I'd get rid of St. Aug tomorrow if I had an escape path, the only reason I am trying to save this is because I could never figure out what else to do. I've made posts on here for years about alternatives and other ways to switch but in the end I just keep trying to keep the St. Aug going because that's what was here when I moved in. I was just talking to a neighbor this morning who is also having similar issues and I said "I'm about two weeks away from throwing down Bermuda seeds and saying screw it, let it take over, I'm done" so I'm glad you are saying this now.
The local nursery carries "Empire" Zoysia sod, but I dont think I have ever seen Zenith. I think I am going to go get some this weekend and plug the front and see what happens. I've got nothing to lose but dead spots at this point. How did you pick Zoysia over all the others?
I've always just wanted a lazy lawn that will grow and do it's thing and not require so many chemicals to keep going. Maybe this is what finally gets me over the hump to try something different.
Again, very sorry for another long post. A lot to unpack, and I'm trying to be as helpful as possible.
If you have easy access to Empire, I'd grab a square and do some test sprigs.
Zenith is probably considered one of the "lowest" quality zoysia turfs available. But I find that sometimes "luxurious" and "princess diva" go hand in hand with turf selection. So, while I agree there are other zoysias that make a more attractive turf, consider your goals and expectations. i find zenith to be a superior turf to palmetto SA and to carpetgrass or centipede. Marginally better than tifblair, but the best sections of tifblair will fool you into thinking they are zenith until you get up close. But in terms of hardiness and resilience, I have had great results so far with zenith and will tolerate a "low quality" grass that doesn't faint or die at a moment's notice. I your yard has some shaded areas, you might find meyer is the better choice. you can always experiment and glyph later like I did.
What I did was i sprigged a variety of stuff into various areas in the yard (mine is large) and evaluated for what thrived with little to no inputs - basically a designed experiment to determine what would do the best with my soil the way it is right now.
I started with palmetto SA when I moved in - and the previous owner informed me had had resodded the whole yard more than once (could have bought a corvette for what it costs to resod this yard, so IDK what he was thinking)
I tried:
- Zenith Zoysia (because I had a source for free)
- Meyer Zoysia
- Tifblair centipede
- Common centipede
- Carpetgrass
- CitraBlue SA
- Pro Vista SA
Of that list, tifblair and zenith thrived on water only, and everything else eventually died off. The citrablue was interesting. it thrived where the palmetto died, but after it took over, the palmetto out-competed it, and then after the citrablue was conquered, the palmetto died back again. Meyer does pretty good also, but I tend to see the zenith overall doing the best in the greatest variety of conditions. So, I seeded everything with tifblair centipede to attempt to address the immediate needs, and it worked, but then we had a weird winter with a lot of Indian Summers, and some of the Tifblair died off due to coming out of dormancy and then freezing.
What ultimately made my decision for zenith was the worst of the deadest areas of my yard, only zenith grew. Even meyer failed to thrive in the worst spots. it was like the ground "rejected" the sprigs the way a transplant patient rejects a donor organ.
I don't actively attempt to kill off other stuff. I just chase the dead / dying areas with zenith sprigs. So, right now, I have some very lush areas and some areas that look like I don't know how to do lawncare.
I considered some other zoysia varieties, and most of the ones I considered,
@Greendoc posted up saying those varieties should come with a large patch warning label. After some back and forth, his recommendation to me was to run with Zenith, and I did.
If I was to bring in anything different to try, it would be Innovation or Lobo. But I cannot get those on demand, and I have Zenith for free and accessible now that I have enough square footage conquered.
Now, to answer your "lazy" lawn comment. Since I started this process, I have not applied fertilizer for four consective seasons now, and this year, I was able to get through the entire summer, and the first time I watered was last weekend after nearly a month with no rain. That's about as low input as it gets.
Another anecdote for you. A relative of mine who lives about 5 miles away was having similar problems and saw how zenith was working for me, so he went to get some. He was talked into either zeon, zorro, or geo (can't remember) by the sod supplier, and it failed to thrive, and he was disappointed.
To pre-emptively answer what might be an obvious question - "Why didn't I test bermuda?" Because everything I know about bermuda is it wants and needs all the fertilizer. A yard as large as mine is difficult and expensive to water and fertilize. I was specifically interested in what thrived on nothing. And I know that bermuda will grow on concrete, so I know it will grow. That said, I do have some common bermuda attempting to creep into one of the dead areas, and it's not really progressing much at all.
Edit - One more adder - Large yard = 54" ZTR mower. Zenith tolerates rotary mowing rather well. That was a concern with zoysia I had going into it.
