will try to resist. Yes my video is lacking in quality but if you think that is St Augustine you may want to have another expert check your own yard out. After owning and maintaining homes with St Augustine grass since the mid sixties not only can I identify it I can despise it as well. Shame on me for trying something different! What we planted was Zenith Zoysia seed. If anyone can tell me from the lousy video if this is what it should look like I would appreciate it. This is all I asked to begin with. I have never seen StAugustine grow in clumps or have thin pointed blades like the grass in the video. Thanks ahead of time for any helpful info. We already know that growing from seed is tough to do and are willing to spend a few years establishing this yard. We bought it because it is supposed to be drought tolerant, low maintenance, shade OK, etc. Sorry for diving into the original post but I figured anyone monitoring it would have Zoysia experience and possibly I could benefit from this.

OK lets get you on track first. Any Zoysia worth having is a hybrid only available from sod or plugs. Zenon is a hybrid similar to Emerald, and is extremely expensive. There are some common seeded Zoysia varieties available to the public. Two I know of are Zenith and Compadre. Any seeded Zoysia is extremely difficult to germinate and unless you have irrigation system is impossible. OK it is way too late in the year to seed any warm season turf in your area. For now sod, plugs, or sprigs are your only option right now. Now with that said if you want something really soft, that will stay green longer than Zoysia, there are a few varieties of common Bermuda grass available to you at about 1/3 the cost of Zoysia seeds. Not to mention a heck of a lot easier to germinate. But that would be a project for next year around the end of May or early June. Trick is you have to order now for next year.

I had some zoysia palisades sod laid in my backyard about 2 1/2 months ago. The grass is really doing well, but has not been fertilized yet. A local shop in the area told me I should go get some 15-5-10 fertilizer and put in on the grass. I've never fertilized grass before and don't want to mess up the nice sod. Any thoughts on this? Also I've noticed a few places where some weed type grass is staring to grow (I think it may be crab grass, but not sure) ...what is the best thing to do here....let the Zoysia chock it out, or should I dig it up? If I dig it up, I'll have a few spots that are just dirt / mud, as opposed to now I at lest have all green grass. Thoughts on this? Thanks so much!

It's about 20' x20' area. Probably would need to build up 12 - 18" with dirt. With that amount of dirt, I'll need to resod... which goes back to the original question- can I reuse sod if I use a sod cutter and stack the pieces to the side while we add more ground.