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Leveling Zoysia Advice

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3.7K views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  Victor Von Lawn  
#1 ·
We rolled in Zoysia sod in late July (Raleigh, NC) and the sprinkler install finished the night before the Sod arrived and I didn't have a chance to roll/compact the yard. We put down a thin layer of high-quality soil from the Sod company and it looked pretty level but after a few days of watering the lawn, it became bumpy. I can stand on spots and smooth it out so I am thinking of trying a plate compactor. I did some research and it sounds like it's safe to use on grass. Assuming you agree with that, would it be bad to do it now, or best to wait till the spring? My lawn has not gone dormant yet (still very green). Any thoughts?

Thanks!
 
#2 ·
I would wait till spring to do a leveling project. Zoysia is slow to recover, but it grows faster in spring. Well, I was told that and it did grow faster in the spring here.
And you can spot level first. By that, I mean to level just the deeper areas first. Go little by little first. Like 1/2 inch layers at a time. I did that here. I used a level and a flashlight at night to find the deeper spots. Dropped some soil and raked. Had to do that a couple of times.
I believe it's safer to wait till spring. I leveled my lawn about a month and a half (maybe 2 months?) ago. It's 100% recovered now.
But filled 2 ruts from a truck about 3 weeks ago. The deeper spots are still bare dirt, just a few blades coming through. And I'm in South Florida.
That said, I have a sample of fine-bladed zoysia in a pot and that recovers a lot faster from the top dressing. Actually, I topdressed it yesterday. Had a bit of sand I needed to get rid of, so I just dumped it on the zoysia. I believe that will be fine in 2 weeks. But because it's in a pot, I can nurse that thing closely.