[Zoysialawnnut]

Hello everyone, first time poster on here and still reading all the good information on this site. Now, about my lawn. This is the third time that I laid down empire zoysia and I'm not even done yet. There has been a lot of learning with this type of grass and fighting off weeds, especially purple nutsedge, crabgrass, kyllinga, and a host of others that I can't remember the names for. This time around I ran into issues with fungus. Luckly I did manage to control it but it is still an uphill battle with it (I'm using 3336 degree fungicide) to combat it. I currently use a toro 22 awd self-paced mower that I sharpen the blade about every other mow. I do plan on getting a reel mover, but my only issue with that is that the highest cutting height is 1 7/8 height. He are pics of what I have done far and my arsenal. Great to be able to converse with like minded people about lawn care. Also after reading up on the sprayer wand build, I have in my basket all of the items from spray master and will be ordering it very soon.

 

[Ware]

Welcome to TLF! I renamed your thread so it will be easier to track/identify. :thumbsup:

 

[Gregau33]

I have empire zoysia and I'm located on the panhandle of Florida (Destin). In the last couple of years, I maintained my empire zoysia at 2.5" to 3" and it was super thick and soft. This is the first year I scalped it, and I have really regretted it. It's taking forever for the grass to wake up... I think the scalping really stressed the empire.

I was going to get a california trimmer reel mower and maintain it low, but I'm not sure sure if that is best for Empire Zoysia since it has a pretty wide blade and it is super spikey when it is cut low. At 2.5 - 3" it is super soft and really thick. I guess my point is, I'm not sold on keeping empire cut low. I've also noticed I have to water my lawn quite a bit more since the sun is really beating down on the yard and drying it out.

Also, empire and el Toro HATE any kind of shade, and perform pretty bad when competing with the roots of bigger trees. I love my empire, but where I am located, it really doesn't start really growing until June.

The picture attached was cut at around 2.5" last June.

 

[Gregau33]

Forgot to mention that I have the Bio stimulant pack as well. It might be too early to notice, but I have seen 0 improvement in the turf with the RGS, Humic, Air-8, etc, applications (compared to previous years). I have had some sedge problems this year and used some Dismiss to kill it when I see it popping up.

 

[TigerinFL]

i think that bio stimulant pack takes some time to get going from what I have seen on the videos. nothing that you will see happen overnight.

i hadn't pulled the trigger on that particular pack yet.

 

[Spammage]

When you scalp any grass, it has to create new crowns for the shoots to grow from. Bermuda handles this more quickly than zoysia. Zoysia is also what I would call a more defensive grass - ie when anything "damages" the grass, it goes into survival mode before it starts growing again. I used to maintain my yard high too, but suffering through one Spring was worth the effort. This is El Toro at 7/16" taken last week. I just applied PGR yesterday for the first time, because Spring was crazy with temp swings this year and slowed the green up.

 

[Gregau33]

When you scalp any grass, it has to create new crowns for the shoots to grow from. Bermuda handles this more quickly than zoysia. Zoysia is also what I would call a more defensive grass - ie when anything "damages" the grass, it goes into survival mode before it starts growing again. I used to maintain my yard high too, but suffering through one Spring was worth the effort. This is El Toro at 7/16" taken last week. I just applied PGR yesterday for the first time, because Spring was crazy with temp swings this year and slowed the green up.

Your El Toro is looking nice! Did you have to do any sand leveling when you took it this low? How quick did the zoysia respond with the leveling?

 

[Spammage]

The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.

 

[Gregau33]

The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.

How often are you having to water? Have you had to increase your times/days since you are so low?

 

[Spammage]

The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.

How often are you having to water? Have you had to increase your times/days since you are so low?

In the heat of summer(100ish every day and NO rain - DFW summers suck), I will need to water every 5-6 days, but only because of the Palisades in the back. My El Toro will get 7-8 days before showing stress. Before cutting reel low, I could stretch the El Toro to 9-10 days.

 

[Zoysialawnnut]

Welcome to TLF! I renamed your thread so it will be easier to track/identify. :thumbsup:

Thank you for that!!!

 

[Zoysialawnnut]

I have empire zoysia and I'm located on the panhandle of Florida (Destin). In the last couple of years, I maintained my empire zoysia at 2.5" to 3" and it was super thick and soft. This is the first year I scalped it, and I have really regretted it. It's taking forever for the grass to wake up... I think the scalping really stressed the empire.

I was going to get a california trimmer reel mower and maintain it low, but I'm not sure sure if that is best for Empire Zoysia since it has a pretty wide blade and it is super spikey when it is cut low. At 2.5 - 3" it is super soft and really thick. I guess my point is, I'm not sold on keeping empire cut low. I've also noticed I have to water my lawn quite a bit more since the sun is really beating down on the yard and drying it out.

Also, empire and el Toro HATE any kind of shade, and perform pretty bad when competing with the roots of bigger trees. I love my empire, but where I am located, it really doesn't start really growing until June.

The picture attached was cut at around 2.5" last June.

Wow that is great looking yard. I'm trying to get mine there but unfortunately with the 3 oaks in the front yard it's hard to get the proper sun that it needs. I'm going to trim it back more to let more sun in. The front strip and driveway side look great so far, but front yard is not really going to get the full potential of the sun.

 

[Zoysialawnnut]

Forgot to mention that I have the Bio stimulant pack as well. It might be too early to notice, but I have seen 0 improvement in the turf with the RGS, Humic, Air-8, etc, applications (compared to previous years). I have had some sedge problems this year and used some Dismiss to kill it when I see it popping up.

I finally got a chance to lay down 4oz's of both RGS and Air-8 yesterday evening. I waited until I got a better sprayer nozzles for my 4 gal backpack sprayer (will be upgrading to one with built in agitation). I have dismiss also for nut sedge and low it, going to spray again soon. In one of the pics, I laid down emp. zoysia sod for my neighbor and it's flourishing with nutsedge, sprayed sedgehammer on it, might have to do another application. I will be doing a regular schedule of application of N-Ext, milo, ironite, and very little lesco fert.

 

[Zoysialawnnut]

When you scalp any grass, it has to create new crowns for the shoots to grow from. Bermuda handles this more quickly than zoysia. Zoysia is also what I would call a more defensive grass - ie when anything "damages" the grass, it goes into survival mode before it starts growing again. I used to maintain my yard high too, but suffering through one Spring was worth the effort. This is El Toro at 7/16" taken last week. I just applied PGR yesterday for the first time, because Spring was crazy with temp swings this year and slowed the green up.

Nice looking El Toro! Around my area in Apopka there really isn't any other type of zoysia to get locally other then empire, all other types are too far away.

 

[Zoysialawnnut]

The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.

How often are you having to water? Have you had to increase your times/days since you are so low?

In the heat of summer(100ish every day and NO rain - DFW summers suck), I will need to water every 5-6 days, but only because of the Palisades in the back. My El Toro will get 7-8 days before showing stress. Before cutting reel low, I could stretch the El Toro to 9-10 days.

Wow.....5-6 days. I have my water scheduled at 2 to 3 times a week. For some reason I will gets spots of stress from not having water and I water at about 45mins in each zone. If it gets neglected, it will perish on me pretty quickly.

 

[Gregau33]

How often are you having to water? Have you had to increase your times/days since you are so low?

In the heat of summer(100ish every day and NO rain - DFW summers suck), I will need to water every 5-6 days, but only because of the Palisades in the back. My El Toro will get 7-8 days before showing stress. Before cutting reel low, I could stretch the El Toro to 9-10 days.

Wow.....5-6 days. I have my water scheduled at 2 to 3 times a week. For some reason I will gets spots of stress from not having water and I water at about 45mins in each zone. If it gets neglected, it will perish on me pretty quickly.

We are in Florida. We have a lot more sand in our "soil," which doesn't allow the ground to absorb the water as much. In the heat of summer, I have to water 3 days a week.. totaling about 1.25" - 1.5" per week. The long and infrequent watering is harder to do in sandy soil because of the drainage properties of sand. Unless your builder hauled in tons of good quality soil (which is very expensive), I don't see how it is possible to water once a week in the middle of summer with no rain. We have a well for our irrigation, so I don't mind the watering. If my irrigation was hooked up to city water, I'd be paying quite a bit on my water bill.

 

[Spammage]

No doubt the soil differences are fairly extreme between my clay and a beach. I still put down about an inch a week, but my drainage is so slow that I have to cycle multiple times over several hours to get that to soak in. In the summer though, we typically "lose" about .3"/day to evapotranspiration.

 

[Tellycoleman]

@Zoysialawnnut why is this the 3rd time you tried to lay down empire zoysia sod? What happened the other 2 times? Did your lawn gradually thin out and die? The very 1st picture you posted shows a heck of a lot of shade. I know zoysia is shade tolerant but that a lot. Does that area get any direct sunlight or is it all filtered sunlight threw the trees.
With 3 Oak trees your gonna have to make a decision. Trees in the front or nice grass
The oak trees will compete with the grasses for water and nutrients. Large, woody roots are often apparent right on the soil surface under oak trees, making it difficult to mow, as well. Most lawn grasses prefer full sun and have high water and fertilizer requirements, so they are fundamentally opposed in most ways.
How long do you plan on staying in your home? If this is a home you want to have for a long time I would very earnestly consider removing those 3 oak trees before they get any bigger. Do a simple google search for Oak trees and driveway/foundation problems and you will see why. My neighbor had foundation issues from oak tree roots and the tree was 15 feet away from his house. Look at the picture below and you will see why laying sod will only be a temporary fix.
Ok enough about the trees. Your lawn is great. Keep it up I would be interested to see how it responds to RGS

 

[Gregau33]

@Tellycoleman +1000 . I have a neighbor who has the same grass as me and he has no idea why his grass is thin and dying out. I know why... he has oak trees ALL over his property! I told my neighbor he really has to choose if he wants big oak trees or a thick lush lawn... you can't have both. The choice for me is easy. Who wants these huge trees in your yard that shed leaves like crazy in the fall and winter, and shade your whole turf during the growing season? No thanks

 

[gatormac2112]

Trees are the devil