# Emerald Zoysia Slow to Green



## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

Hi,

New to the forum and seeking some advice/reassurance..

We laid sod last spring and it looked great all year. My front yard I may have let get too long from advice from former landscapers. the back yard is starting to green while the front yard is still mostly brown, I know that my type of zoysia likes the warm weather and with the mild spring that may be the cause.

Any insight is much appreciated!


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

Do you have any pictures?


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

It looks like its starting to creep in. Here are pics of front and back


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

Have you scalped that thing down?


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

If I had to guess, the new growth can't get any sun or air because of all the old growth and therefore slow to green up. I would try and thin out the front some by cutting it down to about an inch (or however low your rotary mower will go) and dethatch if you can. You can rent a dethatching machine from Home Depot but you might have to get there first thing in the morning as they tend to get rented a lot this time of year.


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

I thought about the thatch as well, I let the grass grow to over 2.5 and mowed a few times without bagging since it was new sod, I did mow to about an inch last friday, as that's the lowest my craftsman will go. Already seeing a little just from that.

Thanks for the insight, hopefully as it warms itll green up some more, im going to be more diligent about mowing and bagging it at the end of year,

Ill update once it warms


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

Tmank87 said:


> Have you scalped that thing down?


I just cut it down last week from about 2.5-3 to 1 inch hoping that works


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

ATLG said:


> Tmank87 said:
> 
> 
> > Have you scalped that thing down?
> ...


That'll definitely help. Warm the soil up a bit more, allow fresh growth to breathe and move through.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

What part of atlanta?

You are rightly concerned, it should be green. Could have been weak last fall from fungus and therefore here we are.

Is it smooth enough to be maintained at 1" you think?

Are you on a fert n squirt regime ? Once we get into the 80s she'll really start growing.


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

I agree. That should not be that 'dormant' this time of year, even at that height.


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## tneicna (May 6, 2019)

I recommend getting a WiFi soil probe temperature device.

I bet your subsoil temperatures are too 'cold' and engaging in dormancy.


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## rjw0283 (May 11, 2020)

I have a corner patch of Zoysia and the rest of my lawn is Bermuda. My Zoysia is still dormant and the Bermuda is growing pretty good. I over seeded with Rye. I killed it off and scalped to 1/4 inch. The Zoysia struggles to make it past the PRG thatch and the Bermuda doesn't have an issue with it. I would de-thatch, but I'm not overly concerned since that is the only area that really needs it. 
I honestly thought I killed it somehow as it's dormant as yours, but I'm starting to see growth.


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

jayhawk said:


> What part of atlanta?
> 
> You are rightly concerned, it should be green. Could have been weak last fall from fungus and therefore here we are.
> 
> ...


I am in East Atlanta Village- It seems to be smooth enough to be maintained. I also had an issue with burrowing animals throughout the winter that took battling with gas, mothballs, sand, and rocks, This could have also been a reason for the slow growth which may mean i have a another problem. I have been using true green since last summer-fall as well.

I did fertilize in early march, but not too much as it wasn't recommended until after greenup. I am going to rent a dethatcher and run through it today.


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

tneicna said:


> I recommend getting a WiFi soil probe temperature device.
> 
> I bet your subsoil temperatures are too 'cold' and engaging in dormancy.


100% there's this site http://www.georgiaweather.net/?content=tr&variable=XS that keeps soil temps in the area. With the slope of that hill, length of the grass this winter and the cold my initial guess was the weather was too mild.


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

rjw0283 said:


> I have a corner patch of Zoysia and the rest of my lawn is Bermuda. My Zoysia is still dormant and the Bermuda is growing pretty good. I over seeded with Rye. I killed it off and scalped to 1/4 inch. The Zoysia struggles to make it past the PRG thatch and the Bermuda doesn't have an issue with it. I would de-thatch, but I'm not overly concerned since that is the only area that really needs it.
> I honestly thought I killed it somehow as it's dormant as yours, but I'm starting to see growth.


Going to go try the dethatching today, my lawn mower is rotary, it cut it down to its lowest and bagged the excess, 4 bags of dead leaf material had to have something to do with it, im sure after thatch removal ill have more.


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## corneliani (Apr 2, 2019)

Not sure if you ever came across this article by Walter Reeves and the UGA folk, but your situation just reminded me of it. Follow the link at the end of the article for a more in-depth reading. 
https://www.walterreeves.com/lawn-care/zoysia-greenup-problems/


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## AFBiker2011 (Jun 3, 2020)

I also have Emerald zoysia, installed last spring. Its a lovely barefoot grass. After you cut it down to 1", did you see some green growth that was hiding under the longer brown canopy?


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

corneliani said:


> Not sure if you ever came across this article by Walter Reeves and the UGA folk, but your situation just reminded me of it. Follow the link at the end of the article for a more in-depth reading.
> https://www.walterreeves.com/lawn-care/zoysia-greenup-problems/


Thanks! The grass came in great when we laid last april. I will now mow more regularly and fertilize. It was too long for sure.


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## AFBiker2011 (Jun 3, 2020)

rjw0283 said:


> I have a corner patch of Zoysia and the rest of my lawn is Bermuda. My Zoysia is still dormant and the Bermuda is growing pretty good. I over seeded with Rye. I killed it off and scalped to 1/4 inch. The Zoysia struggles to make it past the PRG thatch and the Bermuda doesn't have an issue with it. I would de-thatch, but I'm not overly concerned since that is the only area that really needs it.
> I honestly thought I killed it somehow as it's dormant as yours, but I'm starting to see growth.


This is so true! I overseeded, against the advice from many smart people on this forum. Lesson learned. I sprayed out the rye last month with msm and Certainty. Although all the thatch that was created afterwards from the dead ryegrass blades and rye root structure prevented the sun from hitting the dormant Zoysia. I ended up scalping to the dirt and dethatching. The lawn it only just now starting to green up in areas. I still have many areas that have no growth yet. I will not be overseeding again on my zoysia. I will later scarify sometime in the summer to get more of the dead rye roots out. They look like brown cotton fuzz, kind of didn't expect that


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## dmbowen3 (Aug 25, 2020)

Did Trugreen apply a post emergent in the late winter/early spring?


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

dmbowen3 said:


> Did Trugreen apply a post emergent in the late winter/early spring?


yes they did


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## AFBiker2011 (Jun 3, 2020)

@ATLG Were you able to Dethatch? How does it look?


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

My interaction with a trugreen applicator last week: 
Me: "putting out fert or preEm" ?

Tg: "just fertilizer and a weed killer " so ...bla bla ....stumbles over the product name ..'banor..,no barricade'. I smiled and let him know that's a preEm. Maybe it's because he's young enough to be learning otj. I find many don't really know details, I can only conclude its 'just a job'.

Hopefully you get the same applicator, who can consult (knows your lawn) etc ...'eg u might have xyz fungus'


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## rjw0283 (May 11, 2020)

AFBiker2011 said:


> rjw0283 said:
> 
> 
> > I have a corner patch of Zoysia and the rest of my lawn is Bermuda. My Zoysia is still dormant and the Bermuda is growing pretty good. I over seeded with Rye. I killed it off and scalped to 1/4 inch. The Zoysia struggles to make it past the PRG thatch and the Bermuda doesn't have an issue with it. I would de-thatch, but I'm not overly concerned since that is the only area that really needs it.
> ...


Yeah. I wouldn't recommend overseeding PRG on Zoysia unless your prepared to do the extra work of getting all that Rye thatch out. Bermuda doesn't seem to have a problem with it. The Zoysia hates it.


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

AFBiker2011 said:


> @ATLG Were you able to Dethatch? How does it look?


I did, its starting to green in spots and on edges. The back yard is about 75% green and trugreen doesnt touch that, which makes me think their application caused issues. That and the 35 degree nights we had last month


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## Redtwin (Feb 9, 2019)

Everything seems to have started slow this season. I'm down on the Gulf Coast and my Empire just really woke up this week.


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## johnklein25 (Apr 22, 2021)

Check out this guy's video's on scalping and overall care of Zoysia. He's not trying to sell anything and most of his comments are consistent with other things I've learned. https://youtu.be/D1e-n811BSI - his explanation of how and when zoysia grows is really good in my opinion. Recommend watching at 1.25 speed if you find the video a little too slow moving.

I didn't scalp my zoysia last year. I did some aggressive thatch removal and scarification last year and ended up with more weeds mixed into my Zoysia. I think scalping once a year, and mowing as short as you can (2" or less) and often are very important to zoysia maintenance. I probably scalped a little too early this year as it looks like we're having cooler than normal month of May so far here in St. Louis.

Good luck!


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

johnklein25 said:


> Check out this guy's video's on scalping and overall care of Zoysia. He's not trying to sell anything and most of his comments are consistent with other things I've learned.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I watched this video as well, he does a great job of explaining it. i scalped as low as i could with my rotary, was able to get to dirt on some parts. the edges are greening. I think the trugreen applications mixed with the length I had it at all winter may be the cause for the slow start. Will definitely keep mowing it down this year. Hopefully, the rain we got and the warmer-ish temps, (dropping to 50s at night again) will get it going.


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## ATLG (Apr 15, 2021)

Redtwin said:


> Everything seems to have started slow this season. I'm down on the Gulf Coast and my Empire just really woke up this week.


No doubt, May just be need patience at this point. High today is 70 in ATL and with the last months cold spell, it may just be that.


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