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Growing Emerald Zoysia Grass in Central Texas
... tips on watering, fertilizing, mowing and more.
After many
people asked how I am able to maintain such a rockin lawn, I finally wrote this
article for the benefit of those of you with Emerald Zoysia grass. We reside in Round Rock,
Texas (just
north of Austin). We have Emerald Zoysia and our lawn is the envy of the
neighborhood. In fact, people in the neighborhood call it "the golf course yard".
Emerald Zoysia is a hybrid and does not come in seed. It only comes in sod.
Although it's more expensive, known as 'the Cadillac of Zoysia', over time,
you'll save money in your water bill because it does not need to be watered
as much.
We have
two dogs and you would never know it by looking at our lawn. The lawn
supports foot traffic, paw traffic, and dog poo poo very, very well.
Zoysia loves the sun and is drought tolerant. Although, after you apply the
Emerald Zoysia sod, water every day until established.
I water our lawn twice a week, 20 minutes per zone (30 minutes per zone in
July and August). I do not recommend watering more often, even though many
people say to do so with Zoysia grass. From my experience, it's better to
keep Zoysia a bit dry. Doing so stresses any weeds and Zoysia is extremely
drought tolerant.
Scotts has excellent recommendations for an annual fertilizer program
for Zoysia. It is exactly the program that I follow. In addition, watch for
grubs and fire ants and apply a grub killer and/or ant killer once or twice
a year as needed.
Mow the Zoysia once a week and very, very low at 1" to 1-1/2". Mowing that
low is good for your Zoysia because it allows the sun to reach the soil ...
and, Zoysia loves the Central Texas sun. Cutting it low stresses any weeds that may
be present because weeds usually need more height to be healthy.
Aerate and de-thatch the lawn every other year. Top dress it with 1/2" of
good soil once every three years.
If you hire a lawn service, DO NOT have them
fertilize more than 4 times a year even though they will jump up and down
and get red in the face while telling you that you must fertilize at
least 6 times per year. Zoysia DOES NOT need to be fertilized that much and,
in fact, fertilizing that much can be a detriment to its health because of
increased thatch. They are just trying to sell you more than what you need.
Lawn services also mow to high because their mowers are
usually set to mow that cheap, nasty, water hogging St. Augustine junk (do
you really wanna know what I think of St. Augustine grass?!!).
Years ago, I had tried a couple of the 'well known' lawn services and they
never did better than what I have been able to achieve myself with what I am
telling you here. Although, they did edge the sidewalks better than I do!
I've followed other directions from so called "experts" but have never had
the success that I am now having using these "common sense" approaches to
growing Zoysia. Now, our Zoysia is so thick that it's like walking on carpet
... and, weeds don't have a chance ... they are completely choked out by the
thick grass.
Follow these directions and you too will be "The Smiths" that everyone in
your neighborhood tries to keep up with!
Possess a
desire to express your thoughts about this article? If so,
contact me.
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LAST UPDATED: March 6, 2007
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