# What is the best protocol for leveling your lawn?



## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

I was hoping to get some insight from some of you that have had success with leveling your lawn on what's the best sequence when taking on this project. So, I just verticut/ dethatched my overgrown (3.0-3.5+inches) zeon zoysia. What a job that was! Then I brought down the HOC with my rotary mower by working my way down from the third setting to the lowest setting around 1" HOC. I plan on using my reel mower to take it down to about 0.5-0.75" before I spread the sand.

My questions are 1. what type of sand is best to use for zoysia, 2. should I fertilize before the sand or after or both, 3. watering after sanding-how much, how often, and for how long typically, 4. best timing to topdress with the sand?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Here are some before and after pics of my front yard verticutting/ scalping work. Hopefully I can get some good advice and get the lawn looking great this summer. The last summer it did not look great at all...


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## cwrx82 (Sep 16, 2018)

@zoysialover I don't have all the answers, but I'll give it a shot. 
1. use masonry sand as it should have smaller particle size compared to other stuff that'll wreck your reel mower. 
2. Fertilize after leveling bc if you drag the sand, you may end up dragging a lot of the fertilizer to one area. 
3. Water after working the sand down into the canopy. The water will wash it down and help the grass to breakthrough the sand, depending on how much you throw down. 
4. Level once the yard is growing well, that way it'll be able to recover more easily than when it's not at full growing potential.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@cwrx82- Thanks for the info! I have around 7500 sq ft of lawn. How thick a layer should I spread over the grass and how do I calculate how much sand I will need? Thanks again.


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## cwrx82 (Sep 16, 2018)

Usually around 1 yard/1k of grass. So, 7-8 yards for your lawn, might go 8 to have a little more for the areas that settle quite a bit. I wouldn't do more than and inch at a time. It's covered in the Bermuda Bible, not sure if it's discussed in the Zoysia Bible.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Last year I only ordered six yards of sand and that was a mistake. It doesn't go nearly as far as one would think.

1.) I used river sand 100$ 6 yards
2). After
3.) I use my same watering habit deep infrequent
4.) When grass is growing vigorous.


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

Zoysia doesn't like to be smothered. Or at least Meyer doesn't. I made that mistake and it took two season to recover.


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## reidgarner (Jun 18, 2018)

high leverage said:


> Zoysia doesn't like to be smothered. Or at least Meyer doesn't. I made that mistake and it took two season to recover.


This. Go easy on the amount of sand, wait until it is fully green. I'd say .10 - .25 inch of sand at most. That can be hard to do when you're spreading by hand. You may look into renting a powered top dresser like this:

https://www.keystonetoolrental.com/top-dressing
You can fill in low areas deeper but like @high leverage says, expect a full season (or more) to recover.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@high leverage - how thick a layer did you put on your zoysia when you smothered it? I'm just curious because I have a pretty uneven lawn and wanted to put the maximum amount down (around 0.75in) to get it looking nice and level. If I can only put 0.10-0.25 in a year I might be dead before my lawn is level...lol!


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## high leverage (Jun 11, 2017)

zoysialover said:


> @high leverage - how thick a layer did you put on your zoysia when you smothered it? I'm just curious because I have a pretty uneven lawn and wanted to put the maximum amount down (around 0.75in) to get it looking nice and level. If I can only put 0.10-0.25 in a year I might be dead before my lawn is level...lol!


I used at least an inch +. I should also note my Zoysia area only receives around 5ish hours of full sun. That's a contributing factor to recover time.


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## drewwitt (Jun 25, 2018)

I have Zeon and am planning the same. I recently scalped 400sf and dethatched as a test. It has taken two weeks to green back up and start to grow. The zoysia was left really tall. 4-6" in some spots because the lawn is so bumpy.

Once I get it fully green and cut a few times, I plan on getting a 60/40 sand/compost mix from a local soil supplier and leveling that area only with .25-.50". I'm going to borrow a friends LevelLawn rake to make sure it's leveled. Then I'll hit it with N and water and keep an eye it to make sure the grass blades are poking through.

If that's a success and doesn't take forever, I'll attempt the same on the rest of my 2000sf lawn.

My chief concern is recovery time for Zeon as it's really slow and sleepy compared to Bermuda. I've seen a lot of lawns on here leveled and most seem to be Bermuda. I can't remember if I've seen a zoysia lawn leveled...please chime in if you've done it successfully.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@drewwitt -I totally agree with you. I have watched a few youtube videos of lawn leveling but its always bermuda or KBG. I was hoping someone on TLF had already worked out a successful protocol for leveling. I'm almost tempted to call the golf course down the street and ask to speak to the superintendent and ask him how he cares for the zoysia (not sure what type of zoysia it is). I think its really smart of you to do a small test section but you're going to have to wait until next year to level the rest of your lawn. Good luck and please post (pics too) how your test section works out!!


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## drewwitt (Jun 25, 2018)

I know. I'm impatient. But I'm afraid of jacking with the zoysia. It's so slow to recover.


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