# Broadstreet's Zeon Zoysia Journal



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Enjoying reading other journals so starting my own to keep track of the year.

~3,500 sq ft of Zeon Zoysia laid in June 2020 in zone 7B in NC. Front yard is TTTF so managing both warm season and cool season grasses.

Feb 23: - 0-0-7 with prodiamine. Had to do a lower rate because I went heavier in the fall.

Apr 7: 4lb/1K 0.125% Dimension (dithiopyr)

Apr 10: 3lb/1K Headway G to head off fungus issues with warm days/cool nights we're having.

Very few weeds, have hand picked some poa that sneaked through here and there. Scalped as low as I could with my rotary in late March.

March 25th:



April 19th:


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Whole lot of nothing this week. Was 31 degrees Friday morning to set a record here for 4/23. No frost or damage but with the cool temps not a lot of growth. Noticed a few discolored leaves in a spot that looks a little thatchy - don't think it's serious but had some eagle on hand so did an app this morning. Probably should of gotten the headway G app down a few weeks earlier.

Probably will give it another week before a light fertilizer app.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

It's waking up and I want it to look like July but being patient and following the plan I laid out. Busy this weekend with kids sports but did hit it with .25 lbs/1K of nitrogen from an application of 5-10-30. I also ended up picking up a 1 year old California trimmer and gave it a mow. Happy so far as I think it's the right level of machine for what I'm trying to do. Still some spots showing last years dead grass as I just could only scalp so low with the rotary back in March.

May 2nd:


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Soil test results came back and everything looks good - calcium a bit high but shouldn't be a problem. Good thing too because shame on me for jumping the gun on fertilizer and not waiting a couple of extra days for this to come back but no harm no foul!


I've also been experimenting with Cutless 0.33g growth regulator on my shrubs. It has done a great job on a big loropetalum and so-so on a ligustrum privacy hedge. Put it on these shrubs and a bunch others so I'll come back and post an update in a few months to see how it's keeping everything in check.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

These dogs live a blessed life! Got a good double cut in this afternoon and gave a few camellias some shaping.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Ive concluded that I did suffer some large patch despite best efforts with fungicide. Next year will try to time them better and am going to switch from granular to liquid. Hopefully those actions will improve next season. It's warmed up so it's finally starting to grow and those spots are recovering but slowly. Side note - the perennial border is really coming in and should be in full bloom in a few weeks.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Have some spots that look a little yellowish and upon inspection have some rust color on the tips of some blades. Weekend plan will be fungicide, grub killer, and some iron. Growth really took off this week with warm temps and good moisture levels.


----------



## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

That's how I want my Zoysia to look! Very nice. What is your HOC?


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

@dubyadubya87 Roughly 1.25". It's been a good happy medium height as I'm lower than last year but not struggling to keep up with it.


----------



## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

It's a struggle with my manual Grassinator to keep mine at 1". Had to double cut last night. #firstworldturfissues


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Great Saturday morning - a few hours of tennis followed by a double cut. Vigorous growth this week after more than 3" of rain across 2 days. One or two trouble spots still in some recovery but overall I'm pleased.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Beautiful morning here in North Carolina. Haven't been doing much other than mowing but plan some fertilizer in the next week or so to coincide with rain and/or irrigation. I'm going to heed advice seen here and elsewhere that suggests that Zeon doesn't need a lot of nitrogen and put down 0.5lbs/1K. The lawn looks healthy to me and thus far has had just the one early application of 0.25 lbs nitrogen.

Other things around the yard: Perennial border is taking off and should be looking fantastic in a week or two when some more plants come into bloom. I took a bunch of cuttings of hydrangeas, phlox, lavender, speedwell, and joe pye weed and started a propagation box. Hopefully they root and I can have them in containers in a couple of weeks.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Got a good double cut in this weekend.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Put down fertilizer last week at 0.5lbs/1K and watered it in. The spot or two that were struggling look to be responding quickly to the feeding.

At this point I've put off leveling off long enough that it's probably a wait till next year thing and I'll just enjoy peak July/August beauty of the lawn.

4th of July cut - Happy Birthday U.S.A!


----------



## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Looking top notch on independence day


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

It's been hot and muggy and the Zoysia is going nuts right now which is presenting a new challenge for me to solve - at 1-1.25" height of cut I'm suffering a lot of "fold over" which is necessitating at least 2, ideally 3 passes to get a good trim. I think I've got a good grip on the solutions but don't know how much each will help. Would love thoughts.

1. Swap out smooth roller on my cal trimmer for a grooved. How much improvement should I expect here?

2. Need to level. The worst fold over is in depressions from irrigation lines etc. I just keep putting this off due to the effort and not wanting to tinker with a beautiful lawn.

3. Maybe go lower HOC? Not sure if this would help or how low I can go while still looking good.

Today's mow:


This is 3 days worth of growth (Sat-Tuesday). Crazy.


Fold over in a deep spot:


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Last July this turf was still establishing so now I'm getting a taste of how fast it grows - it looks shaggy after 3 days now. All is good though.

Been digging this Joe Pye Weed (big mauve/pink flower heads) as it comes into bloom. Planted it last fall in a different spot and moved it here this spring. Pollinators all over it!


----------



## rvczoysia (Jul 18, 2021)

Lowing HOC will help. I'm at .85 inch and I still have that problem from my greensmower. Verticutting earlier this year help the problem for a period of time.


----------



## DFWdude (Aug 28, 2020)

Your lawn is looking great!


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Thanks @DFWdude !

Backlapped the cal trimmer for the first time over the weekend and was easier than I expected. Cut quality much improved. The weather was so nice tonight that I cut it again since Saturday. Still another few weeks till the next fert app which I plan to be very light.


----------



## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

Beautiful lawn and landscaping!


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Hottest week of the year in Charlotte and the majority of yards here are fescue and they are complete toast. My front yard (fescue) is hanging on and my water bill shows it. Fescue in the transition zone is just terrible - sky high fungicide needs, high water needs, requires overseeing yearly. Maybe next summer I rip it out and go zeon there too. I put the zeon in as part of an overhaul of our backyard after we removed a bunch of trees and undid the English garden style of the previous homeowner (Some before/afters below). Ok - rant on fescue now over.

Zeon - today put down 0.25lbs N/1K from a 5-10-30 fert. This will be last round of nitrogen for the season. Also stocked up on some pre-emergent while I was at it so I'll be ready to go come fall. Otherwise not much else going on.

Right after we got all the trees out:


Today:


----------



## dubyadubya87 (Mar 10, 2020)

Nice stripes


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Cutless 0.33g growth regulator update. Worked very well on azaleas, moderately well on some larger hollies and ligustrum. I think next time on the larger items I will apply at higher rate and water in a week in advance of trimming. I used this elsewhere in the yard to similar effect on smaller shrubs.

Back in May:


15 weeks later - just a few stray hairs:


Double striped the lawn this weekend


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Well the lawn was looking a little rough early this week and it had me scratching my head a bit. Turns out that I set my Rachio irrigation schedule to end on 8/30 so the lawn went more than 14 days without ANY water as it's been dry here. I can't believe I didn't notice but fortunately it rebounded pretty much immediately after a deep watering yesterday.

I went ahead and did a prodiamine application knowing that I would irrigate and it would get watered in. Will plan another app later in the fall. I've also started monitoring the soil temp and I'm going to try to follow the advice given by NC State which is to apply fungicide after soil temps decline to 70 for 5 consecutive days. After my irrigation mess up who knows if I'll actually get that right.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

I haven't mowed in 10 days. Letting it go longer now between mows as it's just not growing fast. Still looks good but not low and tight. Soil temp at 2" still at 80 degrees. Still haven't put fungicide down and we're looking at temps in mid 80s in Charlotte this week so will hold off a bit longer.



Still dog approved


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Soil temp was right at 70 yesterday so went ahead and did my first fall fungicide treatment with azoxy and propiconazole at low-mid level rates applied in 2 gallons of water per 1K feet. I have some granular headway G on hand but thought I might get better results by spraying and will continue to spray next treatments. Guess I'll find out come springtime.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Did some fall clean up today and mowed for the first time in at least 3 weeks. It's definitely ready for that long winter sleep. Plan another fungicide treatment this weekend.


----------



## jayhawk (Apr 18, 2017)

Did you put down 3-4 preEms and 'kickers' yet ....(joke)

Looking great! growth here is 0...I'm fine with that


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Lol - I try to keep it simple and from past observation most "issues" I've had in lawn care are simply the result of not being consistent and on the ball for the few things that you gotta do.

We actually had frost here in Charlotte last week but it must not have been hard enough to knock it out completely.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

2022 here we go.

Got a new grooved roller for the trimmer installed this weekend and scalped it down. Could tell an immediate difference from the flat roller.

Some poa here and there in the main lawn - I've been able to hand pull anything breaking through. I have a shadier section where it's a problem and I was given some negate diluted concentrate and applied that to the problem area. We'll see what happens.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Cold, wet, and windy here today. Perfect time to tune up the mower. Changed the oil, grease, and back lapping. Must of hit some stuff when I scalped as there was a ding or two in the reel, nothing too bad but back lap couldn't take it out.



One week post scalp. Tonight's low is 25 and tomorrow's 21, so expect it to get knocked back a bit.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Haven't done a lot so not much to update. Did a fungicide application a while back and now have completed the 2nd mow at 7/8". Green up is done and now we just wait for take off mode. Plan on a light fert app this week.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Cutting at 7/8" this year and it's looking much better than this time last year. I'm attributing that to being able to scalp it down with the reel mower which I did not have last year. So far just 0.25lb/1K of nitrogen. Thinking of taking on my first leveling attempt soon now that it's really starting to grow and will do another round of feeding then.


----------



## Broad St Bagman (Apr 8, 2021)

Friday evening I put down 0.75lb N/1K feet from a 16-4-8 formulation. I also applied Zenith 0.5g insecticide at the label rate. Irrigation was scheduled to run Thursday night but I delayed it a day so it could water those applications in. It was looking thirsty on Friday but bounced back with a good soaking last night. Lots of general work around the yard today - topping off some mulch, hedge trimming, and of course mowing.


----------

