Lawn Problem (Zoysia)

14 years ago

I am blessed to live on the same land my mother grew her daylilies on, and over 25 years she amended the hard red clay into some beautiful garden soil. But I am plagued with weeds (same good soil) and Black Grasshoppers, which I HATE.

Neither of these is the source of my lawn problem. In the past few years, a patch of lawn in the front, Zoysia section of my property has deteriorated, getting worse every year. I have tried feeding it, using grub control, and finally today (got some dry weather) I tried a fungicide.

The Zoysia grass has just started to disappear. There are bare patches the size of a dinner plate in an overall roughly circular area about 8 feet across.

And most recently, I'm seeing little holes appear in the area - like a squirrel was digging up acorns or pecans. But it is not squirrels. I've dug up test patches over the past and never really found any grubs, but I'm beginning to think it is some sort of caterpillar or grub or cutworm that I'm just not able to visualize.

Anyone have a sweet solution to this problem? Or have you run into a similar problem and did your lawn survive? I don't want to slice the top layer off and put down new sod which may run into the exact same problems as the old sod, because the problem is still there.

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Comments (8)

pat_inmygarden
Original Author
14 years ago
I forgot to mention I have also innoculated the area with Milky Spore. No improvement.
idig
14 years ago
Is it brown patch? Very common here. If so, fertilizing actually aggravates it, in that new tender growth is it's favorite thing to attack.

It's a tough one.

Here is a link to read more about it/ see a picture.

Here is a link that might be useful: brown patch info
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From gardenguides.com: "Dollar spot, brown patch and rust are the diseases that most often affect zoysia grass. These create brown patches of varying sizes on the turf. You can suppress all these diseases with proper watering, fertilization and aeration. Zoysia patch can become a chronic problem, however, even in well-maintained grasses. Applying a preventative fungicide in the fall will help the turf fight off this disease. Chinch bugs are the most common pest in zoysia grass. They suck sap from the leaves and stems, which turn yellow and then reddish brown. This occurs most often in July and August, during the hottest days of the year. Nematodes, which attack the roots, are another serious problem. White grubs and billbugs also affect the grass. All these pests, when they become a serious problem, can be controlled with insecticide applications." Most states and many counties have an extension service, usually connected with a university. Those services customarily include literature and lectures and sometimes an office to visit where you can find help. Search the internet for university extension service, USDA extension service, Florida extension service (using your state instead), etc. If the grass is thick, and particularly the dead zones, you may need a power rake or a core aerifier to help thin it out.
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I feel your pain on Zoysia. I absolutely HATE this stuff. You really need to use a non-selective weed killer. Not to sound like an ad, but I stick with RoundUp. You want something that works very fast, because you WILL need multiple applications in order to feel confident you killed it. Drench the whole area with RU. Do not cut the lawn at this point since RU is absorbed through the green leaves, so the more green available the better. Then, wait a few weeks and get up close and personal and again hit any green you see with RU. You may at this point want to trim it back a little shorter (maybe cut the top 1/3). This will allow you to see whether there is any green underneath. Wait another two to three weeks, then do it again. I know this sounds excessive, but you are taking on the Ivan Drago of grasses. You will likely want to remove the dead Zoysia because it is would be impossible to seed through a lawn as thick a Zoysia. Because this is a very time consuming process, I usually being the process in July. I chose July because: 1) the Zoysia will have FINALLY turned green by then and 2) October is the best time to plant grass seen in Maryland. Still working on ridding my yard of this weed and perfecting my technique, but it seems to have worked so far. This post was edited by Towsonite on Thu, May 1, 14 at 23:26
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Two years later..... I ended up putting a 25' x 25' section of Zenith Zoysia instead of the Bermuda. Since we are in a transition zone and Bermuda is not very common here in residential yards, I couldn't make the leap. I grew it from seed and now in it's second year, it is very thick and looks great. It is very slow to spread however, so I plan on plugging out of the section next year to some bare areas in the yard and also do an overseeing in another large area to get another large pocket going. Part of me wishes I would of gone with the bermuda, mostly because it would take over much faster than the zoysia, but I am sure I would have upset my neighbors in the process.
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Looks like a disease to me. Give the corn meal 3 full weeks to turn that disease OFF. If it does not, then wait for cooler temps and hit it with a chemical fungicide. If you are watering more than once a week, fungal disease doesn't surprise me. Watering: Water deeply and infrequently. You'll need to gradually work up to this. Deeply means 1 inch all at one time. Put out tuna or cat food cans and turn on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. That is your new watering time. Infrequently means not every day or two or three. It means once a week in the hottest heat of summer, once every 2 weeks with temps in the 80s, 3 weeks with temps in the 70s, and once a month below 70. Use that as a guide, but 2x per week should be for temps in the high 90s with low humidity. And I would do that once every 5 days, not every 2 or 3 days. If you are currently watering every day, I think the can measurements will tell you a lot about how little you're applying. My oscillator sprinkler takes 8 full hours on a full sweep to put out an inch. Some high flow in-ground sprinklers can fill the cans in 20 minutes. Many soils cannot take that much water. In that event, you might consider going to low flow sprinkler heads to make it more like a couple hours. The liquid aerator was mostly soap. You can get the same result using any clear shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Apply as often as you want. Follow up with 1/2 to 1 inch of water to move the shampoo down into the soil. You can raise your mowing height for the summer to 4 inches (or the mower's highest setting). That will help the grass grow deeper roots to take better advantage of the deep watering from above. It also provides more shade to the soil lowering evaporation. Corn meal works great for me and many others on ST AUGUSTINE. Results on other grasses are spotty (see what I did there?).
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idig
14 years ago
Here is a link with info plant diagnostic lab on Auburn.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plant diagnostic lab Auburn
catbird
14 years ago
Your page doesn't give any indication of where you live, but you might want to call the Master Gardener help line for your area, if there is one. They may be able to furnish you with information and/or put you in touch with the local extension agent. Check the thread linked below for information on calling them.
catbird
14 years ago
Sorry. Forgot to paste the link.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to Call Master Gardener Helpline
rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
14 years ago
Hopefully, the Master Gardeners have been schooled into educating you how to scout for soil-borne insects. It's relatively easy to locate the critters, given a few 'tricks-of-the-trade'. You should be able to locate grubs, caterpillars of various kinds, mole crickets (depending upon where you live), and other critters.

By the way, the 'holes' you've been observing could be from the emergence of adult beetles from their 'grub-hood', bird excavation holes (I see that a lot in my yard), among other things.

If the folks at the plant diagnostic lab think that brown patch disease (fairly common in zoysia) is a possibility, they will instruct you as to how to take a helpful sample to send to them for testing. In most instances, lab testing is the only way to determine plant diseases with certainty.

They may suggest that you have a nematode assay done, as well. Nematode problems occur more often than suspected, even here in N. Alabama where I live. These diagnostic tests will be well worth the small investment.

I'll suggest that you stop with treatments of any kind until you get some concrete answers. There's no sense in wasting your valuable time and money on solutions that might be useless.
pat_inmygarden
Original Author
14 years ago
I came to the same conclusion. Stop messing with the lawn until I'm sure what is wrong. I'll call the master gardener hotline tomorrow. Thanks for that link! It is probably brown patch. The holes are probably due to emerging beetles, I agree. No Japanese beetles yet (crossed fingers) on my roses - Maybe the milky spore is doing its trick on them at least.
ljbrandt
13 years ago
Pat,

Just wondering what ever came of contacting the master gardener hotline. My zoysia lawn continues to deteriorate year after year due to brown patch to the point where I'm debating on just starting from scratch.

Lawn Problem (Zoysia)

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pat_inmygarden
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Lawn Problem (Zoysia)

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pat_inmygardenOriginal Author

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