Got a couple acres outside town for a weekend place that is native/weedy. Was wondering if it'd be worth it to try to get some Zoysia started out there. I have some areas of heavy shade right around the house, but also a lot of full sun. Any Ags with some insight on this?

No insight yet, but I'm putting down a pallet of zoysia sod in my yard tomorrow.

My front yard is all Zoysia. Love it. It grows very slow and doesn't need much water. It was sod, never tried to seed it.

What variety? and where do you live?

Thanks

I absolutely love the matrella varieties. These are the finer textured grasses as opposed to the japonicas that are similar to St Augustine. They are all very good grasses and if planted from good clean sod, do a fairly good job of keeping the weeds out. They are extremely traffic tolerant and fairly drought tolerant as well. Your only issue will be fungus but a minimal program of fungicide and preemergent herbicide should be all you need.

We have Palisades zoysia front and back. With ample rain, I sometimes have to mow every 4-5 days, otherwise it's a backbreaker (manual reel mower). During the middle of the Summer, water once a week. It's a really hardy grass.

Zoysia is the camel of grasses. I really like Emerald. Its a common solution to overly shady areas that dont take others. I recommend it in an area including East of San Angelo, North of 3 Rivers and South of Dallas.

Palisades here in Houston for 5 years now. Good stuff.

Couple acres? I'd be planting NK 37

anyone chime in on the zorro?

I just had emerald planted. It's not cheap - 2x of St. Augustine.

Zorro/Zeon are basically the same grass (thin blade - matrella type). Great turf.

Apache said:

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Zorro/Zeon are basically the same grass (thin blade - matrella type). Great turf.

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Would these be good for a backyard with some shade? I got rid of a cedar so majority of the yard gets good sun now, but it's still shadier than what a bermuda would be happy with.

I hate St. Augustine and want to avoid it like the plague.

Some shade & the Zoysias do great. Start getting less than 5-6 hours of sun & they'll thin out.

Would a zoysia lawn be susceptible to being overtaken by an adjoining St. Augustine lawn?

My neighbor's St. Aug. tried to creep over, but every few weeks I would just go pull the runners.

I guess I will be the lone dissenter.

I have not been terribly impressed with zoysia. I bought a pallet of it to put in areas of my yard that were high traffic. It wore away as fast as the St. Augustine did.

I also don't particularly care for the color or texture as much as other types of turf grass. I haven't noticed any real tangible difference in how thirsty it gets either.

If I had a couple of acres to cover I would go with bermuda. Less expensive, good drought tolerance, better disease tolerance, grows way faster, can be seeded, and its native.


and to answer the question above, St. Augustine definitely out competes zoysia in my yard.

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Less expensive, good drought tolerance, better disease tolerance, grows way faster, can be seeded, and its native.

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Good points, but it isn't native. Also growing faster isn't necessarily a good thing. In order to keep some of the improved varieties of Bermuda looking good, you need to mow them every 5 days in the summer. Otherwise they get shaggy ang brown underneath.

I agree that for a large, sunny area Bermuda is tough to beat. I do dislike its invasiveness into flower beds.

As for water usage, the strength of Zoysia is in its ability to weather a drought. It goes dormant & turns brown, whereas St. Augustine just dies. Good soil depth goes a long way to helping turf in drought situations.

On the plus side for Zoysia, it doesn't need as much fertilizer as St. Augustine & is more resistant to Grubs, Chinch Bugs & Billbugs. Zoysia also doesn't have the problems with fungus like St. Aug.

A bit more info. Our yard is Palisades Zoysia planted in the Houston area. Trying to propogated Zoysia in a large area could be a slower and more expensive process.

To refer to a grass as just Zoysia with no mention of the actual varietal and the exact climate in which it is planted is of little value when trying to make a decision.

The neighbors have St Augustine on both sides. For 5 years, it was nearly a stalemate. The St Augustine sends out a runner here and there over the top of the Zoysia that can't get their roots in the ground. The Zoysia grows under the St. Augustine. When the SA is weakened by disease or drought (like this year) the Zoysia took it over.

Foot traffic - we have a JRT that runs across the yard non-stop all day for 5 years. With SA, the trails were dirt in about 1 week. With Zoysia, after 5 years they look like a closely mowed golf course. Zoysia really should be cut around 2" high at the most. There are golf courses including greens planted with Palisades... it does very well with foot traffic.

There is a huge amount of difference with the amount of water required for Zoysia. When we chose Zoysia, it is partly because it was the only thing available because grass farms let their SA die due to the drought while the Zoysia lived thru it.

I would agree it takes a similar amount of water to keep Zoysia looking green and lush... the difference is that you put very little water on Zoysia and it will go off color and remain alive. It greens up nearly immediately after receiving water. Zoysia prefers deep, less frequent watering.

Palisades Zoysia when watered and fertilized looks nearly identical to SA except the blade is slightly thinner. You would have to study it closely to really even notice the grasses aren't the same. There is no color difference.

Floritam is a great St. Augustine. I have propogated acres of that stuff with nothing more than runners pulled out of flowerbeds.

Apache, I agree with your points. Bermuda can be invasive. And, technically, I guess it isn't a native grass. Although its been here for hundreds of yrs.


BadAzzBohemian, I have to disagree with you on color and texture. I have Pallisades and there is definite differences when both are watered well and growing well.

As you stated, the zoysia will bounce back in a hurry if it is allowed to turn brown, but to keep it nice and green it takes as much water as my St. Augustine. Although, it is still a fairly newly installed turf (2 seasons) as opposed to the much much more established St. Augustine.

Less water is related to survivability of Zoysia. If you want it to look great all the time, I agree, it takes a similar amount of water.

Also, I find it takes more like 3-4 lbs / 1000 sq-ft of nitrogen spring and summer. I can't make it look as good as SA off the 2 lbs recommended.

Weedeating is far less with Zoysia since it doesn't run which can be an advantage. It will pop up in flowerbeds however.

I also believe Zoysia is less healthy and doesn't look as good as SA when mowed above 2" because it is so thick. It does take 2-3 years to thicken up. Mine was thin and whispy until year 3. SA lawns near me look better in April-mid June, but mid-June thru October the Zoysia appears much better because so many are trying to fight off SA diseases that don't seem to affect my Zoysia.

I would take it over regular SA any day... unless compared to Floritam SA... in which case I'd call it a wash.

Here are a few pics. I just fertilized yesterday... so it is still very much in transition from being dormant.

You can see the trails the dog made along with a close up pic... it is rather amazing that after 5 years, the Zoysia hasn't given way to dirt / mud.






One more photo... this is where our yard with Zoysia and the neighbor's with SA meet. The SA is way ahead of the Zoysia right now in terms of growth. The mowing schedule for Zoysia is about 1 month delayed to SA.