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Zenith Zoysia and our new lawn

12 years ago

Good Morning All,

In May we had Zenith Zoysia sod put down. We had spent a fortune on remodeling a house so we had to have the yard to go with it. The mistake was we did not put in a sprinkler system. We have had no problems watering with all our sprinklers and the grass is thriving. I love this zoysia. I like the fact that it has a wide blade and the grass is very thick. My husband cuts it on the highest setting with the landmower. This is what I have noticed. When the grass needs water it will sure tell you. What happens is there are spots that appear in the yard, the areas actually look darker then the rest of the grass. In these areas you can tell the grass is dry, the blades are curling up and the blades look like prickly needles versus the wide blades.

Put water to it and before you are done the grass looks back to normal. I wonder how long you could go with these areas without water? I get panicky and out goes the sprinklers again. Nearandwest I think you are close by and if you are having showers like we are it's not much rain. It rains for approximately 5-10 minutes and that's our storm. The temperaturaes are unbearable here like everywhere else and I sure wish we could go about a week without watering but thats not the case. As I'm sitting here I'm getting slightly sick to my stomach, we have not received our water bill yet and it's due anyday. I'm trying to prepare myself. I can't complain at all with this zod, it's beautiful but I need to know how to take care of it. The landscapers fertilized the day they put it down. Any help and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

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Comments (6)

nearandwest
12 years ago
Lol...I was actually thinking about you and wondering how your sod was doing in this heat. Glad you are liking it so far. This heat is brutal, if you can get through early next week, you'll be fine. I have to meet a client at 11:00am, so I'll have to run, but I still have your email, so I'll shoot you a message in a few hours, ok? The client also installed Zenith back in May, and we are forming a plan for them for the next 90 day period. I'll contact you later today.
dchall_san_antonio
12 years ago
kimberlysc, if you can keep reporting on what you see with your zoysia, that could be very helpful. My zoysia shows no signs of going dry and all of a sudden it is dormant. And when I say dormant, I mean it will go all the way to straw colored before it starts to come back. And when I say starts to come back, usually that means next season. And when I say next season...aaaaw I could play this game for a long time ;-)
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Hi Quirky, and thanks for the response. I once considered Fescue but decided a warm season grass would be more suited to my needs. The acre or so that the intended "lawn area" is part of is elevated and has been cleared of trees and almost completely of weeds. By definition the vast majority of it is full sun (at least 6 hours or more). Still, I haven't completely made up my mind yet. 2 or 3 years ago when I contacted our local sod grower to get pricing the zoysia sod was about twice that of the Bermuda. They told me they only produce the zoysia at their farm in the gulf coast and it would have to be trucked in but they sell it all over the southeast. By contrast they grow the Bermuda at their local farm less than 10 miles from here. I figured local would be better but if you say you can get them for about the same price then I need to do some more shopping around. Thanks again for the input. Sincerely, Danielle
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Sorry that the holiday kept me from getting back sooner. We live in Central Alabama. Zone 8a. We had regular good rain up until about 2 weeks ago, but our irrigation system seems to be keeping most of the lawn looking good. However, this very large area, which is continually growing, looks as if it is not being watered. I convinced my husband to use a garden tool to lift a section of the sod and I discovered that the soil in the original sod, which is very thick, is moist; however the soil underneath it is so dry, it appears that it hasn't received a drop of water in months. We then went to other places in the lawn that appeared to be in the beginning stages of the same thing .... lifted sections of sod and found the same thing. The side yard where the problems are is on a slope, so you'd think the water would be running down and the lawn at the bottom would be in the best condition. However, the problem areas are at the bottom of the slope. So apparently, lack of water is the problem, brought on by a soil problem. I don't know how were going to replace the soil in an entire lawn.
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lou_spicewood_tx
12 years ago
dchall,

i think it is a little easier to tell if coarse blade zoysia needs water or not compared to fine blade ones like yours.

Kim,

I have tried Zenith from seeds. Nice color but they seem to wilt quickly after a few days but it's probably not well established. I don't have it anymore. It's now a plant bed.

If I had to redo lawn, I'd probably go with one of coarse zoysia like Empire, Palisade or Jamur. Jamur is reputed to be the most aggressive spreader and have good shade tolerant so I may try Jamur one day.
kimberlysc
Original Author
12 years ago
Well since the grass had a good watering the other day so far so good with no dry areas. I've attached a few pictures showing the progress since the sod was put down in May. My husband and I can't be more pleased.

This picture shows when the sod was first put down.

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Here is our yard now.

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nearandwest
12 years ago
Looks very nice! Keep up the good work!
Jesse
12 years ago
Really an awesome yard!

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