My front yard is beautiful St. Augustine grass that I put down 10 years ago and it still looks pristine. I had put down St. Augustine in my backyard as well and it did great for a long time but unfortunately with the addition of kids and dogs in recent years the grass has not fared well. It struggles with dog Urine and traffic plus some of the shaded areas are more prone to get fungus. Common Bermuda has taken over most of my backyard, it is very hearty but is not very thick like some of the other varieties of Bermuda. I am considering killing the entire back yard tilling it and then putting down the zoysia. There are three varieties available locally including Empire, Palisade, and Royal. Does anyone have any long-term experience with the Zoysia? Anyone have input on pluses and minuses on the different varieties? Thank you in advance for your input.
Zoysia is a great grass to use, all varieties have some shade tolerance to them. Palisade would be the one that I recommend. Plan on cutting it around 3" inches in height so that it can handle more traffic on it. General rule of thumb on healthy grass is 1/3 top growth 2/3 roots system. Hope this helps.
We put Empire Zoysia down about 8 months prior to moving out of our last house. It was in our backyard near the marsh. From everything that I understand about it, you cannot mulch it with your mower. You need to bag the clippings. We have two dogs and the grass did not hold up as I expected. It is slow growing, so if you get a small dead spot…don’t expect it to fill back in very quickly.
Scott Fulton
AgentOwned Realty
Scott.Fulton@AgentOwnedRealty.com
It is highly recommended that you do a soil sample before planting any grass. The folks at Carolina Fresh Farms on Savannah Hwy (556-7312) will send off your soil sample for free and then review the results with you and make recomedations for you, again at no cost. I have been working on my yard with their help and products for a little over a year now and highly recommend them.
I bag my St Augustine already so no big deal there. I also cut my St. Augustine on highest mower setting so no big deal there. Clemson had recommended a dose of lime before I put down previous sod to balance pH so would most likely repeat again. If they can get soil sample results quicker than Clemson can I will consider, last I checked Clemson had a long lead time for results, as in more than four weeks. I am hoping to move forward within the next two. Keep the responses coming…thanks!
I would go ahead and get some soil samples, send them off. You can go ahead and install the sod and then add fertilizer and lime as described from the soil samples when you get results back.
quote:I used Zoysia Compadre about 6 years ago. I got it from the sod place in Turbeville but I don't remember the name and I guess I deleted the # for some reason. They delivered it quickly, and had the best price I found in the midlands + area. The two things I've see with it is it likes more sunshine then the other zoysias I think. Also it seems to be prone to Annual Blue Grass POA infestation and that stuff is a BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP to get rid of. If find a very clumpy weed with lots of seed heads on it get on that crap quick or you'll have a couple years battle with it.
Originally posted by contender1My front yard is beautiful St. Augustine grass that I put down 10 years ago and it still looks pristine. I had put down St. Augustine in my backyard as well and it did great for a long time but unfortunately with the addition of kids and dogs in recent years the grass has not fared well. It struggles with dog Urine and traffic plus some of the shaded areas are more prone to get fungus. Common Bermuda has taken over most of my backyard, it is very hearty but is not very thick like some of the other varieties of Bermuda. I am considering killing the entire back yard tilling it and then putting down the zoysia. There are three varieties available locally including Empire, Palisade, and Royal. Does anyone have any long-term experience with the Zoysia? Anyone have input on pluses and minuses on the different varieties? Thank you in advance for your input.
You gonna talk or FISH!