Empire Zyosia grass care
 

These are questions only for those that care for their own empire zyosia sod (and preferably only from those that have excellent results):

How high do you mow? How often? Mulch or bag?

How much water per week? One day or two for water?

What do you feed with? How often? What method (liquid (Fertigator?), rotary spreader etc.). Any particular brand of fertilizer?

I like a nice green lawn as the canvas to beautiful landscaping.

PM me if you'd rather not publish your secrets:)

Thanks - Russ

Hi Russ, My neighbor across the street emailed me and said My lawn (it could have been your lawn) was the greenest lawn on the block. I don't know why but can't wait to see it myself.

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Zoysia
 

I keep our Zoysia lawn mowed at 2" (finger test...second knuckle up from fingertips). During the rapid growth time in the summer I mow twice a week, once a week the rest of the year. I always bag the clippings.

Twice a week for watering with longer time periods on the larger areas, less on the sides (smaller areas). 30 mins. on larger, 10-15 mins. on smaller.

I use Milorganite (granular organic fertilizer) once a month (half a 40# bag..small lawn/ranch home...60' x 90') from March thru Nov. In Dec. I use a "chemical" fertilizer, usually Rite Green 16-0-8, to promote root growth...about half or 1/3 bag. No fertilizer Jan. & Feb. to give the lawn a rest while it's dormant. I use a Scotts rotary spreader. I hand weed (don't get many weeds in a healthy, thick lawn) and avoid using chemicals whenever possible.

Our neighbors compliment us a lot on our lawn...but like one other poster...I just don't "see" that it looks that much different from everybody else's.

For 2.5 years I mowed with a reel mower (you push...no motor). Gives a beautiful cut, but is a LOT of work. It's also the healthiest cut for the Zoysia because it actually CUTS the blades like a scissors. The heat of this past summer and aging (of me...LOL) pushed me into getting an electric (rotary) mower. Instead of taking me 2.5 hours to mow, it now only takes 75 minutes. The cut is passable, but not as good as with the reel mower. Rotary mowers TEAR the blades off instead of cutting them, so the blade ends are tufted or ragged looking....no matter how sharp the rotary blade...nature of the beast. So I sacrificed some health and beauty for having more time and less stress on my body.

Only health issue I've had w/our lawn is, last fall and again this year, it's developed brown spot fungus. I notice it's pretty rampant in our area of TV on some neighbor's lawns. I've applied a fungicide and it's slowed down the progress of the disease, but we still have the unsightly brown spots in highly visible areas of the lawn. Frustrating! Last spring I thoroughly raked away the dead grass and had "nice" bare (to the dirt) patches. Much to my surprise and delight, they completely filled in by late June!

Hope the info from my Zoysia experiences is useful.

Couple sites with Zoysia grass information:
http://www.empireturf.com/

http://www.sodsolutions.com/t_empire.shtml

This thread is a "keeper." I'm loving the useful information!
:pepper2:

Do a search on Zoysia....there are many other threads with more good info.

Index finger.


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