Best way to introduce zoysia grass?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Lakenut

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Messages
1,010
Reaction score
1,037
Location
Central Oklahoma
Sod is the only way to go.

Do yourself a favor. Use roundup to kill out the current grass then prep/level the soil. Fertilize the bare soil before laying the sod then get it wet. After that water for short time periods several times a day for the first week then back off to once a day for the next week. At week 2 zoysia MIGHT need its first mowing. Let it dry out a day or two before doing so and mow it high. Sometime around week 4 or 5 it will need a dose of fertilizer.

The idea of not using chemicals on you yard and expecting no weeds is a pipe dream regardless of grass type. Healthy grass will help lessen weeds but won’t eliminate them.

FWIW I am using a new pre-emergent on my Bermuda and zoysia. 1 treatment late in August last year resulted in 0 poa and 0 broadleaf weeds this year. Other than fertilize, water, and wowing this year has been care free.
 

turkeyrun

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Feb 11, 2013
Messages
10,482
Reaction score
11,373
Location
Walters
Sod is the only way to go.

Do yourself a favor. Use roundup to kill out the current grass then prep/level the soil. Fertilize the bare soil before laying the sod then get it wet. After that water for short time periods several times a day for the first week then back off to once a day for the next week. At week 2 zoysia MIGHT need its first mowing. Let it dry out a day or two before doing so and mow it high. Sometime around week 4 or 5 it will need a dose of fertilizer.

The idea of not using chemicals on you yard and expecting no weeds is a pipe dream regardless of grass type. Healthy grass will help lessen weeds but won’t eliminate them.

FWIW I am using a new pre-emergent on my Bermuda and zoysia. 1 treatment late in August last year resulted in 0 poa and 0 broadleaf weeds this year. Other than fertilize, water, and wowing this year has been care free.
What pre-emergent?

Does it eliminate clover?
 
Joined
Apr 7, 2009
Messages
16,427
Reaction score
12,312
Location
Tulsa
The idea of not using chemicals on you yard and expecting no weeds is a pipe dream regardless of grass type. Healthy grass will help lessen weeds but won’t eliminate them.

Thanks for your input - I do appreciate it. However, having seen firsthand the effects of broadcast applications of pesticides on the environment, I have no wish to go that route. So for years I just lived with the weeds in the 2-acre yard, and pulled all the sand burrs I could find each summer. Then when my neighbor’s zoysia started spreading into my yard, I was struck by how much it reduced the abundance of weeds compared to the Bermuda grass right next to it. If I can get zoysia established on the other side of the yard next to the driveway without using pesticides, and cut down on - maybe not totally eliminate - the sand burrs, I’d be a happy camper.
 
Joined
Apr 14, 2009
Messages
10,074
Reaction score
13,278
Location
Owasso
This is the preemergent I started using. Used on golf courses and is rated to remain active for 18 months.
IMG_5372.jpeg
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2009
Messages
1,241
Reaction score
498
Location
Here and there, Oklahoma
Thanks for the advice thus far, folks. I’d rather not ask my neighbor if I could make divots all over his yard, as I don’t know him well at all. We’re talking dozens, if not hundreds, of plugs to cover the length of the 120-yard driveway on both sides.

I do need to correct a misconception here; the word “pesticide” is an umbrella term for a product that controls a pest - whether that pest be a plant, an insect, a fish, a rodent, etc. Herbicides are for plants, insecticides are for insects, piscicides for fish, rodenticides for rodents, etc. I should know, it’s part of the lexicon where I work ;)
My apologies. I showed my ignorance.
 

Lakenut

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Messages
1,010
Reaction score
1,037
Location
Central Oklahoma
What pre-emergent?

Does it eliminate clover?

Resilion(sp?)

Don’t have experience with it around clover prevention. For that I would use a stout dose of a broadleaf weed killer(not glyphosate)now and follow up as needed. Then use a pre emergent as directed in the future.

To the op: the pre emergent I’m using is a liquid application and very easy to control during application. Not sure what environment concerns you are talking about. I have overseen the install and maintenance of more acres of turfgrass than I could keep track of and I cant point to any concerns when herbicides are used correctly.

If you go no chem route, get rid of as much of the existing Bermuda before sod-dig it out, rent a sod cutter, ect. Once established zoysia will take over and usually push the Bermuda out. If you just lay sod over it, it will break through and do its best to win the battle.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 10, 2014
Messages
3,180
Reaction score
2,094
Location
Oologah
Sod is the only way to go.

Do yourself a favor. Use roundup to kill out the current grass then prep/level the soil. Fertilize the bare soil before laying the sod then get it wet. After that water for short time periods several times a day for the first week then back off to once a day for the next week. At week 2 zoysia MIGHT need its first mowing. Let it dry out a day or two before doing so and mow it high. Sometime around week 4 or 5 it will need a dose of fertilizer.

The idea of not using chemicals on you yard and expecting no weeds is a pipe dream regardless of grass type. Healthy grass will help lessen weeds but won’t eliminate them.

FWIW I am using a new pre-emergent on my Bermuda and zoysia. 1 treatment late in August last year resulted in 0 poa and 0 broadleaf weeds this year. Other than fertilize, water, and wowing this year has been care free.


How is it different fromMSMA?
 

tim

Sharpshooter
Supporting Member
Special Hen Supporter
Joined
Jan 31, 2009
Messages
284
Reaction score
493
Location
bartlesville
Resilion(sp?)

Don’t have experience with it around clover prevention. For that I would use a stout dose of a broadleaf weed killer(not glyphosate)now and follow up as needed. Then use a pre emergent as directed in the future.

To the op: the pre emergent I’m using is a liquid application and very easy to control during application. Not sure what environment concerns you are talking about. I have overseen the install and maintenance of more acres of turfgrass than I could keep track of and I cant point to any concerns when herbicides are used correctly.

If you go no chem route, get rid of as much of the existing Bermuda before sod-dig it out, rent a sod cutter, ect. Once established zoysia will take over and usually push the Bermuda out. If you just lay sod over it, it will break through and do its best to win the battle.
So about 5 weeks ago I layed 3 pallets of bermuda should I fertilizer now and with what thanks lakenut.
 

Lakenut

Sharpshooter
Special Hen
Joined
Jun 3, 2013
Messages
1,010
Reaction score
1,037
Location
Central Oklahoma
It’s probably time to fertilize… but I would wait till mid week when the cool down gets here.

Grasses in central ok respond well to iron-gives a great green up. I use a blend from Ekroat Seed in okc. It’s a 32-3-8 with 2% iron. Be sure to sweep/blow off your drive and sidewalk as anything with iron will stain.

I would also wait till evening and turn the water on immediately to get it washed in.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom