The grass in this picture is a variety of zoysia called Shadow Turf. The tree above that lawn is a low hanging English walnut. The yard gets only a few minutes of direct sun during the day. The grass is extremely dense and feels excellent underfoot. I took that photo because it shows how long it can take to spread. The lawn was plugged at 1 foot intervals 18 months prior to the photo. You can see in the darkest part of the yard it has not quite fully covered. You probably have too much shade for Kentucky bluegrass. It is a sun loving grass but it also is a sod forming grass like St Augustine. You'll probably have to mail order the Shadow Turf. On the east coast look at Diamond zoysia. If I'm not mistaken it is advertised for shade.

We have also plugged 2 shady areas of our backyard with Turfallo's "Shadow Turf." One of the areas is on a slope shaded by a tree. We've had to do many, shallow waterings to make sure we have no erosion there. That area has only been planted for a week and a half, the other for just a handful of days, so it's way, way too early to determine how things will shape up. The rest of our lawn is "609" buffalograss (with weeds that we are treating with Drive 75). One aspect of Shadow Turf that didn't sink in to my consciousness when eveluating turf was that it actually takes a fair amount of water! During establishment, it takes half an inch a day! The brochure that came with the plugs indicates that after the grass is established it will "...stay green on as little as 4" of water per month." As little as????? This is in contrast to the Tech Turf (the other Turfallo product) that can stay green on a more reasonable 2" of water per month. So, it will be interesting to see how the 2 grasses we have (Shadow Turf and 609 buffalograss) will do being in the same sprinkler zones. "609" is very, very drought-tolerant and too much water on "609" encourages weeds. Yet, it appears we'll need much more water on the Shadow Turf, to the tune of an inch a week. Also...FWIW, the brochure that came with the plugs indicated Shadow Turf "...will grow in up to 80% shade..." while their website indicates it can handle up to 90% shade, yet in another area it states 80-90% shade is what it can handle. It may not make that much difference, but it would be nice to see consistency in their marketing.

Try one of the hybrids like Emerald Zoysia. Do not use one of the drought tolerant varieties. I assume you have decent drainage. Although zoysia is somewhat shade tolerant, are you getting enough sun? Spread whole ground corn meal (feed store for about $6 bag) at 2 or 3 lbs per 100 square feet and water in to prevent most turf fungus problems. Apply beneficial nematodes if grubs are present. Are you mowing? Under watering in evident when the grass appears grayish green and stays down after walking on it. Buy yourself a pair of the blue-blocking sunglasses. These make dry spots stand out like crazy. Forget the fertilizer until you have seen some growth unless you are on some really bad soils. Use soil stimulators like Medina Plus or organic lawn starters. Good luck!

I think zoysia is like bermuda in that it can stand to be mowed very (VERY) low. That might depend on the variety, but my zoysia is spreading into areas where it gets a lot of traffic. In those areas it is very low growing and it looks better there. I did not fertilize my zoysia like I fertilize the rest of my lawn. It was an experiment and still is. My favorite fertilizer is whatever comes the cheapest at the feed store. So far for me that has always been ordinary corn meal. I have tried to change it up a little with corn gluten meal and alfalfa. I can't get soybean meal here. Sometimes I get explosive growth and other times not so much. I don't know why.