# WDE46 Lawn Journal



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Starting this lawn journal mostly for myself. I really just want to see progress from these initial images. I did a lot before these images even and I've got a lot more to do. It just takes time.

Please feel free to leave unsolicited advice. I'm all ears.

What I've already done:

Dethatched front and rear
Pre-emergent (dimension) in front
Celsius broadcast in front only a few weeks ago
Milorganite in front
90 lbs lime in rear (about 20-25 lbs per 1000)
Mowed this weekend to 1" deck height
Glyphosate broadcast spray the small fenced in area out back to start preparing for zoysia seed

So that's where I'm at in my reviving attempt.

Short term actions (next couple weeks)

1. Fix drainage issue in front
2. Improve leveling in front (low spots, this comes with drainage really)
3. Clear weeds from zoysia area
4. plant zenith zoysia seed in zoysia area (incl. all enriched top soil and peat moss or erosion blanket)
5. spray celsius in rest of back (high risk of just mud pitting my yard for the season)

Pics here:

https://imgur.com/a/w7p8fc2


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Pictures from today for progress.

Applied 1 lb/K Scotts Turf Builder southern yesterday. Mowing at 1"

The glyphosate has killed 95% of vegetation on the future zoysia see area. Super dead. Front is coming in nicely with some weeds. I'm going to pull a lot next week. Seems to be a lot of small crabgrass and wild garlic or onion.

https://imgur.com/a/pFxC5w8


----------



## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Looking forward to seeing the fenced off area...great hard work!


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

I'll try to remember to post pics later, but an update.

Fenced off zoysia area has emerged. It's done pretty well, even in the areas that got eroded by a massive downpour not long after I spread the seed and peat moss. If I seed a reasonable area again, I will straw or erosion blanket it for sure. I watered 4 times a day for 5 minutes for over a month now. I'll back it off soon, but I've been hesitant due to the abnormally hot spring we've had.

The area grows a TON of weeds. I spent two days last week pulling what I think was goosegrass. Now I've got some more coming up and a bunch of broadleaf types that'll need pulling

Found out Quinclorac is safe for emerged zoysia seedlings, so I have that on the way and I'll spray that. Also I learned a bit too late that Tupersan (siduron) is safe as a preemergent that can be applied ANY TIME before or after seeding. That would've saved me a TON of trouble.

The front yard bumpiness is really bothering me and I'll have to start cutting at 2" with the rotary rather than 1". It's just scalping some areas too much. They bounce back, but it doesn't look even. It's growing in REALLY nice.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Latest pics:

In the seeded zoysia area you can see where I had a lot of seed wash away. Good growth where the seed remained. I'm going to feed it a lot of nitrogen to see how far I can get it to grow out. Also I sprayed it with Celsius at the medium rate. Seems to be killing a good number of the weeds quickly in this heat.

The front, I just mowed but accidentally one notch too short so it scalped some areas more than usual. Really shows how bumpy the lawn is.

https://imgur.com/a/QXFgajU


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Put out some MSMA for the Dallisgrass in the front.

Here is immediately after (obviously before any effects are apparent):



















Also my Zoysia has lawn rust  Probably watered too much recently due to rain and I forgot to turn off the sprinkler at the time.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Sprayed MSMA on Sunday and this is from this morning (Wed) so less than 72 hours later:

very fast acting in hot weather.


----------



## jakemauldin (Mar 26, 2019)

WDE46 said:


> Sprayed MSMA on Sunday and this is from this morning (Wed) so less than 72 hours later:
> 
> very fast acting in hot weather.


Can't wait to get my "right of way" clear of Dallisgrass and Crabgrass!


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

jakemauldin said:


> WDE46 said:
> 
> 
> > Sprayed MSMA on Sunday and this is from this morning (Wed) so less than 72 hours later:
> ...


It's gonna kill the crap out of it. This was at 1.5 oz per gallon of water and I put 2 gallons (so 3 oz product or 1.5 oz AI at 48% concentration) over about 3K square feet. Target 6 already has surfactant so I added none.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

MSMA worked wonderfully last year. I doubt I'll have need of it again.

Just put out Prodiamine WDG at a medium rate for 6 month coverage.

The zoysia plot in the back yard grew in quite well the rest of the season. I used dimension on it, same as the front yard, but it's been invaded by some weeds. The front only had some weeds on the edges (hard to get right with granular) and a few wild garlic or onion. Once the zoysia greens up it's getting some Celsius. I don't want to stunt it greening up by applying now. Plus the Celsius would take weeks to work at this time.

Goals for this year:

1. Seed most of the rest of the back yard with Zenith Zoysia.
2. Redo the front beds, removing the hollies, digging out old mulch, and making a short border out of retaining wall stones, possibly all the way around the edge of the house.
3. Leveling sand for the front lawn
4. Possibly driveway extension for an extra parking spot.
5. Gravel on north side of house under the eaves and possibly pour sidewalk all the way around to back porch. Grass does not want to grow over there.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Killed the ryegrass and weeds in the back. Seeding will be in a couple weeks.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Finally got around to doing the rest. A lot of my method is based on this paper from University of Arkansas "Establishing Seeded Zoysiagrass on Lawns and Golf Courses"

1. Cut as low as my mower could go and bagged to get up as much as possible. Then I ran the Sun Joe dethatcher over it once a the lowest setting. I love this thing! The canopy is up only for this job. It was a nice shelter from the sun for our frequent breaks! That canopy is awesome by the way. I linked it for anyone who is curious (not an affiliate link).










2. Raked up all that crap and then put out 60 bags of compost from Home Depot. If I did it again, I'd probably have it delivered from a local place, but the bags were convenient, and it wasn't THAT expensive.










3. Spread it all out and applied 9 lbs of Johnathan Green Crabgrass Preventer plus New Seeding Lawn Fertilizer. It contains Tupersan (siduron) which is safe for zoysia seeding. Unfortunately, I think it's not going to do much. The early summer weeds may have already germinated. If I did this in early May like last year, it would help a lot. I put down 3 lbs of Zenith Zoysia seed in the ~3000 sq ft area.










4. I put down Jute erosion blankets (4' x 225' rolls) over everything. Last year, my seed got washed out by a downpour. I've got good coverage now, but the washout probably took out 30-40% of my seed in the test area. I also staked them down with biodegradable plastic stakes. Almost used garden staples, but I really don't like the idea of steel staples in my lawn.



















I've also got a tripod sprinker, stake sprinkler, and another small sprinkler hooked up to Orbit B-hyve wifi smart controllers for watering. They should pay for themselves with the additional flexibility they offer over lesser programmable timers.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

A lot has already germinated! That's waaaaayyyy faster than last year. Totally worth starting later IMO. Less chance of wash out.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

It's working! Really good germination rate so far and it's growing up from below the Jute mat very nicely.

Click HERE for full res.

The small stuff in the lower 2/3 is the new zoyia. The larger stuff is goosegrass I think. The top is existing zoysia.


----------



## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

WooHoo! Lots of lil babies sprouting!


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

dubyadubya87 said:


> WooHoo! Lots of lil babies sprouting!


Lots of crabgrass or goosegrass along with the zoysia too. I've got to pull weeds again tomorrow for about an hour to stay on top of it.

Here it is this morning. The pic looked better on my phone screen. It blows in reality, but the important thing is you can see faint green almost everywhere now. There are some weak spots but there is still zoysia in those areas, just less dense and shorter.

The erosion blankets were 100% worth the cost. Multiple downpours and I only really lost the main water path. I think that was inevitable but I tried to seed it for the hell of it.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

July 17


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Progress for the season below. I don't expect much more growth this year of the newly seeded area since it's cooling down this week. By the end of next season it should be a pretty decent zenith zoysia lawn. Next steps will be to do some actual landscaping and probably making beds where the grass is weakest or won't grow (along house, against fence, and put rock in the natural drainage swale that has been forming for years).

Overall I give my results maybe a C+. I think I had my expectations too high. I thought it'd be able to improve my coverage speed/percentage compared to last year greatly but I did not. In fact, it may have slightly lower coverage. There was trouble with keeping the area near the fence alive and healthy. The zoysia there is very thin. I think it's terrible soil and lots of old roots. Also the sun in the afternoon reflects off the fence and bakes the grass there.

Additionally, in July I had a fungus issue that occurred right after I had applied Celsius WG at the medium rate. I believe the Celsius weakened the grass and combined with not backing off the watering frequency at the right time, resulted in a fungus. This slowed growth significantly for 2-3 weeks for recovery. I had no fungus problem last year so no experience in seeing early signs and stopping it. Scott's DiseaseX worked quickly and the grass really grew nicely but by then it was late July/Early August.

*Thing's I'd do differently:*

1. Use 2 lbs/k Zoysia Seed rather than 1 lb/k.
2. Bring in more/higher quality top soil at seeding.
3. Back off on watering frequency a little earlier. Don't respond to weakening grass with more water. If the ground is damp, it's probably caused by fungus.
4. Probably apply a preventative amount of DiseaseX once a month for the whole season. This would've earned me at least 3 more weeks of grow time in PEAK season.

*Things that worked well:*

1. Jute erosion blankets were key, especially in the more sloped areas. They look like they'll totally biodegrade by the end of next season. Used biodegradable plastic stakes.
2. Scott's DiseaseX saved the lawn mid-season.
3. SunJoe dethatcher does a great job preparing for seeding.
4. Pulling weeds often (1-2 times a week!) for the first couple months.
5. The zoysia liked the sand and it stayed put pretty well in the Jute erosion blankets.
6. Tupersan prevented a lot of mid-late season weeds.
7. Orbit B-Hyve watering timers. These were great for saving water and not over watering. You can change your schedule on the fly while you're away and the watering plan selection is much more flexible than a "dumb" timer. A little tricky to setup, but great once it's configured.

*July 17*









*July 29*









Here you can see the ~900 sq ft rectangle I did last year. It's doing quite well. Any weak areas you see is gravelly soil. I'll be digging some of that out next season.

Really disappointing germination rate in this small section. Not sure what happened here. Could've been too wet.









*August 2* (used some extra sand from some work in the front yard)









*September 3*









*September 15*









There is some bermuda just above the top of the sprinkler in this image. I may need to kill this small rectangle next year and reseed it.

The sand appears to have helped the zoysia spread a lot. I thought this area would be terrible based on late July looks but it grew in ok.


----------



## Codym808 (Aug 23, 2019)

Any updates on your lawn? Your renovation looks great btw!

I live in Hawaii and will be bringing in fill and leveling my backyard. Considering seeding zenith also but I have about 10k square feet of lawn to do so using that erosion control blankets would be worth the time if it's gonna save my seed from washing out.


----------



## WDE46 (Mar 11, 2019)

Codym808 said:


> Any updates on your lawn? Your renovation looks great btw!
> 
> I live in Hawaii and will be bringing in fill and leveling my backyard. Considering seeding zenith also but I have about 10k square feet of lawn to do so using that erosion control blankets would be worth the time if it's gonna save my seed from washing out.


Didn't get much more coverage from the last September image. I think it went pretty well. I was looking forward to the full grow-in this season, but it looks like I'll be moving and selling the house. Hopefully the next owners will take care of it or have it taken care of. It'll be an amazing lawn if it's maintained a bit.


----------

