Well, what can I say, I'm hard headed! Everytime someone says it can't be or shouldn't be done, it makes me want to try harder. For about a month last summer, I thought that TTTF was a big mistake, and wished I had just bought Zoysia sod. By late August the TTTF grew green again, and I was glad I refrained from spraying roundup over the TTTF. Right now things look pretty good, but sweltering summertime heat is just a few weeks away, so we'll see what happens then. Auteck's pics from last summer look no worse than many of the Bermuda & Zoysia lawns here did last summer. The Homeowner's Assoc has had plenty of folks around here throwing out Bermuda and Zoysia sod this spring. Fortunately for me, my St Aug strip by the street passed their drive by inspection. The way I see it, cool season grass in AL = 9 months of glory, 3 months of pain. Warm season grass in AL = 5 to 7 months of green, 5 to 7 months of dormancy. Maybe I'll have the balls to take & post pictures in July & August of my lawn (I'll blame the dog for any dead spots!). Or maybe I'll just come up with a new screen name and be a Bermuda grass lover!

Tampa, Fl It's great to finally find people that are having the same issues as me. I've had my zoysia down since 2006 and have been fighting this ever since. I'm finally starting to make ground here. I was on the nematode thing for a while but never got my soil tested for them. What got me thinking is that in certain areas my grass was really thriving. Area 1 was near my flower beds where all my tiny pieces of mulch seemed to wash away down into the grass, area 2 was anywhere I had pine mulch(the zoysia would chase it and thrive. This lead me to believe that my soil just doesn't hold enough moisture. Last fall I placed an ad on craiglist for a Zoysia expert and got a local sod layer that was willing to help me figure this problem out. He cut out a 15'x15' area of sod and I dropped in some great organic-rich home depot soil about 4 inches deep. This year the area is doing great but is full of mushrooms and fungus because it is holding so much water and to keep the rest of the lawn alive I have to keep watering and the same sprinklers hit both spots. I also did the same test on my back lawn with a 3'x3' cutout and it's doing amazing. Yes, 1 bright green square in the middle of the lawn. If you ask me, the typical florida lawn is a hydroponics garden. Water, useless sand with no minerals from years of heavy rains and everyone bagging their clippings, and of course hollow calories from the chemicals we put on it. I believe it's been compared to a person living on glucose bags :) Anyway, I've been following the organic threads a bit and thought I'd start experimenting with Alfalfa. In multiple areas I've cut out 1x1 foot squares dropped in some alfalfa pellets mixed them up with the top 6 inches of soil then placed the sod back. Again, 1'x1' bright green lush squares in the middle of my dried up empire zoysia. And again, a few mushrooms because these areas can actually hold water. The alfalfa is a little expensive right now but it's some amazing stuff. I've sprinkled small areas with it and 2 weeks later the zosyia is crazy dark green and about 2 inches longer than the rest of the grass. So while you're fertilizing with alfalfa you're also putting the organic water holding material back into the soil. Next I'm moving onto corn meal and compost tea. PS: we have a growing zoysia forum at turfgrass.com. It's one of the only Zoysia only forums I've found. It would be great to get more people on it with their experiments and experiences. PS again: I'm a techie, not a writer so try not to slam my writing :)

quirky, don't lose faith yet. About 1/8th of my current lawn was common bermuda grass 2 years ago that spread from my neighbor's lawn. It's all bluegrass today, and since the roundup attack of 2 years ago, not one bermuda has returned. The lawn was sprayed by a Landscaping company, then after it died, I completely destroyed the roots system with a roto tiller. I wish I would have taken pictures of it them, because I know that seeing is believing. Having said that, I constantly have to patrol the areas adjacent to my neighbor's bermuda lawn. To matters worst, my neighbor is the type of guy that will let his bermuda grow to about 4 inches tall, seeds out like son of gun because it's a commong type, then chops it down to an inch leaving bermuda sticks and dirt. Then a couple of weeks later the cycle repeats. I have a plan, next spring when the bermuda starts to come out of dormancy, I'm going to spray Turflon at night to make sure stays a sleep a little longer:-)

Hey just wanted to throw in my 2 cents and say that if you want a nice lawn listen to tiemco. I did a total renovation on my backyard last fall, which had been covered with leaves for the better part of a year prior (thanks previous owners!) leaving nothing but dirt and weeds behind. Following the advise of people like tiemco, gary in chicago, dchall, and others, lead me to a very sucessful renovation in a shady backyard. It sounds like you are taking the right steps. I would recommend slice seeding, unless you want to aerate again, in which case, you will have enough little holes and can just spread the seed with a broadcast spreader. Here's the lawn care program that I used over the past 12 months for what its worth: September - Aerate, seed, fertilize, lime, and topdress with some compost. This year I am not aerating and seeding, and instead am adding in a pre-emergent for poa annua and winter annuals like bittercress, which I had a lot of last year. None of this is difficult, you just put it in your broadcast spreader and walk. October - Fertilize (B/c my backyard is so shady, I use half as much fert as normal in the back) November - Fertilize (B/c my backyard is so shady, I use half as much fert as normal in the back) December - Lime. This year I am also planning to do a dormant overseeding for the few areas that are a little thin. That's also simple, all you do is load seed in your spreader and let Mother Nature bury the seed through the freeze/thaw cycle. Jan-Mar - Nothing. Although I might put down some starter fertilizer in March depending on the weather to give my dormant seeded grass some help. April - Fertilize (Only if I didn't already in March), lime, and apply crabgrass pre-emergent to sunny areas. May - Nothing June - Lime July-August - Nothing. Other than that you just have to mow it regularly and either spot spray weeds or pull them by hand. Most of the work is just laoding stuff up in your spreader and walking, which isn't too hard. Also keep an eye out for fungal diseases and/or bug problems and treat those immediately. The only thing I would change depending on what your soil test says is the number of times you lime. I live in an area with naturally very acidic soil, so I lime 3-4 times a year. I hope this helps.