# Zoysia help



## jb83 (Mar 17, 2019)

As Spring as rolled around and my grass is starting to green up, it became evident that there was something wrong with the zoysia in my back yard. The areas in the pictures below was fairly well covered with healthy grass last year. We have pines that drop needles on the back year, and we evidently did not get as much of them raked up as we should have.

Can I get some feedback on what might have happened here? The needles did not come close to fully covering the grass. Also, ashamed as I am to admit it, there were some areas that had fairly extensive leaf coverage until just recently, and that grass seems to be fine. Is there anything I can do at this point, or should I consider large portions of this grass dead?


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## ZoysiaPro (Mar 27, 2019)

Your zoysia looks like it's dry. Make sure you're getting 3/4" to 1" of water.


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## gkaneko (Dec 11, 2018)

Cut it.


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## jb83 (Mar 17, 2019)

Bumping for some help on this one. Anyone else think that I need to start watering already? I live in Little Rock, where we get a decent amount of rain each week (more than we need for the past couple of years). Should I hit it with fertilizer yet or super juice, etc?


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## socerplaye (Jun 14, 2018)

I'm in Memphis and have about 10k sq ft of Zoysia. It helps to get the dead stuff up off the surface especially where it is matted down. I ran a power rake over it a couple of weeks ago and then cut it short. It's already greened up more than this time last year.

I'm still going around to low spots and hit it with a rake to get the rest of the dead stuff up. Unfortunately, it's slow growing so slow to fill in.


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## ZoysiaPro (Mar 27, 2019)

@jb83 have you done anything to the yard? IMO, Zoysia looks best when it is scalped, power raked, and fertilized before spring green up. That's what I do and my yard always greens up really well.

In your photos, the grass looks dry and slightly matted. Do you know how much rain/irrigation the lawn has gotten? I don't know what you temps have been, but I'm in North Florida and I'm already having to water 2x per week.


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## jb83 (Mar 17, 2019)

ZoysiaPro said:


> @jb83 have you done anything to the yard? IMO, Zoysia looks best when it is scalped, power raked, and fertilized before spring green up. That's what I do and my yard always greens up really well.
> 
> In your photos, the grass looks dry and slightly matted. Do you know how much rain/irrigation the lawn has gotten? I don't know what you temps have been, but I'm in North Florida and I'm already having to water 2x per week.


We are getting record rainfall her in Arkansas, it's got to be averaging at least an inch per week. Overnight lows have not gotten above 65. With that in mind, is it too late to scalp, power rake, and fertilize? Also, the soil is clay, and the ground stays quite soft for days after a heavy rain, if that has any bearing on your recommendation.


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## drewwitt (Jun 25, 2018)

Zoysia likes it hot. Perhaps it hasn't been hot enough? What's the average soil temps?


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## jb83 (Mar 17, 2019)

drewwitt said:


> Zoysia likes it hot. Perhaps it hasn't been hot enough? What's the average soil temps?


Today's average was 70 degrees.


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## ZoysiaPro (Mar 27, 2019)

@jb83 You still have plenty of time. I use a Sun Joe electric dethatcher with the spring tine cartridge installed, and I usually go over it at least twice in a perpendicular pattern. You can rent a power rake from tool rental companies, but I feel the sun joe is really safe and you're less likely to overdo it.

Cut the grass at it 1" and fertilize it. Without a soil sample, milorganite or a balanced fertilizer is a safe bet.

You may want to aerate at some point as well, but this will really help out.

@drewwitt here's his soil temps according to Syngenta...


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## RDZed (Jul 13, 2018)

Honestly, that grass needs to breathe. Chop and bag it, throw some fert down and water the snot out of it.


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## hefegrass (Mar 20, 2019)

I would do a scalp and rake up anything stuck to the ground. I had some areas that were very matted down with dead grass that were suffocating the lawn. After hand raking all of the dead grass out and feeding a little fert it really started to fill in. there are just a few bare spots left that are closing up.
there are several other houses in the neighborhood with zoysia but they didnt scalp and still have mostly brown lawns


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## drewwitt (Jun 25, 2018)

I'm still learning zoysia but here's my observations from this year: I did a test scalp, Dethatch, fert, and water section in February. It looked rough. Two months later it's the best section in my yard. The areas I didn't scalp and Dethatch look similar to yours. I believe it's because there's dead grass and thatch keeping the air, water, and fert away. I bought the sun joe Dethatcher and did the rest of my yard with the spring tine attachment as well. Two weeks later things are greening up. I also noticed that my grass didn't really get it in gear until after I was consistently hitting 75 in soil temps. It was frustrating because all my Bermuda friends have carpet grass now while mine is inching along. For reference, I'm in south Texas and have Zeon zoysia that was sodded in fall 2017.

I agree with all the recommendations above. Scalp, lightly dethatch (be careful not to over do it because it may take more time to fill in and repair), put a balanced fert down (I use a lesco 15-5-10 with iron) and water deep twice a week. For a bonus, I spent $30 and got a product called penterra that helps move the water down into the soil. I noticed I was getting run off and the soil seemed hydrophobic. It's been doing wonders. I hope this helps.


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## LAG Gamecock (Apr 23, 2019)

My zoysia is just greening up in GA so I think you are ok. As others have already mentioned, get the dead stuff up. I have been running the worx power rake over mine several times. It is not as aggressive as a power rake from a rental store which I think tears up zoysia too much. If you have been getting a lot of rain then don't water. Zoysia doesn't like overwatering. If you can get some fert down before a rain, let it water it in for you.


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## NeVs (Aug 17, 2018)

LAG Gamecock said:


> My zoysia is just greening up in GA so I think you are ok. As others have already mentioned, get the dead stuff up. I have been running the worx power rake over mine several times. It is not as aggressive as a power rake from a rental store which I think tears up zoysia too much. If you have been getting a lot of rain then don't water. Zoysia doesn't like overwatering. If you can get some fert down before a rain, let it water it in for you.


Any chance you could provide a link or model number. I'm currently facing a much more minor situation as the OP. And am looking at different detatcher/power rake options but couldnt find one from worx


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## drenglish (Jun 22, 2018)

@j@jb83 I live north of you in Mountain Home, AR. I scalped my backyard zoysia a month ago to really expose the soil to any sunshine and it's coming in nicely. I haven't watered it yet either as we're getting a lot of the rain you are. I haven't fed it yet, and am about to work on that and color. I'll let others chime in on appropriate fertilizer practices for zoysia, but I bet it's close to time to start if not already.


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## jb83 (Mar 17, 2019)

drenglish said:


> @[email protected] I live north of you in Mountain Home, AR. I scalped my backyard zoysia a month ago to really expose the soil to any sunshine and it's coming in nicely. I haven't watered it yet either as we're getting a lot of the rain you are. I haven't fed it yet, and am about to work on that and color. I'll let others chime in on appropriate fertilizer practices for zoysia, but I bet it's close to time to start if not already.


When you scalp, are we talking like a weed eater down to the bare ground, or my mower on the one inch setting? Is it still of to scalp the sections that have greened up already?


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## NeVs (Aug 17, 2018)

jb83 said:


> drenglish said:
> 
> 
> > @[email protected] I live north of you in Mountain Home, AR. I scalped my backyard zoysia a month ago to really expose the soil to any sunshine and it's coming in nicely. I haven't watered it yet either as we're getting a lot of the rain you are. I haven't fed it yet, and am about to work on that and color. I'll let others chime in on appropriate fertilizer practices for zoysia, but I bet it's close to time to start if not already.
> ...


Scalping is when you cut low enough to remove part of the grass crown which is brown, removing all of the green with it.

The height of the crown will vary from grass to grass, as well as, how tall was the grass permitted to grow.


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## LAG Gamecock (Apr 23, 2019)

NeVs said:


> LAG Gamecock said:
> 
> 
> > My zoysia is just greening up in GA so I think you are ok. As others have already mentioned, get the dead stuff up. I have been running the worx power rake over mine several times. It is not as aggressive as a power rake from a rental store which I think tears up zoysia too much. If you have been getting a lot of rain then don't water. Zoysia doesn't like overwatering. If you can get some fert down before a rain, let it water it in for you.
> ...


Sorry, it's the greenworks model 27022 on amazon.


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