Our yard has lots of trees even after cutting some for fire wood gut can not get grass to grow very well. We got an advertisement about Zoysia Grass Says it will thrive in part sun and full sun. Our lot is part sun during the day. Question is- is this a good grass or is there better?
Thanks for any help.

_________________
Dirt Dobber


I Wish you "Enough"

I believe Howard Garrett would agree with me on this one. Zoysia is too expensive and over-rated. It likes more sun than shade, but does not handle very well with traffic. It is more of a grass for show and beauty.

_________________
The entire Kingdom of God can be totally explained as an Organic Garden (Mark 4:26)
William Cureton

Folks,
I would have to respectfully disagree with the moderator's assessment of the choice of zoysia for a lawn grass. 4 yrs ago I put in Empire zoysia (36 pallets). While it is true that zoysia is more expensive than bermuda and St. Augustine, if the budget allows, it is worth it in many ways.

I have a good amount of shade in my front yard (60%) so bermuda was not an option for that reason alone. Empire handles that environment superbly as well as full sun in my back yard. Other types of zoysia, El Toro for instance like more sun and may not handle shade as well.

It has the added value of needing much less H2O than St Augustine and has a fraction of the problems with disease and fungus. In fact other than occasional fertilizing, it has needed no maintenance what so ever.

It does grow slowly which is a good thing if you don't enjoy mowing, but I don't find that it is significantly damaged by traffic. I have 2 young boys and a neighborhood full of kids that play on it and have seen no damage. I'm not saying it would be a good choice for a soccer field but normal wear and tear is not a problem.

It grows very thick and has a wonderfully plush texture. Much better in my opinion than my neighbors bermuda yards. Walk on a zoysia yard barefoot and you'll know instantly what I mean. I've heard it said that zoysia will crowd out rocks. I don't know about that but weeds are virtually nonexistent.

I have read that Howard does not recommend using plugs and that's probably wise. It will take quite a while for it to fill in but when it does there won't be anything else there. In fact if you have flower beds, you need a very good barrier. The stuff spreads slowly but it is relentless.

If I remember correctly, I paid about 30% more for Empire zoysia than the bermuda I priced and about 50% more than St augustine. The initial cost is definitly significant. However over the long run, the water and maintenance costs are very much in my favor.

Hope this helps with your decision process. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions.

Jim
Fort Worth
cagpaddles@hotmail.com
817-721-7602