Oh my goodness, Texas-Weed, it's a full-time job correcting all your mistakes. Cutting zoysia once a week is NOT infrequent mowing that will lead to excessive thatch. My zoysia has never been cut more often than once a week, and it's never had a thatch problem. But don't rely on my anecdote. Let's look at what Alabama A&M and Auburn have to say about cutting frequency and height. But first before we go to Auburn and Alabama, let's remember from the previous posts in this thread that 2 University of Arkansas professors and 3 University of Florida professors allow for a maximum zoysia cutting height of 2.5 inches, which is significantly higher than your maximum of 1.5 inches, Texas-Weed. Now onto Auburn University's and the University of Alabama A&M's advice for mowing heights and mowing frequencies of various Zoysia grasses. The first thing shown on each line below is the name of the Zoysia species or of the specific cultivar/variety within the species. The second thing shown is the Minimum Mowing Height in inches for that grass. The third thing shown is the Optimum Mowing Height in inches. The fourth thing is the Maximum Mowing Height in inches. The fifth and last thing shown is the Mowing Frequency in days (it's shown in parentheses). Zoysia japonica, 2 , 2 , 3 , (every 7-10 days) Meyer Zoysia, 1 , 1.5 , 2 , (every 10-14 days) Belair Zoysia, 1 , 1.5 , 2 , (every 7-10 days) El Toro Zoysia, 1 , 1.5 , 2 , (every 7-10 days) The above are all cultivars within the Zoysia japonica species (Palisades is also within this japonica species). This species tends to have wider blades and lower shoot density than the other two main zoysia species, which are Zoysia matrella and Zoysia tenuifolia. The tenuifolia species is not common in the U.S. A little bit of it is used as ground cover in parts of Southern California. Alabama A&M and Auburn also list mowing heights and frequencies for some cultivars in the Zoysia matrella species. These thinner bladed grasses have a maximum mowing height of 1 inch, tend to have denser shoot density than the cultivars within japonica, and tend not to have the cold hardiness of the japonica's, so they're not found around here in the northern half of the Transition Zone. Yes, that document is "Under Review," (because universities like to catch mistakes, Texas-Weed), but I saw similar mowing frequency numbers for zoysia printed on the web somewhere else a couple months ago--I don't recall where right now. By the way, I read in a couple textbooks I got from Amazon that a little thatch is helpful to grass. It is *excessive* thatch that is not.

I highly doubt its SADD if others in the area have the same looking disease. My guess would be brown patch. The area of brown patch that I had in the winter is greening up, but not fully recovered. The area has hardly any upward growth, it appears to be stunted, which is a usual characteristic after the BP occurrence. In order for these areas to fully recover and start upward growth, is to put some quality compost on the effected areas and keep it moist for a week or so. (bagged compost will also work). From past experience, compost is the only solution I have found for the grass to fully recover from Brown Patch disease. The experiment I conducted was to determine if I had Root Knot Nematode. I placed Corn meal on the area at the recommended rate and sugar on half of the effected area. Initially, the sugar half recovered faster, but currently the half with Corn meal only is doing better. It takes time to recover, try not to expect instant results. About sod webworms: The larvae are greenish with many black spots. Adults are dingy brown moths with a wingspread of about 3/4 inch. You will see alot of moths fly away (somewhat eradically) when you walk or mow over the area. The adults (moths) are laying eggs, and the larvae feed on the grass blades and cause noticeable injury within 2 weeks (early webworm damage resembles drought stress, even when there is sufficient moisture). They complete their life cycle in 5 to 6 weeks and have several generations each year. The soap flush technique is a good way to detect sod webworms. dchall is 100% correct. Last year he told me the same thing he told you about the paper wasp. In the past I would kill them because my wife was worried about them stinging the kids. In turn, I would get sod webworm damage every year. Last year I stopped killing them and I must say they proved to be a huge help to me. I only had a few very very small areas that were damaged by the webworms. I would always see the paper wasps hovering just above the grass blades hunting for there next meal. I also used the BT a few times last year. Timing is very crucial for the product to work. Apply BT 1 week after you first notice the adult webworm moths fly around, then reapply every 3-4 days if in full sun and every 5-7 days in shady areas until the moths are gone. If it rains or you run your irrigation you must reapply. Hope this helps Can you post a few pictures? It would help out a lot.

Here's how you take care of St Aug. You're not going to agree, but I assure you, it works. <b>Watering</b> Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means 2.5 to 3 cm every time you water. You're going to have to figure out for yourself how your watering system applies water. Here in the states we use cat food or tuna cans. They are about 3cm high. We put several out on the lawn, turn on the sprinkler, and check the time. Come back in 20 minutes to see if the cans are full. Likely they will NOT be. Keep checking back until they are filled. The time it took to fill your cans is the time you will always water in the future. Infrequently means no more than once per week when the temps are higher than 30C. NO MORE OFTEN THAN THAT. If you have a full week higher than 35C, then you can go to once very 5 days. The only way this works is when you water deeply. With temps between 25 and 30C, you should only water once every 2 weeks. Between 20 and 25C you can back off to once every 3 weeks. Below 20C and you should still water once per month. If you get rain, then you should watch the grass for signs of wilting before you water again. The point of watering like this is to allow the soil surface to completely dry out before you water again. Most weed seeds must have continual moisture to germinate. When the soil surface dries out all the time, the weeds cannot get started. There are other benefits to deep watering, but this should do for now. <b>Mowing</b> Mow St Aug at your mower's highest setting. In fact have your adjuster welded into position so you can never change it. There is never any reason to mow St Aug lower than the highest position. Tall St Aug further helps to keep weeds out, because any weed seeds which do germinate must have sunlight to get started. The wide blades of St Aug grass do not allow enough light down to the soil where the weed seeds are trying to get started. I have a yard that I keep "mowed" down to 30 cm. Yes, 30 cm. I have to use a string trimmer to do that, but the grass seems to love being that tall. I have another yard where I let it grow up to 70 cm. It grows find and looks amazing flowing in the breeze. <b>Fertilizing</b> Since you are already fertilizing with organics, I suggest you pick up the pace. Unless you have a continual supply of kilos of coffee grounds, you should buy something like alfalfa pellets (Rabbit Chow, Fish Chow, Chinchilla Chow, or whatever is cheap at your local feed store). Coffee grounds are fine but they are low quality (low protein value). Alfalfa has about double the effectiveness of coffee grounds. A good application rate for coffee grounds would be 11 to 15 kilos per 100 square meters. But a good application rate for alfalfa pellets would be more like 5-10 kilos per 100. With organics you can fertilizer any day of the year, or every day of the year without fear of hurting anything. As for timing your fertilizer I suggest once in late winter (about a month before the date of your average last frost), once again in late May, again in mid July, again in early September, and again in late November. If you have national holidays the come close to those times, then use those holidays to remember the timing. If you follow these guidelines your grass will take over almost all the grassy weeds. There are some broadleaf weeds which will shade out St Aug so those will have to be either pulled or sprayed. I believe you don't have access to the really effective sprays we can still use on this side of the pond. Pulling will be your best bet. Here's a picture of 70cm tall St Augustine. The grass above is on the edge of the Texas desert and had not had any water for the previous six months. It also grows in 100% shade under a dense live oak tree and with my house as a block for the afternoon sun. The following picture shows the effectiveness of alfalfa pellets. The picture was posted to GW by mrmumbles in 2010. The grass is zoysia. He applied the alfalfa pellets in mid May and took the picture in mid June a month later. You can clearly see the improved color, density, and growth. Hope this helps.

Those caterpillars might be part of the problem, but you definitely have a fungal disease. The corn meal can go down while it's raining or during a drought. Doesn't matter. As to whether it flows through a spreader, you probably already know the answer to that. No, not very well. Corn sucks up all the humidity in the air and starts to clump in the spreader. If you have an uneven soil surface that causes the spreader to bounce, that helps. I spread it by hand. I have a 2-pound coffee can that I fill. Then I "eyeball" about a 10x10 foot area and try to put the 2 pounds of corn meal evenly on that area. As to the caterpillars, the BT Worm Killer should kill them all in 24 hours. Nothing works faster. If there are more eggs waiting to come out, then you will have to repeat. I believe it would be impossible for you to spread the eggs and certainly impossible to do it as efficiently as the moths do it. They lay the eggs in the soil. I would not use another insecticide. That would be overkill, a waste of money, and an unnecessary contribution to pollution. But while you are at this, you should dig up 1 square foot of soil looking for grubs. If you see fewer than a dozen grubs, then cover it back up and leave it alone. If you see hundreds of grubs, then go back and do the granules for grubs. Have you sprayed shampoo on your lawn? Shampoo helps with water penetration in all types of soil. The application rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Follow that up with 1/2 to 1 inch of rain or irrigation. In your case just spray it and let the rain take it down into the soil. You defs don't need more water for awhile. Deep and infrequent watering only works on established turf and only after the roots have grown deeper into the soil. New sod needs frequent watering to get the roots into the soil at first. This lawn will recover from all the above. Stick with it.