# Zeon guys... when and how often are you fertilizing



## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

I've been reading that a lot of people with zeon are having fungus issues and I was just curious how much fertilizer you are putting out? They say zeon requires low fertility so I only did one light application (actually it was a lawn service) in the spring last year but developed lawn rust towards the end of summer, which I believe is due to low nitrogen. It's also my understanding that too much nitrogen can lead to other funguses.

I haven't put any out this year yet but think it's about time and wanted to hear what you guys are doing.


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## drewwitt (Jun 25, 2018)

I have Zeon. In San Antonio texas. Three years in. First year I threw down hard LCN style every month. Constantly fought disease. EVERY MONTH. AND the grass didn't grow any faster.

Second year, I stayed at 4lb N per year. Not as much disease, but some.

Last year, and this is no exaggeration, I only fertilized ONE time all season. And it was .5lb N.

Grass grew fine and was green. No disease.

We would get asked twice a week if we liked having artificial turf. And when we told them it's real, they'd ask if we water every day. I water once a week.

Looking at pictures from previous years, I could tell the grass was more even in color when I fertilized. So this year I will try to do 2lb N per year.

In this first picture, you can see the unevenness and the dark spots in the middle. These pics are from July I think.


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## Getting Fat (Dec 31, 2019)

drewwitt said:


> I have Zeon. In San Antonio texas. Three years in. First year I threw down hard LCN style every month. Constantly fought disease. EVERY MONTH. AND the grass didn't grow any faster.
> 
> Second year, I stayed at 4lb N per year. Not as much disease, but some.
> 
> ...


And now I want Zeon...


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## drewwitt (Jun 25, 2018)

Ha. I hated it at first. I was used to fast Bermuda. Had to learn to baby it because it doesn't recover well if you jack it up. Now it looks fake. A lot of it is due to a reel mower with grooved roller.


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## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

I was 'lazy' last year ... No N until june and then August. I have shade too, another reason to be conservative. I hit about 1lb N total last yr. I would like to try around 2lb, up the freq and less per app, .... like how you should consume food

I do plan to throw down p&sop....micros for sugar on top.

Firmly believe that if it feed like Bermuda, (lawn services) you'll require a lot of chemicals.


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## Robertw17 (May 7, 2020)

I just put zeon in last year and only fertilized once but also put down a compost/soil mix before sodding which I think helped. All I use to fertilize is 10-10-10 plant food. I'm gonna wait till it warms up a little to fertilize probably mid april.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

I've had zeon for 4 years now and have a love hate relationship with it. When it's healthy it is absolutely gorgeous. But keeping it healthy can take more time and energy than other cultivars of grass.
My maintenance schedule is typically this and hopefully this helps you out. No responses before this seem to address how important investing and applying a rotating schedule of fungicides truly is with zoysia grass:

-In late fall (November in N Texas) and late winter (Feb), I spray preventative fungicide when its going dormant and before it starts greening up.
-In early spring, I verticut it to remove any thatch and scalp it to about 0.4" and will maintain HOC at 0.6-0.75". If your zeon height of cut(HOC) gets above 1.0-1.5 inches you will start to battle excessive amounts of thatch. You can identify this when it feels really spongy when walking on it or if your lawn mower seems to float on the surface when mowing.
-When the lawn starts to really green up, I start liquid fertilizing with 0.25 Nitrogen and Potassium/1k about every 4 weeks and continue with preventative applications of fungicides (I rotate 3 types of different class fungicides). If you have areas of your lawn that do not drain well, you will battle fungus in zeon. For me it was dollar spot and brown patch. Make sure you stay on top of it because fungus will damage your lawn quickly and zeon recovers very slowly.


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

zoysialover said:


> I've had zeon for 4 years now and have a love hate relationship with it. When it's healthy it is absolutely gorgeous. But keeping it healthy can take more time and energy than other cultivars of grass.
> My maintenance schedule is typically this and hopefully this helps you out. No responses before this seem to address how important investing and applying a rotating schedule of fungicides truly is with zoysia grass:
> 
> -In late fall (November in N Texas) and late winter (Feb), I spray preventative fungicide when its going dormant and before it starts greening up.
> ...


Do you apply your fungicide program during peak growing season?


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

Tmank87 said:


> zoysialover said:
> 
> 
> > I've had zeon for 4 years now and have a love hate relationship with it. When it's healthy it is absolutely gorgeous. But keeping it healthy can take more time and energy than other cultivars of grass.
> ...


Yes. and I usually apply at the preventative rate and rotate them but there are a couple spots in my lawn that are much more apt to get dollar spot and I will apply a higher curative rate to those areas. My soil pH in North Texas is alkaline (pH7.6) and it is more of a challenge to get the zoysia to thrive. Greendoc has recommended applying citric acid monthly to help but I haven't tried it yet....


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

zoysialover said:


> Tmank87 said:
> 
> 
> > zoysialover said:
> ...


Thanks. It's definitely a pain. I get hit pretty hard with brown patch in the fall and now have quite a few patches that will need to recover this year. Which products do you use/rotate?


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## marcjw (Aug 28, 2020)

zoysialover said:


> I've had zeon for 4 years now and have a love hate relationship with it. When it's healthy it is absolutely gorgeous. But keeping it healthy can take more time and energy than other cultivars of grass.
> My maintenance schedule is typically this and hopefully this helps you out. No responses before this seem to address how important investing and applying a rotating schedule of fungicides truly is with zoysia grass:
> 
> -In late fall (November in N Texas) and late winter (Feb), I spray preventative fungicide when its going dormant and before it starts greening up.
> ...


Thank you for the info on zeon. Just to make sure I understood, you basically apply preventative fungicides all year?

I use azoxy and tebuconazole, and I believe they are two different group fungicides. Was curious what you use. Thanks


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@marcjw - My first app of fungicide is usually at the end of Feb and I apply all the way through until the end of Oct or November when the grass is starting to go dormant. This schedule works pretty well for those of us in the North Texas area. Your area may differ. Obviously warmer climates may need year round apps of fungicide. Fungus growth thrives in 50-70 temps especially when there has been some precipitation.

I use 3 different types of Fungicides that I rotate:
1. Armada: Trifloxystrobin(11) + Triadimefron(3)
2. Exteris Stressgard: Fluopyram (7)+ Trifloxystrobin(11)
3. 3336(1) + Prostar (7)

These fungicides were all recommended by Greendoc and they have made a huge difference in the health of my lawn. I had brown patch so badly one year I thought I was going to lose my entire lawn to it. Thank goodness I got help from members like Greendoc here on this forum.


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## Tmank87 (Feb 13, 2019)

zoysialover said:


> @marcjw - My first app of fungicide is usually at the end of Feb and I apply all the way through until the end of Oct or November when the grass is starting to go dormant. This schedule works pretty well for those of us in the North Texas area. Your area may differ. Obviously warmer climates may need year round apps of fungicide. Fungus growth thrives in 50-70 temps especially when there has been some precipitation.
> 
> I use 3 different types of Fungicides that I rotate:
> 1. Armada: Trifloxystrobin(11) + Triadimefron(3)
> ...


Really appreciate this post. Have you had any issues in keeping Armada agitated during application?

Also, any recollection where you found Stressgard? Seems a bit challenging to find.

Definitely an investment to protect an investment. Staring at some damage from Brown Patch in the fall is pissing me off.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

1. No problem keeping armada agitated. I have a backpack sprayer and the combination of walking and shaking my shoulders every 30 seconds seems to work just fine.
2. I found the exteris at SiteOne not far from my house. They actually transferred it from one store to the one by my house for me. And yes, it's expensive. Be careful to keep it off your hardscapes as well. The blue/ green color will stain it for sure.


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## ZeonJNix (Dec 13, 2019)

These are all great points about Zeon. I had mine installed in May of 2019 and during the whole 2019 season I didnt put any nitrogen on the grass and it did great. In 2020 I started applying nitrogen to it and immediately began battling dollar spot and large patch. I was a little late in getting my fall applications of fungicide down and it went into dormancy showing some ugly rings. The rings are still there this spring and are taking longer to recover than the rest of the grass. I have already applied my early spring round of fungicide and really just plan to apply every month through the growing season. My plan is to keep the nitrogen very very low, not sure how much, but super low.

Question for @zoysialover , what do you use to verticut? I dont own one so I would looking to rent one in my area if I can find one. I scalped mine down to .250 with the GM1600, but I can definitely tell this is not a true .250. I think a verticut would definitely help to thin mine out. Another question though, would it be harmful to verticut while I can still see the lawn recovering from the large patch?


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## marcjw (Aug 28, 2020)

Thank you @zoysialover


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

While I can't speak to the health of my lawn as its looking a little rough, I don't think its fungus related. I put fungicide down (granular) in rainy season... I can't remember what month it is but its sometime in the summer I think and its when the local supply place tells me to put it down. I tend to get rust patch rather than the other stuff.


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## Robertw17 (May 7, 2020)

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BdmZRlzcsQ5pA4sdEC_oPlXZudbjLB7qznYeHdh6gV8/mobilebasic

Here's a good reference some of the guys put together!


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## Lawn Smith (Jun 8, 2020)

Robertw17 said:


> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BdmZRlzcsQ5pA4sdEC_oPlXZudbjLB7qznYeHdh6gV8/mobilebasic
> 
> Here's a good reference some of the guys put together!


Thanks for sharing. Any idea why there is no mention of fungicides?


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@marcjw -you're welcome.
@ZeonJNix - I use a billygoat pr550H with a verticutter reel NOT the flail reel. And I suspect you are correct with not actually getting down to 0.250 with your HOC. The first time I ever verticut I couldn't believe the amount of thatch I pulled out of the canopy. Zeon is so dense that my GM1600 just floats on it if I don't stay on top of my mowing schedule. I wouldn't verticut or scalp it until the warmer weather takes hold in my opinion.


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## ZeonJNix (Dec 13, 2019)

zoysialover said:


> @marcjw -you're welcome.
> @ZeonJNix - I use a billygoat pr550H with a verticutter reel NOT the flail reel. And I suspect you are correct with not actually getting down to 0.250 with your HOC. The first time I ever verticut I couldn't believe the amount of thatch I pulled out of the canopy. Zeon is so dense that my GM1600 just floats on it if I don't stay on top of my mowing schedule. I wouldn't verticut or scalp it until the warmer weather takes hold in my opinion.


That is what I have been hearing. My plan is to wait until warmer and growing stronger. So where do you get the Billygoat from? The only I see around my house is the Classen power rake, but it looks like these have the flail reel and not the vericutter reel.


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## zoysialover (Jul 24, 2018)

@ZeonJNix - I couldn't find one to rent so I ended up buying a used one on ebay. I can't remember exactly how much I paid, but I think it was about $500-$750. It looks like a beater but is built like a tank.


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