# Will's 2020 Palisades Zoysia Journal



## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

My TLF name is Texas_Bermuda and my Lawn Journal is Palisades Zoysia. I was able to change my lawn out this past winter, but I've been unable to change my TLF name to protect the publicity of my fail.

In 2018 we dug out the hillside back yard and installed a limestone retaining wall (I'm in Austin). I simply wanted a flat yard for the kids to play. When I asked the masonry guy (first mistake) about grass options, I said Bermuda (second mistake). While it was sunny at that moment, the area only receives 2-4 hours of direct light and another 2 or so of dappled.

Yard before



Yard after


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

March 2018 to October 2019 were spent fighting to encourage the Bermuda growth. The emotional rollercoaster of trouble shooting went something like this.
- Dmn, thats a fine Bermuda yard
- Hm, guess that Bermuda is patchy cause it's new
- Honey I know what I said, these guys on TLF are gunna help me fix the grass
- Oh, you have to fertilize it!
- Sprinklers are only laying 0.5"per hour - fixed that.
- Milogornite sounds like a pro move
- Weeds suck, tired of pulling them, whats this Pre-m?
- Argh, August in texas, the bermuda shouldnt be SO THIN!!
- Maybe its the shade, I could trim the neighbors trees (wife fumes)
- could be that low quality loam, or the compacted soil underneath. Cant fix that....yet.
- where in the world are the roots??
- Soapy water... army worms!
- Killed the army worms
- Grass still not filling out
- Maybe i should trim the neighbors trees
- diligently measure the sunlight hours - oh sh*t
- honey we're replacing the bermuda


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Meanwhile, April 2019, we put in a pool.

Me- a pool is a terrible investment.
Wife- eyeroll
Wifes friend- a pool is a lifestyle, not an investment
Me-eyeroll

Got it done on a right budget.

Worth it.

So while I could have gone straight to the shade-friendlier Augustine, I wanted softer on the feet by the pool. Read around here guys have made Zoysia work on 3 hours of sun, so on doing some research I found Palisades Zoysia.

Let me say up front, I know even Palisades will be no walk in the park. I am willing to work at it and invest in it to get it happy and healthy.

Feb 2020 - new Zoysia install
- Removed Bermuda plus 4" of loam beneath (trust me the roots didnt go deeper than that)
- tilled the soil
- laid 3" landscape mix
- new palisaides


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

So we risked it with the sod timing in early Feb but with temps here we were fortunate and the grass took well. In spite of maybe under watering.

I was not feeling optimistic from the early days. Bermuda PTSD set in fast. It was quite patchy initially and a few strips of sod had gone full brown.



March 15- gave it a starter fert, only 0.75# N per M.

To repair the brown spots, tried out a soil topping and raked it in gently. Have kept it wet.

Liquid seaweed the whole yard.

Need a soil test. Waypoint? Should have done that before laying new sod. Doh!

Macro plan for the year
Thanks to feedback from @Spammage @reidgarner @jayhawk and others along the way thus far.

Fert
- 3.0# N per M
> March 15 0.75#
> This week another 0.75#
> Mid-June another 0.75#
> Aug final 0.75#

- hand pull weeds, no chem this year

- 2in water per week; 1" 2x per week

- mow at 2.5" to help in the shadier areas

- preventative fungus spray - might have missed the window on this, its already 90 here

-build a giant raised bed for the dog and train him off the lawn

Thoughts?


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

2 brown strips before soil topping, water and liquid seaweed.



Current



Small progress, but its the first potential win ive had in 2 years (other than finding and killing armyworms - that felt great)

Yard this morning


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## jimsizzle (Apr 2, 2020)

Texas_Bermuda said:


> 2 brown strips before soil topping, water and liquid seaweed.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I've got some thin spots in my palisades lawn b/c of drainage issues. Think soil topping might help. What'd you use?


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

I have been using a landscape soil mix, no more than 1/2" and not compost - raking it in gently and keeping very wet for a few days. Then move to the next. My yard is high shade so i am careful about fungus.


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Palisades filled in nicely. Having trouble with certain spots getting shocked from dryness i guess. Hand wattered to confirm the shock is lack of water. Check. Added some different hunter mp rotor heads to overlap water on those areas.

Also have dropped hoc from 2.5 to 2". Will leave it here through rest of season because yard very unlevel and using a rotor.

Sharpened blade first time in two years. Will get more regular on that.

Waypoint has my soil sample. Waiting on results.

Thoughts about the what next.
Pgr - cutting every 4 days, its too much. Should help with the shaded yard and encourage better lat growth. 
Pre-em - need to get some down by fall. Letting the sod get well established first.
Post-em - have some crabgrass have been handpulling. avoiding chems until later in year.
Fusilades - old bermuda hangin around in the zoysia. Later.
Sand level - this year or next

Grass today


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## blackphenomenon (Jun 1, 2020)

This mirrors my first year of palisades very closely. I'm in Houston. Did very well the first 3 years. Very slow to green up fully and come out of winter hibernation, compared to my front lawn which is common St. Aug.

It has still done well in the heavily shaded area - even when they get down to what appears to be bare dirt in Houston's winter temps, but for 4 years it has come back, while thin, every year. You can't really kill it in any way.

I have a ring I believe is fungal related, and hopefully I can get this eradicated soon.


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Soil sample finally in from Waypoint. Ph=8.0. Makes sense, dug out hillside exposing thousands of years of limestone based soil.



Won't attempt permanent ph reduction which would be great for the zoysia. Rather, will move to AMS based fert program with chelated iron foliar spray. Also apply micronutrients.

Thanks to @g-man for getting me this far.

- Nitrogen - Ammonium Sulfate; 0.5lb/k/month for total of 3 lb per year. Screwed up the measurement and put down 1#/k on 6/22/20... Nice start!
- Chelated iron foliar - to overcome the high ph and allow nutrient absorption. Applied FEeature 6-0-0 (2oz/k) first time on 7/3/20.
- PGR - TNex tank mix with Anuew. Applied first time on 6/27/20 (applied 0.3oz/k anuew and 0.2oz/k tnex)
- pre-em - have prodiamine but not using yet. Will do in late summer after sod has had full chance to root and grow laterally.
- Fungicide - need to get something down this fall.

Open questions. 
1. I read AMS is bad to use in Fall... what then for nitrogen?
2. When apply fungicide
3. Best post em for crabgrass and sedge in zoysia

Before (before ams, pgr and feature)
6/22/20, 2" fresh cut


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

blackphenomenon said:


> This mirrors my first year of palisades very closely. I'm in Houston. Did very well the first 3 years. Very slow to green up fully and come out of winter hibernation, compared to my front lawn which is common St. Aug.
> 
> It has still done well in the heavily shaded area - even when they get down to what appears to be bare dirt in Houston's winter temps, but for 4 years it has come back, while thin, every year. You can't really kill it in any way.
> 
> I have a ring I believe is fungal related, and hopefully I can get this eradicated soon.


What fungicide are you going with? Is there a diff for prevention vs post?


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

Texas_Bermuda said:


> Soil sample finally in from Waypoint. Ph=8.0. Makes sense, dug out hillside exposing thousands of years of limestone based soil.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


@Greendoc what's the advantage of tank mixing Anuew with Tnex? I, too, have Palisades Zoysia and was hoping to piggy back off your advice above. I have Tnex on hand but not Anuew. Thanks.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Softer action on the Zoysia. Less rebound if you are late with the next application. On wide bladed Japonica varieties, you might not need more than 8 oz TNex per acre and 12-16 oz Anuew. At that rate, I get up to 30 days of regulation.


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Been a roller coaster this first season with palisades but I feel good about the progress and ability to keep thick, green, consistent grass. Couple learnings this season.

1. Keep the blade sharp
2. Water lawn before applying pgr.
3. Get fungicide down in spring

Things to work on for next season
1. Scalp, sand and level
2. Sprinkler adjustments to even water distribution. Some spots in shade need less.
3. Kill the Bermuda resid

Here's my draft plan for next season.



Today cut at 2.25"


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Palisades Spring 2021 Progress and Plan

To date:

Jan - pre-em

Pic at March 20:


Mar - anti fungal (a)

Apr
- dethatch
- anti fungal (b) and 3-1-2 fert (0.6#/k)

Pic at April 9 - before dethatch 


Plan

1st week of May: scalp to dirt and sand, fert

[End of May]? Bermuda eradication program start

Inspired by this thread
https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=17341


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## bew002 (Mar 30, 2021)

Will - the lawn looks great man! I live in Dallas and just laid palisades zoysia sod in my back yard 8 days ago. It was light brown at installation which I deemed to be dormant grass. I've been watering 15 minutes on each section of the grass each morning before sunrise and only providing supplemental water later in the day if it seemed like the soil underneath the sod was not leaving moisture on my fingers when touched.

We have a dense clay soil in DFW and it holds water very well. So the soil underneath has stayed moist now without doing any supplemental watering. However, the sod is not greening up all that much despite having sunny days over the last week.

I'm curious if you would suggest some humate soil conditioner to help treat the clay soil and whether that is okay to use on newly laid palisades sod. Also - I noticed a significant improvement after you did the liquid seaweed treatment on your lawn. Would you suggest doing that again & at what point after having sod installed?

Lastly - any other suggestions would be much appreciated. My back yard is fairly shaded in areas but most of the grassy areas received 4-5 hours of direct sunlight per day.

I've provided some pictures for reference to my lawn.
#1 - picture of the old lawn when we bought the house. 
#2 - picture of palisades zoysia during install.
#3 - picture of palisades zoysia after 1 week.


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Hi sorry slow to see this and respond. Good lookin new lawn!! The old one was fun too &#128512;

I would recommend taking up the watering significantly. the sod is looking stressed. Put out flat bottom containers and measure how much you're laying down in a few spots around the yard. I'd be doing 0.5" 1x per day now (you're about 14 days in), and in a week drop it to every other for 2 weeks, then 1 inch 1x per week after that.

Get down some antifungal. With your shade and the watering this spring just be cautious about fungus. You'll prob need to keep a slightly higher mow height given the shade, compounds the risk of fungus.

I only use the seaweed when the yard is stressed. I try to keep organics off the palisades generally- no compost, seaweed, etc, unless part of a recovery.

Have you put down fertilizer? Consider a 3-1-2 slow release now and then hit it with 0.5# /1k AMS for the following 4 months (april-aug). Then some potash later.

Have you don't a soil sample test? I'd recommend waypoint if not.

Got any pics of the grass now?


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## Texas_Bermuda (Sep 1, 2018)

Texas_Bermuda said:


> Hi sorry slow to see this and respond. Good lookin new lawn! The old one was fun too! 😀
> 
> I would recommend taking up the watering significantly. the sod is looking stressed. Put out flat bottom containers and measure how much you're laying down in a few spots around the yard. I'd be doing 0.5" 1x per day now (you're about 14 days in), and in a week drop it to every other day for 2 weeks, then 1 inch 1x per wk after that.
> 
> ...


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