I would go to domyown and start reading labels or look at the warm season section what they are using on zoysia and check the label if it's good for cool season grasses as well.

 

I have a KBG front lawn zoysia backyard in the north east. Zoysia is so thick I don't have much of any weeds I just spray Spectracide weed stop for lawns concentrate I pick up cheap from Lowe's when on sale for $5. Safe for zoysia in the summer safe for KBG in cooler weather. Zoysia is going to take awhile to fill in with the short growing season. My backyard ten years ago was half zoysia half cool season grass. To get the zoysia to dominate I cut short constantly only fed in the heat of the summer never feed in the spring or fall. Now it's about 90% zoysia. I only use cheap organic fertilizer zoysia has a low nitrogen need and only two applications once when out of dormancy and right after July 4th it wears off when growing season is almost over. Nothing after that you don't want to feed the cool season grass and late nitrogen can damage zoysia going into dormancy

 

Always interested to see how warm season goes in the northeast.

I would like to try it in a few years, I wouldn’t mind it checking out at first frost but I just worry about winter kill up here near Albany. I did see Cornell had a pamphlet about zoysia on Long Island. Maybe someday. Do you know what variety has the best winter hardiness?

 

Always interested to see how warm season goes in the northeast.

I would like to try it in a few years, I wouldn’t mind it checking out at first frost but I just worry about winter kill up here near Albany. I did see Cornell had a pamphlet about zoysia on Long Island. Maybe someday. Do you know what variety has the best winter hardiness?

I have Innovation Zoysia in NE Kansas and I've had no issues with winter kill. Zeon, Meyer, Innovation, Zennith, all score well for cold hardiness.

 

As mentioned before - zoysia looks like crap starting mid October to about end of may. But after that it’s amazing. I have yet to spray any herbecide in zoysia this year. On the other hand my cool grass it’s a different story.

The last plugs I got from NC were planted about two months ago and they are vibrant in color and spreading sideways. I have another order of about 100 plugs coming this week. Last year I did not plant those until end of August and was worried a bit. But they all came back this year without any issues.

So if this mean anything, ElToro zoysia definitely can survive harsh NE winters.

 

As mentioned before - zoysia looks like crap starting mid October to about end of may. But after that it’s amazing. I have yet to spray any herbecide in zoysia this year. On the other hand my cool grass it’s a different story.

The last plugs I got from NC were planted about two months ago and they are vibrant in color and spreading sideways. I have another order of about 100 plugs coming this week. Last year I did not plant those until end of August and was worried a bit. But they all came back this year without any issues.

So if this mean anything, ElToro zoysia definitely can survive harsh NE winters.

I agree zoysia is a no hassle lawn once established. I don't water it,no fungicide,no weed killer,no pre m , couple of light doses organic fertilizer spring Grubex just to keep the adults beatles out of the pool. Now my cool season front lawn that's a part-time job money pit 😂

 

I will follow along, as this mirrors my strategy 👋

 

Might have pulled the trigger on some innovation zoysia, guess my side yard is now a test plot!

 

Might have pulled the trigger on some innovation zoysia, guess my side yard is now a test plot!

Good luck hopefully it works out for you!

 

Thanks, your posts have helped. I got 3 trays, my side is 2,000 sq ft and I think they said at 1 ft spacing each tray should fill in 72 sq ft so this is going to be awhile. I don't plan on spraying everything out with the existing cool season, just probably feeding with liquid fert and letting it take over. I already have a manual reel I use on my KBG so I will be cutting short to help it along.

Not in a rush just interested to see how it goes, should be a fun experiment over the years.

 

I had really good luck with the NCplugs

Those are specifically made to be used with the ProPlugger tool

 

Yea I plan on using the pro plugger for my holes, just filing around with the smaller diameter either sand or compost. It is going to be a fun day. You have to post some pictures so we can see how it goes!

 

It would be a great transformation but the fact that our season technically doesn’t start until June with consistent warm temps and it going dormant by late sept/oct, it’s a hard sell for me

 

Totally understand. More of personal choice knowing what the zoysia looks like June to October is plenty of time for me to enjoy. After that oh well.

my guess is that the zones will only be shifting more north so that the grass will start getting more and more of that warm time.

for example, lady across the street has lawn company taking care of her yard. She isn’t using sprinkler system and her cool season is scorched right now.
from my perspective I would rather enjoy my grass now instead of winter months. But that just me.

 

 

I will definitely follow along your journey. Trying something similiar in southern part of central jersey. I am in a beach town so generally tends to stay a bit warmer than inland.

I plugged a 200 sqft area with tahoma 31 about 3 weeks ago. Its in full sun south facing and just bakes in the summer. So far its doing great.

 

I will definitely follow along your journey. Trying something similiar in southern part of central jersey. I am in a beach town so generally tends to stay a bit warmer than inland.

I plugged a 200 sqft area with tahoma 31 about 3 weeks ago. Its in full sun south facing and just bakes in the summer. So far its doing great. View attachment 73454

That starting to look great. Clean start. I’m plugging mine in between the cool season grass so it’s hard to see the exact progress. BUT with that said I’m seeing them spreading with stolons and popping away from the plugs, which makes me very happy.

I have a small area that was replenished with sand, after pipe fix and I put 6 plugs there. I ensured to water them daily for the first month and they now look so great and healthy and I’m seeing stolons.