Replacing Zoysia with St. Augustine
 

We live in the area of The Villages where only Empire Zoysia was allowed. Our Zoysia has many areas which have died due to stress from a construction project, followed by Irma, followed by harsh winter. We've attended University of Florida Extension presentations on Zoysia who discuss how problematic Zoysia is. We contacted Allen's Turf and Sod who informed us they no longer have Empire Zoysia and do not plan to work with it any longer due to all of the problems associated with it. U of Fla Extension indicated finding Empire Zoysia any place was difficult because it is so problematic. They indicated that Zoysia is not successful which is why The Villages has returned to installing St. Augustine in Fenney and going forward.
Has anyone else had problems such as these and how did you solve it?

St Augustine is nasty and requires just bas much maintenance as zoysia. I've lived with St. Augustine for 55 years. I love my zoysia.

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If you ever tried to walk barefoot on St Augustine, you would never use it-its really, IMHO akin to legal crab grass

Yes, our dog hates St.Augustine grass. She’s used to Indiana grass, whatever that is. Wouldn’t hold up to the weather down here, tho.

has anyone ever put in centipede grass.. my neighbor lost his back lawn and says he going to try it??

I like the St. Augustine, if taken care of properly, which is easy to do, it is thick and dark green and very few problems. We used deans but they did more harm than good so we now take care of it ourselves. I walk on it barefoot and it doesn't bother me, I'm more concerned about fire ants than how the grass feels.

St. Augustine grass is one step above a weed. I don't mind walking on it but it certainly doesn't feel nearly as nice as the Zoisia. We had St. Augustine grass in South Florida for 24 years we lived there so it is not foreign to me. So far, our Zoisia grass is very healthy and hasn't given us any problems.

Search this site for a previous thread on centipede grass, as i recall it is NOT recommended for this location.

There is no such thing as perfect grass
 

First of all look at your soil. It is alkaline sandy clay-NOT A GOOD START.
I asked, offered to pay, but the landscape people, "forgot" or brushed it off. First thing to do is to add organic matter instead of insisting on trying to grow a lawn on CEMENT. I added 3500 pounds of Black Cow to my 5,000 sq foot lawn. I used less fertilizer and less water on my lawn then most others do.

The two popular grasses are St Augustine or Empire Zoysia. Either have SOME advantages.
St Augustine -if it goes brown due to lack of water-IT IS DEAD. The Zoysia goes dormant, when the rain returns or you apply water it recovers. The Empire Zoyzia allows the use of weed killers which will kill St Augustine. HINT for people with St Augustine creeping into a Zoyzia lawn, spot treat it with 24D weed killer on a warm day-the St Augustine WILL DIE. If, done right the Zoyzia can well be damaged but it will recover-IF DONE RIGHT. St Augustine is attractive to CHINCH BUGS and they can destroy your lawn at amazing speed. Unfortunately chinch bugs are becoming resistant to products available to home owners..
A MAJOR DIFFERENCE EXPRESSED BY OTHERS-The zoysia is a much finer bladed grass. Also, zoysia can take more wear from walking on it.
A MAJOR PROBLEM HERE is that the mowing guys do not adjust their schedule or cutting height to what either St Augustine or zoyzia does best at. For that matter, based on the amount of mowing these guys do, the mower blades should be sharpened every day. I doubt they do.

RE: Someone saying they no longer SELL Empire Zoyzia. You will have no trouble finding it for SALE. I'm not familiar with the people you quote but people selling Empire Zoyzia have to meet certain standards. I would assume there are fees involved. YOU WOULD NATURALLY SELL WHAT YOU HAVE. I would expect as people here have with cross contamination either is planted with pieces of grass, it would be difficult to produce and sell BOTH ST AUGUSTINE AND ZOYZIA.

When it comes to the choice between St Augustine or Zoysia, it really comes down to one thought...choose the weed you like the most. :oops:

Oh what I wouldn't give for the ability to be able to grow a strain, any strain... of Kentucky Blue down here. :(

We are born & raised in S Fl and had beautiful lawns of St. Augustine in several homes down south. Walking barefoot on it is lovely to my feet. It is thick and glossy green. If anything looks like a weed it is this crappy zoysia. Yuk! As the OP stated the zoysia has many problems and we have experienced same. We are getting ready to replace this ugly zoysia with St. Augustine. Yay for The V in going back to beautiful.

I'm not sure you can replace one type of grass with another. Might want to check first. Certainly your neighbors will not appreciate a different type creeping into their lawn. I know I wouldn't like it.