# Zoysialawnnut's Lawn



## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Hello everyone, first time poster on here and still reading all the good information on this site. Now, about my lawn. This is the third time that I laid down empire zoysia and I'm not even done yet. There has been a lot of learning with this type of grass and fighting off weeds, especially purple nutsedge, crabgrass, kyllinga, and a host of others that I can't remember the names for. This time around I ran into issues with fungus. Luckly I did manage to control it but it is still an uphill battle with it (I'm using 3336 degree fungicide) to combat it. I currently use a toro 22 awd self-paced mower that I sharpen the blade about every other mow. I do plan on getting a reel mover, but my only issue with that is that the highest cutting height is 1 7/8 height. He are pics of what I have done far and my arsenal. Great to be able to converse with like minded people about lawn care. Also after reading up on the sprayer wand build, I have in my basket all of the items from spray master and will be ordering it very soon.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Welcome to TLF! I renamed your thread so it will be easier to track/identify. :thumbsup:


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

I have empire zoysia and I'm located on the panhandle of Florida (Destin). In the last couple of years, I maintained my empire zoysia at 2.5" to 3" and it was super thick and soft. This is the first year I scalped it, and I have really regretted it. It's taking forever for the grass to wake up... I think the scalping really stressed the empire.

I was going to get a california trimmer reel mower and maintain it low, but I'm not sure sure if that is best for Empire Zoysia since it has a pretty wide blade and it is super spikey when it is cut low. At 2.5 - 3" it is super soft and really thick. I guess my point is, I'm not sold on keeping empire cut low. I've also noticed I have to water my lawn quite a bit more since the sun is really beating down on the yard and drying it out.

Also, empire and el Toro HATE any kind of shade, and perform pretty bad when competing with the roots of bigger trees. I love my empire, but where I am located, it really doesn't start really growing until June.

The picture attached was cut at around 2.5" last June.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

Forgot to mention that I have the Bio stimulant pack as well. It might be too early to notice, but I have seen 0 improvement in the turf with the RGS, Humic, Air-8, etc, applications (compared to previous years). I have had some sedge problems this year and used some Dismiss to kill it when I see it popping up.


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## TigerinFL (Mar 29, 2018)

i think that bio stimulant pack takes some time to get going from what I have seen on the videos. nothing that you will see happen overnight.

i hadn't pulled the trigger on that particular pack yet.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

When you scalp any grass, it has to create new crowns for the shoots to grow from. Bermuda handles this more quickly than zoysia. Zoysia is also what I would call a more defensive grass - ie when anything "damages" the grass, it goes into survival mode before it starts growing again. I used to maintain my yard high too, but suffering through one Spring was worth the effort. This is El Toro at 7/16" taken last week. I just applied PGR yesterday for the first time, because Spring was crazy with temp swings this year and slowed the green up.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

Spammage said:


> When you scalp any grass, it has to create new crowns for the shoots to grow from. Bermuda handles this more quickly than zoysia. Zoysia is also what I would call a more defensive grass - ie when anything "damages" the grass, it goes into survival mode before it starts growing again. I used to maintain my yard high too, but suffering through one Spring was worth the effort. This is El Toro at 7/16" taken last week. I just applied PGR yesterday for the first time, because Spring was crazy with temp swings this year and slowed the green up.


Your El Toro is looking nice! Did you have to do any sand leveling when you took it this low? How quick did the zoysia respond with the leveling?


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

Spammage said:


> The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.


How often are you having to water? Have you had to increase your times/days since you are so low?


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

Gregau33 said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > The front was leveled before sod install, so I couldn't say. I only spot level as needed, but it usually takes a couple of weeks before the sand isn't visible.
> ...


In the heat of summer(100ish every day and NO rain - DFW summers suck), I will need to water every 5-6 days, but only because of the Palisades in the back. My El Toro will get 7-8 days before showing stress. Before cutting reel low, I could stretch the El Toro to 9-10 days.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Ware said:


> Welcome to TLF! I renamed your thread so it will be easier to track/identify. :thumbsup:


Thank you for that!!!


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Gregau33 said:


> I have empire zoysia and I'm located on the panhandle of Florida (Destin). In the last couple of years, I maintained my empire zoysia at 2.5" to 3" and it was super thick and soft. This is the first year I scalped it, and I have really regretted it. It's taking forever for the grass to wake up... I think the scalping really stressed the empire.
> 
> I was going to get a california trimmer reel mower and maintain it low, but I'm not sure sure if that is best for Empire Zoysia since it has a pretty wide blade and it is super spikey when it is cut low. At 2.5 - 3" it is super soft and really thick. I guess my point is, I'm not sold on keeping empire cut low. I've also noticed I have to water my lawn quite a bit more since the sun is really beating down on the yard and drying it out.
> 
> ...


Wow that is great looking yard. I'm trying to get mine there but unfortunately with the 3 oaks in the front yard it's hard to get the proper sun that it needs. I'm going to trim it back more to let more sun in. The front strip and driveway side look great so far, but front yard is not really going to get the full potential of the sun.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Gregau33 said:


> Forgot to mention that I have the Bio stimulant pack as well. It might be too early to notice, but I have seen 0 improvement in the turf with the RGS, Humic, Air-8, etc, applications (compared to previous years). I have had some sedge problems this year and used some Dismiss to kill it when I see it popping up.


I finally got a chance to lay down 4oz's of both RGS and Air-8 yesterday evening. I waited until I got a better sprayer nozzles for my 4 gal backpack sprayer (will be upgrading to one with built in agitation). I have dismiss also for nut sedge and low it, going to spray again soon. In one of the pics, I laid down emp. zoysia sod for my neighbor and it's flourishing with nutsedge, sprayed sedgehammer on it, might have to do another application. I will be doing a regular schedule of application of N-Ext, milo, ironite, and very little lesco fert.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Spammage said:


> When you scalp any grass, it has to create new crowns for the shoots to grow from. Bermuda handles this more quickly than zoysia. Zoysia is also what I would call a more defensive grass - ie when anything "damages" the grass, it goes into survival mode before it starts growing again. I used to maintain my yard high too, but suffering through one Spring was worth the effort. This is El Toro at 7/16" taken last week. I just applied PGR yesterday for the first time, because Spring was crazy with temp swings this year and slowed the green up.


Nice looking El Toro! Around my area in Apopka there really isn't any other type of zoysia to get locally other then empire, all other types are too far away.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Spammage said:


> Gregau33 said:
> 
> 
> > Spammage said:
> ...


Wow.....5-6 days. I have my water scheduled at 2 to 3 times a week. For some reason I will gets spots of stress from not having water and I water at about 45mins in each zone. If it gets neglected, it will perish on me pretty quickly.


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

Zoysialawnnut said:


> Spammage said:
> 
> 
> > Gregau33 said:
> ...


We are in Florida. We have a lot more sand in our "soil," which doesn't allow the ground to absorb the water as much. In the heat of summer, I have to water 3 days a week.. totaling about 1.25" - 1.5" per week. The long and infrequent watering is harder to do in sandy soil because of the drainage properties of sand. Unless your builder hauled in tons of good quality soil (which is very expensive), I don't see how it is possible to water once a week in the middle of summer with no rain. We have a well for our irrigation, so I don't mind the watering. If my irrigation was hooked up to city water, I'd be paying quite a bit on my water bill.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

No doubt the soil differences are fairly extreme between my clay and a beach. I still put down about an inch a week, but my drainage is so slow that I have to cycle multiple times over several hours to get that to soak in. In the summer though, we typically "lose" about .3"/day to evapotranspiration.


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

@Zoysialawnnut why is this the 3rd time you tried to lay down empire zoysia sod? What happened the other 2 times? Did your lawn gradually thin out and die? The very 1st picture you posted shows a heck of a lot of shade. I know zoysia is shade tolerant but that a lot. Does that area get any direct sunlight or is it all filtered sunlight threw the trees. 
With 3 Oak trees your gonna have to make a decision. Trees in the front or nice grass
The oak trees will compete with the grasses for water and nutrients. Large, woody roots are often apparent right on the soil surface under oak trees, making it difficult to mow, as well. Most lawn grasses prefer full sun and have high water and fertilizer requirements, so they are fundamentally opposed in most ways. 
How long do you plan on staying in your home? If this is a home you want to have for a long time I would very earnestly consider removing those 3 oak trees before they get any bigger. Do a simple google search for Oak trees and driveway/foundation problems and you will see why. My neighbor had foundation issues from oak tree roots and the tree was 15 feet away from his house. Look at the picture below and you will see why laying sod will only be a temporary fix. 
Ok enough about the trees. Your lawn is great. Keep it up I would be interested to see how it responds to RGS


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## Gregau33 (Apr 15, 2018)

@Tellycoleman +1000 . I have a neighbor who has the same grass as me and he has no idea why his grass is thin and dying out. I know why... he has oak trees ALL over his property! I told my neighbor he really has to choose if he wants big oak trees or a thick lush lawn... you can't have both. The choice for me is easy. Who wants these huge trees in your yard that shed leaves like crazy in the fall and winter, and shade your whole turf during the growing season? No thanks


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## gatormac2112 (Sep 14, 2017)

Trees are the devil


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## Tellycoleman (May 10, 2017)

Hey what kind of grass does your neighbor have?
I still see the sod squares did he do a recent install also


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> @Zoysialawnnut why is this the 3rd time you tried to lay down empire zoysia sod? What happened the other 2 times? Did your lawn gradually thin out and die? The very 1st picture you posted shows a heck of a lot of shade. I know zoysia is shade tolerant but that a lot. Does that area get any direct sunlight or is it all filtered sunlight threw the trees.
> With 3 Oak trees your gonna have to make a decision. Trees in the front or nice grass
> The oak trees will compete with the grasses for water and nutrients. Large, woody roots are often apparent right on the soil surface under oak trees, making it difficult to mow, as well. Most lawn grasses prefer full sun and have high water and fertilizer requirements, so they are fundamentally opposed in most ways.
> How long do you plan on staying in your home? If this is a home you want to have for a long time I would very earnestly consider removing those 3 oak trees before they get any bigger. Do a simple google search for Oak trees and driveway/foundation problems and you will see why. My neighbor had foundation issues from oak tree roots and the tree was 15 feet away from his house. Look at the picture below and you will see why laying sod will only be a temporary fix.
> Ok enough about the trees. Your lawn is great. Keep it up I would be interested to see how it responds to RGS


I want to make a correction......re-did the front twice not three times. Did so many things to my yard can't keep track of it LOL.

When I bought the house almost 4 years ago, (project start year: spring 2016) the yard had patches of St. Aug and a bunch of weeds in the front yard. The side had emp zoysia that was already there. I first started on the front strip of the yard with one pallet. That turned out good until I got hit with fungus and nut sedge. I bought a bottle of bonide nut sedge killer herbicide from DYI pest control local store. I was told 4oz per gallon and spot sprayed. That didn't go well as it burned (turned yellow) the grass and it didn't recover so well and having a fungus issue only made things worse. To top it off I had a serious MOLE problem.

I told the wife that I was re-doing the front yard. There was formed brick pavers around the 3 oak trees with mulch that were broken from the roots. So the project started with me removing the pavers and mulch from the oak trees and from around the front porch area (there was dead shrubs around the palm that is there). I also removed all of the lava rocks from the area. Once all of that was done, I started to cut away any exposed and buried roots from the 3 oak trees (it shocked the oak trees but they recovered). That was a long process because of how long and thick each root was, not to mention I inadvertently cut into an irrigation line which I fixed. My front yard was a freaking mess (I will post pictures later of this). Once I got done with that I hauled in 12 yards of dirt in my f150 and leveled and graded the whole front yard with my shovel (took about 2 weeks in-between working my normal job). Once I was satisfied with how I wanted the front yard to look, I then purchased 4 pallets of emp. zoysia and proceeded to lay that down on the front and side strip of driveway (this was a few months later and several heavy down pours later). That summer it turned out great but fall and winter came and it started to look bland, what killed it for me was all of the damn acorn that fell from the oak trees. So I scalped the front and used my rigid wet/dry vac and vacuumed up all the acorns and scalped the side strip (mind you I have been learning about my grass through out this whole process and about NPK, herbicides, insecticides).

The next season I wanted to see if the grass would come back. It did to a certain extent, it was poorly thinned and didn't get the coverage that I was looking for. So after battling weeds all summer and keeping what I had alive, I started to notice something......WATER COVERAGE!!! I also spoke with the HOA president and asked/told her that I will be taking down 2 oaks on the side/back yard because they look deathly, it was a nuisance, and there was a snake bed under one of the oaks. She ok'ed it and I proceeded to cut down and remove both oaks (including stump from the yard, used truck to pull stomp out after cutting root system from stump), then I removed all oak roots from the yard. That winter I laid down annual rye grass over the zoysai. Man was I so happy to see lush green grass that winter, I had people slowing down looking at my yard asking me a lot of questions (will post pictures of this). I watered the rye grass like crazy but what I failed to realize is that when it was suppose to die off this past spring, it didn't. It actually over took the zoysia and choked it out. The dead rye thatch that was there was a headache to clean up (will never use rye grass again).

So this past January, I started over again. I ripped up the whole front yard again, front strip and side strip, removed all of the dead grass after spraying it with round-up quick pro. I addressed the water coverage issue by digging up all 4 of the sprinkler rotors and assessed how many mist sprinkler heads I can add on each 1" irrigation line reduced to 3/4" that the rotors ran on. In total I went from 4 rotors to 11 rainbird 1806 in that zone and replaced all the other sprinklers on my property (40 something sprinklers). I than brought in another 3 yards of organic soil and re-leveled the front yard again to a much better standard. Then I brought in a total of 5 pallets (3 for the front one week and 2 for the strips the following week). Then a few weeks later I graded the side of the house, built a garden bed, and laid down a pallet there too.

The pics that are posted is what I have going on now plus all what I have learned from LCN and youtube vids on fert and weeds (and still learning). I also acquired a 4 gal backpack sprayer (fert app), two 2 gal sprayers (herbicide and fungicide app), two 1 gal sprayers (ant and spider app), and a 1.5 gal sprayer for bleach (sidewalk cleaning). I am looking to upgrade the sprayer wand on the back pack but I will tell my wife to get a new backpack, one with built in agitation for my b-day in june. 
Now as for the shade issue, I trimmed the trees quite a bit but I will take it back a whole lot further to expose more sunlight. I don't know what I'm going to do about the trees because of HOA, I have seen other homes in the neighborhood that took down a tree from the front. I will have to see what I can do, but for now it is thriving pretty decently. I don't plan on moving, I guess it's our forever home and would like to pass it on to our kids. I still have a long ways to go before the lawn is fully complete. I will definitely keep updating the forum with updates to what I have done. We are going to have rain 70-80% coverage the rest of the week, sprayed fungicide as a preventive measure this afternoon. Anyways, I'm glad to be in the forum and talk with people like minded about lawn care and learn a whole lot more. Will post pics later on next week of past progress and issues.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Wow, you've really been through the wringer with your lawn, so you definitely have a lot of sweat equity invested in it. How feasible would it be to have the oaks removed and replaced with palms?


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Tellycoleman said:


> Hey what kind of grass does your neighbor have?
> I still see the sod squares did he do a recent install also


That is empire zoysia that I laid down for him for the second time. The first time, he was gone a lot with his son on a traveling baseball league, by the time he got around to maintaining the grass, it was too late and weeds took over to the point where it was becoming a nuisance. So I re-did his side and I will be maintaining it, plus I did the paver job also because everyone kept running over the grass killing it. Not going to lay down new sod only for it to get run over every time they pull into or leave the driveway.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Colonel K0rn said:


> Wow, you've really been through the wringer with your lawn, so you definitely have a lot of sweat equity invested in it. How feasible would it be to have the oaks removed and replaced with palms?


I don't think it would be feasible because of the bi-laws of the HOA. I probably could get away with taking down 2 of the oaks and leaving the middle up (I have a kids swing on that one). If I did take those down....gawd the hole that it would leave and ripping up the grass.....hm. I will consider it in the future, but first I am going to trim it back more to let more sunlight through.


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Zoysialawnnut said:


> Colonel K0rn said:
> 
> 
> > Wow, you've really been through the wringer with your lawn, so you definitely have a lot of sweat equity invested in it. How feasible would it be to have the oaks removed and replaced with palms?
> ...


The nice thing about bylaws is that they are able to be changed and voted on by the HOA, and as a member, you have the right to bring it up at your meeting to have it voted upon.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

That's true.


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## Zoysialawnnut (Apr 24, 2018)

Well had some nozzles and caps come into today....I a little peeved though. When I looked at the address from where it came from, they are located 15 minutes from my home. WOW! Could of saved on shipping but at least I know where I can get supplies now.


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