# New Zeon Zoysia Sod - Drought Stress or Fungus?



## UNCrph (May 23, 2018)

Zeon zoysia sod was delivered and installed this past Friday (July 20th). I have been irrigating 3-4x/day, which should equate to about 1.5-2 inches total per day. I have also been hand watering what I believe to be the brown hot spots.

Only previously maintained centipede, and never had sod laid before, so forgive me if I am being overly paranoid. If I spend any more money on sod my wife may kick me out haha.











Thanks for any help


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## reidgarner (Jun 18, 2018)

Hard to tell from the pics but looks like could be hot spots from prior to harvesting or perhaps even where they had a thick weed problem and spot sprayed it out leaving just a little bit of zoysia. I'd give it a few more days to see if it spreads or stays the same to make the call on fungus. The good news is Zoysia spreads so it should begin to fill in slowly(albeit slower than Bermuda)
if it's just hot spots. I'd also say 2 inches per day may be a little too much...are you getting a lot of runoff? Really with new sod you want to keep it wet not saturate the soil and have runoff.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Was it all green off the truck or looking abused from the start? They grow it in open fields, full sun so I'd struggle with excuses if was not a piece of carpet.

Did you pay someone to install that?


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## UNCrph (May 23, 2018)

jayhawk said:


> Was it all green off the truck or looking abused from the start? They grow it in open fields, full sun so I'd struggle with excuses if was not a piece of carpet.
> 
> Did you pay someone to install that?


For the most part, it was green off the truck. Was cut around 7:00am, delivered around lunch, and last pallet laid by 7:30. Got a couple spots that receive less sun which are much better looking, I'll get a pic up in the morning

Yea, I paid...they blamed the lumpiness on the sod farm, of course. The back yard does look a little better as far as quality of work, maybe it was a leveling issue.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

I am no fungal expert but I would not expect that in late July and I asssume your weather is like ATL. Neighbor installed recently and watered the piss out of it with an impact (no obvious fungus)....only crappy areas are near sod square edges that were stressed because he didn't water as much in the first 3 days of install....he was out of town and delegated watering to the dog walker (something like that).

"super sod" ?

Rotor irrigated? To diagnose, do you have rain guages you can place to validate coverage assumptions?


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## TonyC (May 17, 2018)

I am two months into a Zoysia sod install. i had many of the same issues. I did all of the work on my lawn, grading, leveling, irrigation, soil improvement, and laying the sod. The sod itself was the best and worst part and I experienced similar results.

The best i could determine, the larger brown edge areas are likely a shallow blade when the sod was cut. A depression in the field which caused the cut to remove most of the roots in that area. I had at least two pallets with these edge areas. I had at least 20 rolls which could only be described as remants pieces. Definitely junk rolls. I removed the dead thatch and filled these voids with a top dressing approach.

There were about 5 rolls that are similar to one of you pics. The whole roll was intact, but it was mostly black and had less blade growth. I'm guessing that these rolls were very wet areas of the field, and where much of the clippings and thatch settled. You can test the viability of the stems by test cutting a couple and looking for new growth in a day or two. I used my fingers to rake and loosen and remove the thatch layer. Then I top dressed these rolls. These areas will grow in just fine.

I have almost a whole pallet that has the same light brown blades. I haven't figured these out yet, but the brown only affects about half of the blades. The blades are thinner, but don't seem to be under duress. I did have a leaf spot outbreak, but a single treatment knocked that out.

From the pictues, i can tell you will want to cut at a 45 degree angle so your mower wheels don't constantly drop into the edges and scalp. With a lumpy yard you will cetertanly scalp areas. This will expose the old thatch layer and look horrible. I've been lowering my HOC (1" last mow), so I inevitably get a new scalp. I finger rake the thatch out and move on. The stems will show new growth in a day or two.

It won't be long and the lawn will look great. There will be a areas that need extra attention, but you will learn how the grass reacts soon.

Before and After pics.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/zZ3uc2eKF1YLL8Aq8
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qR6u1TUGBpHD54pT6
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TrCFTpk1mDfWcP1RA


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Ok, well the neighbor that watered heavily in evenings no less....not w/o consequences.

With rolled sod, probably nothing you did or didn't do ...as Tony has recently experienced, possibly didn't have any roots (thin pieces) or came 'crippled'. If that was the case, you would hope installer would evaluate and be a pro (trim it up, toss it).


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