Can't help you with green into winter. With bermuda and St Augustine it is a matter of continued watering and temperatures. If you want the grass to go dormant soon, withhold water as the temps fall. If you want it to continue green all year, then continue weekly watering. To some extent this works for Kentucky bluegrass with ideal soil circumstances. But buffalo does not need even weekly water in the summer, so there's a lot I need to learn about it. The folks at Turffalo know about it. They sell a fast spreading variety of buffalo they call Tech Turf. They co-developed it with Texas Tech, hence the name. Here is a picture showing how it is trying to spread over the sidewalk. I used to live in the Lubbock area and took the picture. That lawn belonged to a frat house and it was the week after school got out for the summer. It had likely been 3 weeks since it was mowed. It seemed to be a very successful lawn - much more dense than any seeded variety of buffalo would be. The only problem was the area behind a tree. The tree was not all that dense, but the grass on the north side was thinning. That would be the same issue for any buffalo grass as well as the grasses I mentioned above.

Got bad news for you. You have watered it to death. What you have now is a fungal disease. It could be brown patch (if you want to look it up) or something else. The grass that is yellowish or brown now is dead and will not come back. You'll have to rely on the rest of the grass coming back to fill in. I'm not sure how fast Palisades will return. Is Palisades the shade tolerant one??? If so I have something similar. If that's what we're talking about, it is probably gone for the season and will return in 2011. If it is not the shade tolerant one, then you have too much shade and it might be gone forever. Most zoysias like full sun. I have taken an organic approach to this disease since 2002 and have had superb results. Prior to that I had a terrible problem every spring. Now I apply ordinary ground corn meal at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet and wait 3 full weeks. My turf is St Augustine, though, and it responds much MUCH faster than zoysia. For anyone else reading this, zoysia is not all it is cracked up to be in the magazines. If you are in zone 8, the predominant turf grasses are bermuda and St Augustine. Most of the zoysia lawns I have seen in my neighborhood have converted to St Augustine within the first year due to disease issues. We have one zoysia lawn around the corner that is starting its 3rd year with no issues. I watch it very closely.

From sod farms: Once a day unless it's above 90 degrees. You can start tapering off after the first week. http://www.mckellipsod.com/sodcare.php Once a day for the first week, soil should be moist at all times. http://www.selecturfsod.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/SelecTurf-Watering-New-Sod.pdf Twice a day for the first week tapering off as conditions allow: http://www.vandemarkfarms.com/watering%20guidelines%20for%20new%20sod.pdf I am still of the opinion that three times per day is too much, especially in humid conditions.

If you're not going to water in the summer, then anything but St Aug will be better than St Aug. It will die if not watered once a month or so. If the zoysia does not do well in the shade, then St Aug is the only option. So then, in prep for sod, no need to rototill or aerate. Just rake or scrape off the surface dead growth. Then lay the sod. Make sure they leave no gaps between sod pieces. The sod pieces should be staggered meaning that it should not look like a checkerboard. They should roll the sod down to ensure good contact between the roots and the soil. Then start watering briefly (5-10 minutes), 3x per day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner times), for the next 2 weeks. Then check a few pieces to see if they have knit to the soil. Try lifting a corner. By then the roots should be biting into the soil. Then you can back off on watering until you are watering deeply (1 inch) and infrequently (once per week max during the hottest heat of summer). That watering schedule may be much different from what your neighbors say and all your local advice, but their daily watering schedule does not develop a great root system. Daily watering also encourages every weed seed to sprout, and you don't want that. So as soon as the sod knits down, start backing off on the watering frequency. Are you interested in an inexpensive organic fertilizing routine. Here is a picture of a zoysia lawn with a handful of alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) applied a month earlier... You can see the improved color, density and growth. Alfalfa is usually applied at 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can buy it at any feed store in 50-pound bags. You and your daughter might appreciate organic.