Good job Chris on the install. I live in Raleigh and I've done three of my houses with Zoysia seed, so I have a few pointers that may help if you do this again in the future. Instead of using the rake behind your lawn tractor, it's better to use a mechanical dethatcher that is set on its lowest setting. You really want to tear into and pull up as much of the old dead fescue as possible. The issue with using sand like this is that it holds no moisture and with the seed sitting on top you will have uneven and inconsistent germination. Use compost instead of sand and spread it out over the seed bed with a landscaping rake. This gives the seed a really good place to start germination. The time to use sand is when you broadcast your Zoysia seed. The seed is very small and it can be an issue getting a spreader to work right. Fill a 5 gallon bucket about three quarters full of sand and add half a bag of seed. Mix this thoroughly and put into the spreader. Another advantage of using sand is that it will contrast with the compost seed bed and will be easy to see where you have already spread seed. Because you have a compost bed that will retain water, you can reduce irrigation to two times a day for about 10 mins. to start. Of course with the hot weather we get here in the Carolinas, you may have to adjust on really hot days. After the Zoysia gets well established it is a good idea to aerate with a core aerator (don't use a spike version) and then top dress with compost. I do this once a year about a month after Spring green up. Zoysia is very drought tolerant so go easy on the irrigation once established. I have an irrigation system and I don't even run it in auto mode anymore. I manually turn it on only when needed, which is maybe once every month or two. Mulch your grass clippings which will provide a majority of the nitrogen your grass will need. I use a LIGHT Milorganite twice a year, once in the Spring and again in late Summer. Hope your yard is doing well. You'll find that Zoysia gets better each and every year.
Tim, im in the cary area trying to diy from fescue to zoysia. i dont own the right tools as my yardwork is outsouced to a local guy. what would be best place to rent the thatcher and is it even possible to rent a bagger riding mower? i paid someone to seed zoysia last year and that failed miserably. i want to diy and see how it goes thisbyear. pls respond with any tips on equipment rental in cary area.
@@gurpreetb4431 Thatcher can be rented at Lowes or Home Depot, but not sure about a bagger riding mower. You may need to have someone else do the mowing for you.
Tim Fetner. Thank you for detail zoysia seeding. I plans to to attempt 2022 end of fall when temp up. Live north Florida. Can I use liquid aeration vs mechanical? Another question. Do you really weed kill first and prep within 1-2 months after applying? I read not to plant for a year where you use complete vegetation kill. Thank you.
Wow thanks for the information! My wife wants me to seed zoysia and now I think I can manage it. Just a bit worried about watering as we have a 3/4 acre lot and plan to just buy regular stake sprinklers. 👍🏾
Lot less effort to NOT kill your existing lawn as Zoysia will spread and choke out other grass and weeds. I used the same seed, mine was Empire variety. I went to wallmart and bought a dozen of those cheap aluminum lasagna trays in the kitchen section. Stopped at Home Depot for few bags of top soil and compost. Lined each tray with 2 inches of topsoil/ compost mix, spread seeds and lightly covered with about 1/4 inch soil mix.. Watered daily (just moist not wet) and kept in the part sun/shade corner of the house. Within 2 weeks had growth. At 5 weeks I cut out plugs using a bulb planter (can get this in any garden center) and made similar holes in the lawn using the same bulb planer and put in the Zoysia plugs, watered daily for the first month. This was 2 seasons ago and my lawn is amazing. Zoysia is the way to cut water bills and has no maintenance other than mowing. With this method there is no need to kill your existing lawn but to simply make your own Zoysia plugs and as the plugs grow they will choke out the existing grass and weeds and use them as nutrient. Lots of youtube videos on how to make your own grass plugs. I kept this production going from June to August and estimate I made over a thousand plugs. The bulb planter made a 3 inch deep hole whereas the Zoysia plugs I made were approximately 2 inches, so I used the same soil mix in the hole first as a base. Want to mention that I bought pellet fertilizer and mixed in with the soil mix. I used a 15-0-15 plant food from HomeDepot it comes in a plastic jug. Internet search shows that Zoysia fertilizer can be 15-0-15, 15-0-10, or 15-0-5. My method may take longer but there is no scorched lawn look and with making your own plugs the birds cant eat the seeds. I planted the plugs about a foot apart and in the bare areas much closer. It was cool to see the plugs grow and slowly take over the entire lawn area.
Excellent method. I've been trying to do that but never thought of the lasagna trays. Planting the seeds in the ground means the weeds will take over before germination.
@@RavensHardCore It all depends on the season but I had good coverage in season 1 and it would have been better if storms had not come. We had some large ones park here and my yard is not level so I had runoff. Season two was better.
I’m more of an instant gratification kind of guy so I installed Zoysia Palisade sod in my front yard late last summer. It has turned out beautiful! But I’m planning on seeding the back yard. Great video, thanks for taking the time to film your process.
Tom, I’m in Pickens SC and also sodded Palisade. Wasn’t sure if you can buy Palisade seed so I was planning to harvest my own. Have done this in the past with centipede and it worked great. Where do you get Palisade seed?
I moved from Raleigh to Florida in 2016. Bought a house where the prior owner let the lawn die of drought. Replaced front yard with St Augustine sod, very costly. My landscaper dropped of some extra sod from another job in my side yard. Turned out to be Zoysia. In 3 years, the Zoysia has hopped my driveway and taken over 90% of my front yard and I could not be happier. St Augustine looks like crabgrass to me and Zoysia looks much more like the fescue I grew up with, only with a finer blade and twice the density or greater. It is a plush green carpet for 3 seasons. Zoysia seed was not available when I had to redo my front yard, but I opted for sod when I redid my back yard in March. The sod squares have just grown together now in late June and the back yard is as beautiful as the front. Yes, it cost about $2500 for the sod, but I just don't have the patience to look at the germination struggle and weed battle with seeds. That said, I have a problem area between the sidewalk and street the is 95% weeds where I am considering trying Zoysia seeds. Wish I had seen your video in February so I could have taken more advantage of the early growth season.
I live in Hildebran NC, I have seeded with two different types of zoysia, Zenith and Compadre. I have had the best results with the Compadre zoysia seed which I purchased from Hancock Farm & Seed Company. The Compadre is expensive but seems to come in better than the Zenith seed did. Now I take plugs out of my lawn and move to other areas to allow growth. However, I have not had any luck with zoysia in shaded areas. I appreciated the video.
Thank you too. I am gong to get mine going again really soon. The weather here is picking up. Agreed on the shade. I'm working to eliminate as much as I can.
I live in the northeast and never heard of spreading sand when you seed. We lay top soil, then seed with a rye, blue and fescue mix then cover it in peat moss. If watered correctly it will come up like a carpet. Would like to see further progress in your zoysia renovation.
Johnnyta43 Hello. The challenge with this seed is it’s size and how much sun it needs to germinate. Sand was originally thought to be a good solution because it would not cover the see as heavy as other options, would hold moisture and heat, and was relatively cost effective. It worked well for me but now there are other options out there too.
I ordered Zoysia plugs from an ad in the Sunday paper in 1977. I remember I received 6 12" square pieces, but instead of doing the plugging, I opted to dig out the old grass and lay it down like sod in 6 different places. I watered it when I got home from work about 7 every evening until Aug came & a dry spell) and it turned brown, so I thought it was dead and I quit watering it. The next mid season I noticed portions of my yard growing a think covering of grass that laid low. It filled in a little over half of my yard, but it seemed to stop in about the 3rd year, or that's when I stopped paying attention because my wife was cutting the grass. Now my yard is about 60% Zoysia and the remainder is fescue with a lot of weeds that look good when cut. It all stripes good except for an area in the left front yard that is mostly weeds. I haven't fertilized or watered my yard, except for the 6 years that I owned a lawn care company that I purchased from my son after I retired from factory work at age 65. I fertilized the yard regularly for those 6 years and I plugged and broadcast fescue in the non Zoysia areas. This year I plan to order some more Zoysia plugs and plug the remainder of the yard. The pros of the Zoysia in my yard is that it lays low and is soft to walk on. If I had only Zoysia in my yard, I wouldn't have to cut it every week, maybe go 3 weeks in between mows. I cud cut it much higher than the Fescue and it's basically weed free (No room for weeds to grow) but the blades have to be really sharp or I will find roots pulled out and laying on top of the grass. Thick Zoysia will chock down the mower with dull blades, whereas the Fescue doesn't know the difference. The bad is Zoysia takes about 3 or 4 weeks more to turn green in the spring and it turns brown about that much earlier than fescue. and when we have a drought it turns brown early. Most winters here in NC the fescue never turns completely brown & we sometimes have to mow up to Christmas time. I am almost tempted to aerate my fescue areas and spread Zoysia seed and at the same time, fertilize and Lime the whole yard. If only 1 out of 5 plug holes produce a sprout it will be about thje same as plugging by hand. Anyway, thanks for your video and all the discussion from others and the no name calling. Lots of useful information is freely given on this site.
Thanks for watching and for commenting. I am in love with this grass. Like you said, you can mow it high. I am at 3 inches but may try 4 next year as some have suggested. Its soft and looks great.
FYI, the purpose of doing multiple short waterings isn’t to keep the seed wet. It is to allow the seed to go through a wet-dry cycle. Every time the seed gets wet and then dries out, the protein layer around the seed breaks down a little more, causing it to germinate faster.
I started my July 6th. I did 2 applications of starter fert. Light applications to spoon feed a bit and have had some great results. I had to go over a few spots this past weekend already to mow. I did however have some large bald spots that just didnt take at all so took the garden weasel this past weekend and through a few more seeds down. I will see if I can share some pics but overall looking really good for just over one month.
Sounds good. I have some bald spots too. I am going to let them go for now and see how it spreads. It already filled in some spots. I plan on getting a small amount of sod next season to patch those areas.
@@ccooke70 My exact plan as well. I left the edges completely unseeded with the idea to wrap the yard with solid sod in spring and let the seed fill the center. Looking forward to see the progress.
instead of getting SOD, go on Amazon and buy a plugger. This is the one I felt was probably the best and easiest to use, and has great reviews. Then just take plugs from your existing lawn where the Zoysia is dense, put them in a wheel barrow and then take plugs from the soil where you need Zoysia and put in the plugs and depending on your soil each plug should spread a 6-18 inches depending on the quality of your soil and amount of sun you get. I'd recommend getting a soil test that covers not only the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, but also the micronutrients like calcium, manganese, iron, etc. The pH of the soil effects how well the Zoysia can absorb these nutrients, so you want to correct soil pH as well. If you put down a pre-emergent herbicide that can reduce the speed the rhizomes and stolons spread, but they will still spread. Probably the easiest way to fill in the holes where you pulled the plugs is to buy a bag or two of top soil with starter fertilizer already mixed in. If this is your first full year with Zoysia, you probably won't have a thatch issue, but it is recommended to aerate your lawn each year which also helps with soil compaction. Just be aware if you do this, you're punhching holes in your pre-emergent layer, so do this before you apply your pre-emergent, or put down half the pre-emergent, then do a follow up pre-emergent application with the other half after aerating to keep fighting back weeds. Anyway, look up the info below and you'll see the plugging tool I'm looking at.ProPlugger 5-IN-1 Lawn Tool and Garden Tool, Bulb Planter, Weeder, Sod Plugger, Annual Planter, Soil Test I put down Zoysia last year as well, but I did MUCH more work. I bought some "Compare-N-Save" glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) and sprayed my lawn, mowed it about 2 weeks later, then sprayed a 2nd application (recommended by a lawn care professional), and mowed my lawn and then rented a SOD cutter and removed the top 2 inches of soil. I did a soil test in there and the guy that sells the Zenith Zoysia seed said not to do anything to my soil...he said he wished their soil was where mine was (lucky me!). I tilled the soil and rolled it pretty flat, then used a drag mat to get the soil pretty level. There are still a few spots I'll need to fix with top dressing, but my lawn is even enough I can probably mow down to about 1 inch without scalping. I was about to put down my seed and the weather called for thunderstorms and torrential downpours, so I held off on putting down seed until the storms passed. As luck would have it, the forecast remained the same for a full month, so when the weather finely calmed down, I was much later putting down seed than I wanted, at the very end of August versus the end of July. It filled in well in most places, but not as much as I'd have liked. Not the fault of the seed, just bad luck. I had a sprinkler fail and the one I replaced it with failed so I have a corner that is completely dead. The worst part about it was that 1 month of rain was 100% slow and very gentle, so it would have been perfect to germinate my seed...#$*! weatherman sucked! I saved about 1 pound of seed for instances like this so I'll probably reseed this area. Because the seed went down so late, the grass wasn't established enough to put down any pre-emergent herbicides so I ended up with a ton of winter weeds. However, my Zoysia is starting to green up here in central Virginia so Super-Sod said most of the winter weeds will die off, and as the Zoysia spreads and fills in, just keep mowing very frequently to stop as much weed seed production as possible, and to keep the weeds mowed outside their comfort zone, and as the Zoysia spreads it should crowd out most of the weeds. I'm hand pulling weeds to reduce weeds and open up the soil to direct sunlight for the newly emerging Zoysia. Herbicide tips - that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That goes along exceptionally well with weed killing. If you spray an herbicide on a weed and you don't kill it, you make the weed more resistant to that weed killer. I was watching a lawn care video where a guy discussed a study done that showed going from 1.5 modes of action to 2.5 modes of action gave you something like 85-95 times more effective treatment with post-emergent herbicides. I don't know why they didn't just go from 1-2 or 2-3 types...it just made it more confusing but if you're applying a broadleaf weed killer, 2, 4D is a good one, and Quinclorac is another good one. Both are Zenith Zoysia safe, although you should wait until the Zoysia has fully greened up before applying 2, 4D, but once the Zoysia has greened up for about 2 weeks it is extremely safe to use. The 2, 4D won't touch crabgrass, but Quinclorac will. As long as your Zoysia is established you can (and should) use a non-ionic surfactant. Mentolated Seed Oil (MSO) works well, but I found some Southern Ag non-ionic surfactant on Amazon that does well as adding some cling to the herbicide. Bought at the 1 gallon size it worked out to about a nickel per 1,000 sq. ft. I used this last fall while my Zoysia was germinating (after talking to Super-Sod first), and even without the surfactant, and doing a split application, the first application killed 100% of my crabgrass. I did a follow application 2 weeks later and although spurge isn't listed on either herbicide, it took out the spurge as well.Pre-emergent herbicides. Prodiamine is a great one to start with (generic form of Barricade). But I was watching other videos by lawn care professionals and they say you should rotate your forms of pre-emergent every year or two so you don't get resistance building up to the same pre-emergent product. I think Pendamethaline (SP?) is a good one, and Isobuxlin (I butchered that one). Look up "Pest and Lawn Ginja" and he has a lot of great info. Here are two links on pre-emergent herbicides that are worth watching.th-cam.com/video/4q4Omn-JviUh/w-d-xo.htmlttps://th-cam.com/video/sR4z_LydHDkH/w-d-xo.htmle also includes a cost per 1,000 sq. ft. with several pre-emergent herbicides. He speaks very highly of Tenacity, but unfortunately, Zoysia isn't tolerant of this herbicide, which sucks as it is a great herbicide with both pre and post emergent properties. If you ever want to get rid of Zoysia for some reason, that may work in your favor.When you do your soil tests, make sure to get the more detailed version that lists both macro and micro nutrients. Micro nutrients are often overlooked but play a big part in how your lawn looks. For instance, iron plays a key role in how green your lawn is. Some effect the general health of the plant and so on.
I'm not sure I follow the logic there Warren. If you level your soil before seeding and leave the outside soil in your lawn bare, when you put down SOD, you'll have a high spot, or you will have to come back in and dig the soil to make the SOD level with the existing lawn which is a LOT of work. Mother Nature is modest and if you leave naked soil, Mother Nature will cover herself with something, which is usually weeds and undesirable grasses. The best defense against weeds is a thick and healthy lawn. It just seems like a lot of useless extra work versus seeding the entire lawn all the way to the edge. The seed fills in very nicely, and if you get it down early enough in the year the seed should germinate and fill in very well without the extra expense of SOD or extra work laying it down. Spring is the best time to put down seed or SOD once soil temps are at or above 60 degrees. If you're worried about the edges, double up on the application of seed to ensure more dense growth. I linked a SOD plugger in a post nearby that you may be able to use to take Zoysia plugs from your more thick and dense areas of your yard and fill in gaps. Then just get some stop soil that already has starter fertilizer in it to fill in the empty plug holes so the Zoysia can easily fill those spots back in.
Hello, I'm redoing the lawn but missed the window before frost.. So I'm thinking about dormant seeding. I was going to buy bulk soil and sand mixture. I have 2 questions. Why did you use only sand? The dead grass doesn't have to be completely removed? I'm thinking I should remove everything.. because it was infested with weeds.. how's your the lawn look today?
Hello. Ideally, removing the grass would be better. I got a lot of it up and was satisfied with it. The seed needs good sunlight so the more grass you remove, the more it gets. I used sand because that’s what I had seen golf courses use and there was not a lot of guidance out there when I filmed this. I had to go with what I thought would work. Soil and sand will work too but you don’t want to cover the seed much at all. It needs a lot of sunlight.
@@samuraioodon Its done well. I had a couple of bumps with storms and trees going down but now the front yard is all Zoysia. Check out my channel and you can see a whole series of videos up to a month or so ago. Its doing well.
I have been killing off and digging up my combo St Aug / Torpedo grass lawn for a few years now. I'm about 75% Bermuda right now hoping to get to near 100% by next spring.
thank you for this video. Any update? We are in coastal NC and are planning on doing this to our yard next season. We have centipede grass with tons of weeds and have had professionals tell us we need a whole new yard, and zoysia is the way to go. Like you, we were hesitant to try zoysia because there was just not a lot of info available.
Hello. Yes. Check my channel. I have 12 more vides on this all the way through last season and the beginning of this season. Thanks for watching. I need to find out how to link them. Sorry. I will work on that so you can go to the next one easily.
This is EXACTLY the video I needed to see! I have a front lawn that is half established Zoysia - the other half, other grasses and weeds. I have put down Roundup on the "bad" yard, and will scalp and till what's left. How did you put down your seed? After the sand, did you just drop it, and then water? No top soil for cover? What about fertilizer? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This Zenith Zoysia seed is expensive. I want to avoid mistakes. Thank you!
Hello. Glad you found it and hope it helps you. We put the seed down on top of the sand and added a basic starter fertilizer. The water will help the tiny seeds get into the sand enough. It’s tiny. Keep it wet through frequent short watering sessions and it will pop soon.
What was your reason for planting Zoysia? I understand zoysia is supposed to do well in shaded areas. I thought that was the primary reason for going zoysia because it grows in the shade, however in your video you seem to be worried about the zoysia growing in the shade. Thank you for taking the time to do this video.
Hello. I got tired of the constant maintenance with fescue. The heat kills it every summer and you have to replant. Zoysia is great in the heat. It’s also one of the summer hot season grasses that does a little better in shade, depending on the type you install. Zenith has a seed but other variants don’t. Zorro and Palisades are very good in the shade but they only come in sod. Zenith is doing good in some shade.
@@cwfain Zoysia is just the opposite. It’s a terrible grass for shade. There are several varieties that can handle some shade but that species of grass prefers as much sun as it can get.
Thank you for putting your rough break down of how much it costs to do this. I’m buying a house and the sod that they’re putting down is centipede. I don’t like the idea of tall grass and stuff, so zoysia interests me.
I seeded 90 days ago and about 50% is thick amazing grass! the part that gets the most sun. the shaded area is fully covered but looks to be about 2 months behind. Ive been fertilizing every week for the past month to push it and its finally sending off some big runners!
Thats awesome. I have bare spots but I think the storms here caused that. I may reseed those in the late spring though. Check out my other videos. Its spreading very well.
You need to be careful how much fertilizer your pushing. Grass stores carbohydrates for times of stress or for when it is going dormant for the winter and fertilizer can force growth which forces the grass to use the stored carbohydrates. So fertilizer applied too heavily or at the wrong times can force growth, forcing the grass to use carbohydrates required for stress or dormancy and you can end up causing more harm than good. I like to think of it as a bear storing fat for winter hibernation. Without the fat stores, the bear may not survive the winter, or it may be weakened and sickly in the spring.
I have straight clay over my new septic tank/field lines, here in Sylacauga Alabama....and I spread rich, topsoil/mixed mulch over top of the big area. Should I spread sand over the topsoil/mulch? I putting down Zenith zoysia seeds on half the area and Emerald zoysia matts on the other half , because its in the sun most of the time. The sod farms in Alabama usually have Emerald and Meyer
I think you ill be fine as long a you don't cover the seeds up. Its a small seed. I used sand because thats all I had seen done at the time. It worked well and it held heat and moisture. If you don't have a big area, the sand is fairly easy to use though.
So you used just sand for the seeding? I was wondering if I needed to get topsoil or not. I currently am in a new home and the backyard is all grade sand. Weeds love it currently
Hello. At the time, there was not a lot of guidance out there so I went with normal playground sand. It worked but there are likely better alternatives. Some day too dressing sand would have been better as that’s what golf courses work. Peat Moss would likely work too. They key is not to bury the seed heavily from what I learned.
Awesome. I am in south Charlotte and glad to help with any tips or advice you need. I will film a final season update this weekend after the rain passes. I have some spots I will need to reseed from the washout rains we had early in the season but I am very happy with the seed.
Thanks for sharing. I planted my zenith zoysia in my backyard 3 1/2 -4 weeks ago Its been watered constantly when not raining here in Atlanta. I checked the Ph today and its 6.6. I have a grass like plant that has germinated after about 10 days but I am not sure if it is the zenith. It seems to thin. I'd like to trade pictures and compare. I dont think this platform allows to attached pictures.
Hey John. Check out the other videos I have to get a better look at how it looked through the early growth to see if that helps. I am on Facebook too of you want to contact me there to send a photo?
Hello. I put mine on top and then watered it in. The seed it tiny and the water pushed it into the sand but I wanted it to get as much sun as possible.
So --- what happens if you don't have a timer-connected sprinkler system, your work schedule has you away from home 13 hours a day, and the ground goes dry before the next watering? Then, what?
You do the best you can or you go get a timer for a manual sprinkler in a garden hose. If you are taking the time and investing the money in the seed and supplies, the timer and sprinkler is not a big addition to that. Keeping it wet is idea but I’m sure it would grow with daily watering. Maybe not as quickly or as dense. However, I think it would still grow. Maybe morning and evening watering?
Thanks for the Awesome video series! It has been very helpful! I planted about a month ago, and it is growing in well. I have some areas that germinated late, and is still real tiny, and some areas that are two inches or so tall. When can I safely do the first mowing without hurting the late bloomers? It seems that you started walking on yoru lawn pretty early.
Hello and congrats. I would let it go a while longer. Maybe a few weeks. Even if those original areas get tall, you likely have seed germinating through the first month and you don't want to pick that up with your power. It won't hurt it at all to get long up front. You can cut it back. Once you mow it a few times, you can mow it low from there out and it will tend to grow out at that point. So, I would say the first month is all about germination. I would probably not mow until a few weeks past that. Hope that helps.
@@ccooke70 Thanks for that. My last question is about when to switch from watering 3 times a day for 7 minutes (what I have been doing since the beginning), to watering less often for longer. Any thoughts on that?
In over all, what did you learned? What would you had done different? I am planning to do the same Zoysia from what I heard and read is also drought tolerant. I live in Southern California in the desert area, we get scorching summer, and cold winter. You had to install for germination as the temperature gets warmer? is that my take, also sand for the seed to be stable and water not soaking. I just purchased a property were the previous owner never watering the lawn, after a few rains a lot of the grass came bak I can see a lot Pos, Bermuda and tons tons of weeds, which is ok for me. I have a desert tortoise that roams the backyard and feeds on the weeds. I will be my first time taking care of a lawn, thanks for the info, any other advice?
Great question. I may do a video on that very topic. For me, my only regret was that I should have put out more seed after that huge rainstorm or at least once I saw the grass growing heavy in certain spots. I really did not put 2 and 2 together to figure out why. Looking back, that washout should have resulted in me getting another bag of seed and hitting those high spots again and I would have got better coverage.
Christopher Cooke I have the same epiphany I thought I had to aerate the lawn and use plugs to sort have the instant look, but I rather have the zoysia acclimate from seed, I noticed the backyard 80% is sunny, along the edge of the property there a few fruit trees, that give a lot of shade to the backyard lawn- will see how it will turn. I am doing the solarization method since I can’t treat the lawn with chemicals since the lawn is also a food source for my tortoise.
@@archsilton Sounds good. I'm leaning toward adding some plugs into my spots where I moved my bed in my front yard as they seem fairly cheap compared to getting sod, a sod cutter, and removing dirt from the yard.
Christopher Cooke I did a project two years ago remove the lawn with a sod cutter (st Agustin and bermuda three years a later a see a Bermuda shoot popping here and there - that thing will buy die. I transform the front lawn into a more efficient and suitable landscape for my area with a lot of natives plants to attract more wild life and turned into a sanctuary for birds, bees and butterflies, to attract more pollinators - seems to be working so far.
that's similar to what i did. I killed the lawn with glyphosate, then used a SOD cutter to remove the top 2 inches before tilling the soil, adding fertilizer and spreading the seed. Instead of buying SOD or plugs though, I'd buy a plugging tool from Amazon. There are many, but search for the one I have at the bottom. If you find a better one, please link it. Then just get some top soil with starter fertilizer mixed in to fill in the holes where you pulled your own Zoysia plugs. If you have a partially established Zoysia lawn, you already have TONS of plugs to pull from without spending money or waiting for delivery. With proper soil Zenith Zoysia should spread anywhere from 6 to 18 inches from each plug in a season, so the closer you put your plugs, the faster it should fill in. Once you hit the end of the year, use a pre-emergent to help keep winter weeds from popping up in your dormant lawn. Pre-emergent herbicides can slow the spread of Zoysia, but if it is established, it will still push outward. A thick and healthy Zoysia lawn will naturally keep out most weeds, and mowing low and frequently will help keep down the number of new weed seeds while helping to promote Zoysia growth. ProPlugger 5-IN-1 Lawn Tool and Garden Tool, Bulb Planter, Weeder, Sod Plugger, Annual Planter, Soil Test
A thin layer of normal playground sand. 1/2 inch to an inch. You could use peat moss too. There was not a lot of info out there when I did this so I did what golf courses do and used sand.
Thank you for this video. I am strongly looking to make the switch as well. I am here in CLT as well. Thank you again for the video. Awesome work. Do you get your seed locally?
@@ccooke70 Thank you. Wish we could chat about your experience. I am gonna do this in 2021. What made you switch to Z grass? Just wondering. Great info thank you. I live about 9 mins from there.
I got tired of my rescue burning up every summer and get like I spent too much money and time on it every year reseeding, etc. get your yard prepped and ready to plant in late March or early June. Once night temps are in the 70s you will be fine. Keep it wet but not soaked. Ie water in short sessions every 6 hours or so for about three weeks and you will have grass. Cut back to twice a day and it will start growing.
@@ccooke70 what would be helpful is video showing how you actually broadcast the seed, how deep it was planted and if you added any fertilizer and what type.
@@deneehurst5177 The seed works into the sand a bit as you water it. It is less covered than if it were in dire but still fairly protected from view. I’m sure the birds are some though. The sand holds heat and moisture pretty well too.
ryan treacy No argument about compost holding more moisture. However, the manufacturer of the seed suggested sand due to compost and topsoil having more of a threat to prevent the germination needs of this seed. It needed to have something very thin to hold heat and moisture, to keep the small seeds in place, and not cover the seed where the sun could not get to it. Not saying they would not work. I was just using what had the highest chances and was approved by the supplier.
You skip actually showing stuff like doing the seeding, or the mower. But still I appreciate this The seed was just sprinkled on top of the sand, that's it? I don't see how I would keep weeds from taking over while germination is going on
Yes. Sand then seed. This seed does not like to be covered up or it dies. Weeds are an issue with ANY grass planting. You can't treat them until your grass is rooted well. Zoysia is a bit harder as its seeding time is right in the middle of the perfect season for weeds. You just have to keep it mowed for the first season and then treat the weeds the next year. Once the grass begins to spread, it takes over most of the weeds anyway.
You can obviously put down pre-emergent early in the season that will keep the weeds from coming up during summer. Then plant the zoysia in late spring/early summer. Sand down first. Perfect combo.
If the pre-emergent is still stopping weeds from completing germination, it can do the same to desirable seeds. if you e-mail the people at the Super-Sod website they can tell you how long you need to wait before putting down seed depending on which type of pre-emergent you put down. I'm not saying you're wrong, but there is a time issue and I'd just hate to see someone put down several hundred dollars of seed just to have it die due to a still active pre-emergent.Zoysia seed likes to be covered about 1/8 to 1/4 inch with soil for proper germination. if you go much deeper, the seed may not germinate. I didn't cover my seed with soil either. I applied seed to bare soil, but as a prep step, I roughed up the soil with a stiff bow rake prior to seeding. Bad weather forecasts forced me to delay seeding past the time I wanted to, but I still had great results before the lawn went dormant last year.
Hello. Yes sir. There are over a dozen videos now. It's almost time for another one as its kicked in pretty well this season now that the heat is here. Click on my channel and you will see them all. Thanks for checking it out.
@@ccooke70 I just found them after I sent this. I've been seeding with the same stuff. I love the finished product but man it takes forever to grow. The seed I planted last year is awesome looking. By any chance do you know if this grass will have seed heads on it?
@@mudagirl Great to hear. I agree. Its a slow process but it really takes off after it gets going. I have not seen any seed heads. It develops a network of roots underneath the green blades though. You will see them shoot out all over the place and then it runs.
If you go on Amazon, look for Compare-N-Save Glyphosate. It's the same active ingredient in Roundup, but highly concentrated. You pay less for the concentrated gallon than a gallon of pre-mixed Roundup, but you get enough to make 20-40 gallons of Roundup equivalent mix. I also recommend using a Turf Marking Dye so you know you haven't miss places, and if you get overspray on something you don't mean to, you can see it and rinse it off. You get better results using a non-ionic surfactant. I used one from Southern Ag which I also found on Amazon. This helps the herbicide stick to the plants better versus running off into the soil, so it absorbs and translocate through the plant for better absorption and a more effective kill. If you are spraying a large area, look up a Chapin 362 hose end sprayer. It doesn't spray 100% evenly, but if you're going for a full kill it's a great option. Glyphosate is broken down by the microbes in the soil usually in a matter of days so you don't have to worry about it hurting seeds that you are putting down after for a new lawn.
@@DevOps_Ninja_Academy I don't think our local store has it any longer as the season is almost over. Join the Zoysia Life Facebook group and see if there's an option there. Florida may have it longer in the year. Amazon also sells it but I am not sure about getting it to India. Hope you can find it. Its been a great grass for me.
Not at all. The sand has been helpful for me keeping the seed wet while germination was happening. I watered every 4 - 6 hours, depending on our temps. The sand helped hold moisture.
Even though I tilled the ground I have this clay soil that becomes solid at the top quite quickly especially in this heat 95+ temps in alabama. I found watering 3 times a day to keep it moist was mostly fine(all i could do anyway) but I also had to go gently over few spots with a garden weasel to break just the surface tension of the soil. also be adding humic acid etc to help with soil quality. in areas where its been real bad i did more frequent shallow watering to keep the top moist knowing below the surface has water.
ryan treacy At the time, sand was the suggested product by people who produced and sold the seed. It had more to do with not covering up the seed than nutrients. The seed is tiny and cannot be covered up as much as other seeds.
@@shikhardixit1730 This is the one I used. Amazon carries it now. Scotts brand also makes one now. I will link it too. www.amazon.com/Zenith-Zoysia-Grass-Seed-lbs/dp/B006RSDM3Q/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=zoysia+grass+seed&qid=1597602557&sr=8-6
@@ccooke70 Jiminy christmas I bet that was a nice water bill! Thanks for sharing your watering frequency. For whatever reason people just will not share even what they *think* you should do. Watering too little is such an easy mistake to make.
I would do seed again no doubt. WAY cheaper. Its really a matter of time/patience to cost. The season here will kick in shortly and I will be posting videos all through the season. Killing off Poa Annua right now which is in my bare spots. I was going to sod them but I am really thinking about plugging those spots. I enjoyed learning as I went though.
Thank you. I have done a significant amount of research on zoysia and I have noticed that time/patience is a big part when starting from scratch. I am a fan of tall fescue myself. Reason I was asking was I had a client that was dead set on 3/4 acre lot of weeds being transformed. I talked him through the entire process step by step and he was immediately turned off by it. Most people want instant results, minimum labor. Cant wait to see how your lawn turns out.
If the person is paying someone to do it and has the money for it, SOD is obviously the quickest and least work for the customer, but by far the most expensive. Compare-N-Save Glyphosate is the cheapest non-selective herbicide I could find. For cost versus performance, I'd spray the entire 3/4 acre, do soil tests, till the soil, drag it as level as possible, put down the seed, and use a gas powered top dresser to put down some soil or sand and soil to put a very light cover over the seed, then let it go and water, water, water. Since Zoysia thrives best in temperatures between 85 and 100, once the germination phase is complete, we should be hitting the perfect temperatures for winter weeds to die out and Zoysia to spread and fill in. As long as the soil temps are 60 or above, it's a good time to plant Zoysia. Zoysia will grow well until about the first frost which in central Virginia is around the 3rd week in October, so spring with 60+ ground temps is the perfect time to start a Zoysia lawn. Contact Chris with the Super-Sod. He is a 3rd generation Zoysia SOD farmer and they grow over 15,000 acres of Zoysia every year so I can' think of anybody more well versed in growing Zoysia and discussing options. Zoysia is great because it grows a new root, then discards an old root, so the grass is constantly renewing itself so you never have to overseed unless you have some kind of catastrophe. My dad put down Zoysia back in the mid '80's and I was looking at the lawn online recently and I can tell no love has been given to the lawn, but it is still filled out nicely and a nice Zoysia lawn. I don't think they have a clue how nice their lawn could be with a little love and attention.
@@ccooke70 that is correct. Zenith is the only one that can be seeded in zoysia. I had some put in my backyard and my biggest concern was/is shade tolerance. After watching your video seems like you have some that is in a shaded area under the tree. How's that coming in?
@@rahulthakur5301 Uploading a final video shortly. I just filmed it today. If its full shade, it won't take. I have areas in the back that are partial shade and some seed came in and its been expanding through the season. I can tell it takes more sun for seed germination than the grass does, once rooted. However, it does need a few hours of sun a day at least. I'd say in the 5 - 7 hours.
After watching the entire video, I think you would have had much better results putting down soil versus sand. I planted at the end of August or early September due to bad weather, and I'm in Central Virginia and I had much more growth at the 1 month mark. I had done a split application of 2, 4D and Quinclorac before I was able to mow once and although Sedge isn't on the list of controlled weeds on either, the first application kicked it in the gut and it was struggling, and the second application of 2, 4D and Quinclorac killed the sedge. I mowed once last year before the grass went dormant and to date I've not seen any more sedge. A GREAT website to check out if you are not aware is DoMyOwn.com. They sell all kinds of lawn care herbicides and list the full label as a PDF document. They also have professionals on staff that can help guide you towards the herbicide you need and they can help you identify any weeds you may not recognize. I had misidentified goose grass thinking it was crabgrass and neither of the herbicides touched it so I just cut it off at ground level with my knife to keep ahead of it and stop the goose grass from maturing enough to drop seeds. I'd love to see a video of how things are going this year for you. I'm guessing your grass just started greening up these past few weeks?
Maybe so. Sand seemed to be the recommendation most places were making so I went with it. They stated that soil was risky because the seed size. It could get covered and would not germinate then. I think I am going to try some peat moss in a few areas this year as a test.
@@ccooke70 I think maybe they did not explain what they meant very well. If I am understanding what you did correctly, you put down sand and then put the seed on top? The sand didn't have any nutritional value to help the seed grow so what did grow was seed that washed down through the sand to the soil. I've seen tons of people put down soil, and and soil mixed, or just pure sand after the lawn is established to level out low spots and bumps so you don't scalp the lawn in places, but have never seen someone put down pure sand before seeding as the bed for germinating new seeds. Then again, I'm not a lawn care professional, but sometimes I play one on TH-cam LOL. I'd like to see what your lawn looks like this year though. Did you post any new videos of your lawn this year? About 20% or so of my lawn is weeds, and I'm hoping as the winter weeds die off the Zoysia will fill in the gaps and luckily I work from home so I'm able to go out on my lunch break and spend 15-20 minutes a day pulling or cutting back new weeds while the Zoysia spreads and new seeds establish in the bare spots. That's one of my conundrums...I have about 800 Sq. Ft. that is a mixture of weeds and grass. There's not a lot of grass, but it is present through out and I keep going back and forth on if I want to just kill the entire area and start over, or just get rid of the weeds and over seed with some of the left over seed I saved from last fall. I'm leaning towards the over seeding because I hate to kill established Zoysia. I do have some extremely dense patches that I can buy a plugging tool and move plugs to thin spots.
- Christopher Cooke: Have reviewed this video in extrema detail, BUT... *_ABSOLUTELY NO_* info on the actual zoysia seed broadcasting method. You went from sand install, directly to "OK, now finished w/ the lawn seeding." Bah, Humbug!. You said this was *_complete!_* Just how can you consider this complete w/ *_NO_* info on seed broadcast methods?!? You get a _YT thumbs-down_ accordingly.
Oh my goodness $80 / 2lb bag + truckload of sand w delivery + dingo rental = economical...I don’t think I live on the same planet as this guy. But congrats on all the cash your house is very lovely
I realize what you are saying now. It's not a bad price if you factor it against the cost of zoysia sod. The sod here is $300-$350 a pallet. That does not cover the other work and resources need to prep for it and to lay it. iE leveling the yard and removing dirt, etc. So, the price I paid for everything for my initial seeding was several thousand less than having sod installed. Does that help?
@J Han Yeah. Its pricey up front but over the long haul, its way less work and money each year. I now have 4 neighbors who have started the switch too. LOL.
@@ccooke70 I don't think she knows how much Zoysia sod is. I got quoted $9K for a 11K SQ ft backyard.... And that with self pick up & self install... So heck yeah, I might just seed plant those suckers and water them. I might spend $1500, but it's no where near the $9K tab for sod 😂
@@ccooke70 I put in some Zoysia plugs in as an experiment. They have done fantastic. I bought a bag of seed and tried a 10’ x 10’ area. I probably had 4 blades grow. I have another bag and upgraded irrigation so I plan to do the area again. I’m thinking not enough water was a big factor.
@@JenniferAguiartampa sounds like it. It all depends on what you use with it. If you use peat moss or compost you may not need to water as much. I found it worked better with frequent small watering sessions. Every four to six hours or so. Keep it damp but not soaked.
Not really the point. Seed was new. Nobody had videos on it or much info out at all. I gave it a try and documented it for everyone to learn. It did well and it’s a fraction of the cost of sod. There’s a whole series of these videos on my channel covering two years of tests including plugs, seed, and sod. Thanks for watching.
I was wondering that as well. It may hold heat and moisture well, although from what I've read water tends to pass through sand faster than soil, and soil has nutrients to help seed germinate and grow where sand doesn't. I've seen plenty of people top dress with sand, or a mixture of soil and sand, but i don't think I've ever seen anybody put down sand to germinate grass seed because there's no nutritional value. I bought the same seed as you but I thought the instructions said to cover with a light layer of soil? The proof is in the pudding though...you had successful germination and the stolons and rhizomes will take care of the rest this year. if you plan on top dressing to level out your lawn so you can mow low, look at the Pest & Lawn Ginja on youtube and he does an episode on leveling his own lawn. If nothing else, seeing the top dressing tool in action is worth it if you've never seen one. It's essentially a huge seed spreader with maybe a 5 HP engine to spin and distribute the soil and sand mixture or whatever you choose to use. It saves tons of back breaking work, and spreads more evenly than you can do by hand. I haven't seen your follow up video yet, but I'm heading there now.
If your dog keeps walking around your yard after you treated it with Roundup, It could make your dog sick weeks or months from now. Please keep the dog off the part of the yard that you treated with Roundup. Good luck.
Good job Chris on the install. I live in Raleigh and I've done three of my houses with Zoysia seed, so I have a few pointers that may help if you do this again in the future. Instead of using the rake behind your lawn tractor, it's better to use a mechanical dethatcher that is set on its lowest setting. You really want to tear into and pull up as much of the old dead fescue as possible. The issue with using sand like this is that it holds no moisture and with the seed sitting on top you will have uneven and inconsistent germination. Use compost instead of sand and spread it out over the seed bed with a landscaping rake. This gives the seed a really good place to start germination. The time to use sand is when you broadcast your Zoysia seed. The seed is very small and it can be an issue getting a spreader to work right. Fill a 5 gallon bucket about three quarters full of sand and add half a bag of seed. Mix this thoroughly and put into the spreader. Another advantage of using sand is that it will contrast with the compost seed bed and will be easy to see where you have already spread seed.
Because you have a compost bed that will retain water, you can reduce irrigation to two times a day for about 10 mins. to start. Of course with the hot weather we get here in the Carolinas, you may have to adjust on really hot days. After the Zoysia gets well established it is a good idea to aerate with a core aerator (don't use a spike version) and then top dress with compost. I do this once a year about a month after Spring green up. Zoysia is very drought tolerant so go easy on the irrigation once established. I have an irrigation system and I don't even run it in auto mode anymore. I manually turn it on only when needed, which is maybe once every month or two. Mulch your grass clippings which will provide a majority of the nitrogen your grass will need. I use a LIGHT Milorganite twice a year, once in the Spring and again in late Summer.
Hope your yard is doing well. You'll find that Zoysia gets better each and every year.
Tim, im in the cary area trying to diy from fescue to zoysia. i dont own the right tools as my yardwork is outsouced to a local guy. what would be best place to rent the thatcher and is it even possible to rent a bagger riding mower? i paid someone to seed zoysia last year and that failed miserably. i want to diy and see how it goes thisbyear. pls respond with any tips on equipment rental in cary area.
@@gurpreetb4431 Thatcher can be rented at Lowes or Home Depot, but not sure about a bagger riding mower. You may need to have someone else do the mowing for you.
Tim Fetner. Thank you for detail zoysia seeding. I plans to to attempt 2022 end of fall when temp up. Live north Florida. Can I use liquid aeration vs mechanical? Another question. Do you really weed kill first and prep within 1-2 months after applying? I read not to plant for a year where you use complete vegetation kill. Thank you.
Man , this advice is going to help me a ton , live in Fayetteville and prepping for Zoysia seeding next year
Wow thanks for the information! My wife wants me to seed zoysia and now I think I can manage it. Just a bit worried about watering as we have a 3/4 acre lot and plan to just buy regular stake sprinklers. 👍🏾
Lot less effort to NOT kill your existing lawn as Zoysia will spread and choke out other grass and weeds. I used the same seed, mine was Empire variety. I went to wallmart and bought a dozen of those cheap aluminum lasagna trays in the kitchen section. Stopped at Home Depot for few bags of top soil and compost. Lined each tray with 2 inches of topsoil/ compost mix, spread seeds and lightly covered with about 1/4 inch soil mix.. Watered daily (just moist not wet) and kept in the part sun/shade corner of the house. Within 2 weeks had growth. At 5 weeks I cut out plugs using a bulb planter (can get this in any garden center) and made similar holes in the lawn using the same bulb planer and put in the Zoysia plugs, watered daily for the first month. This was 2 seasons ago and my lawn is amazing. Zoysia is the way to cut water bills and has no maintenance other than mowing. With this method there is no need to kill your existing lawn but to simply make your own Zoysia plugs and as the plugs grow they will choke out the existing grass and weeds and use them as nutrient. Lots of youtube videos on how to make your own grass plugs. I kept this production going from June to August and estimate I made over a thousand plugs. The bulb planter made a 3 inch deep hole whereas the Zoysia plugs I made were approximately 2 inches, so I used the same soil mix in the hole first as a base. Want to mention that I bought pellet fertilizer and mixed in with the soil mix. I used a 15-0-15 plant food from HomeDepot it comes in a plastic jug. Internet search shows that Zoysia fertilizer can be 15-0-15, 15-0-10, or 15-0-5. My method may take longer but there is no scorched lawn look and with making your own plugs the birds cant eat the seeds. I planted the plugs about a foot apart and in the bare areas much closer. It was cool to see the plugs grow and slowly take over the entire lawn area.
Excellent method. I've been trying to do that but never thought of the lasagna trays. Planting the seeds in the ground means the weeds will take over before germination.
I tried to grow zoysia in nursery pans and got poor results. 😢
@@JenniferAguiartampaDid you make sure you removed the lasagna from the trays first before adding the seed?
@@IIIlIIIllIl 😂
Awesome video with information that is hard to find on the internet. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you. Just filmed the start of this season and will be posting it today. It’s starting to wake up here.
@@ccooke70 Very cool! How long does it take to become an established zoysia lawn? Thanks!
@@RavensHardCore It all depends on the season but I had good coverage in season 1 and it would have been better if storms had not come. We had some large ones park here and my yard is not level so I had runoff. Season two was better.
@@ccooke70 Ok cool. Good to know. Thanks for the info!!
I’m more of an instant gratification kind of guy so I installed Zoysia Palisade sod in my front yard late last summer. It has turned out beautiful! But I’m planning on seeding the back yard. Great video, thanks for taking the time to film your process.
You are welcome. I enjoyed filming the whole series on my channel and will keep posting them there through this season. Good luck with your process.
Tom, I’m in Pickens SC and also sodded Palisade. Wasn’t sure if you can buy Palisade seed so I was planning to harvest my own. Have done this in the past with centipede and it worked great. Where do you get Palisade seed?
I moved from Raleigh to Florida in 2016. Bought a house where the prior owner let the lawn die of drought. Replaced front yard with St Augustine sod, very costly. My landscaper dropped of some extra sod from another job in my side yard. Turned out to be Zoysia. In 3 years, the Zoysia has hopped my driveway and taken over 90% of my front yard and I could not be happier. St Augustine looks like crabgrass to me and Zoysia looks much more like the fescue I grew up with, only with a finer blade and twice the density or greater. It is a plush green carpet for 3 seasons. Zoysia seed was not available when I had to redo my front yard, but I opted for sod when I redid my back yard in March. The sod squares have just grown together now in late June and the back yard is as beautiful as the front. Yes, it cost about $2500 for the sod, but I just don't have the patience to look at the germination struggle and weed battle with seeds. That said, I have a problem area between the sidewalk and street the is 95% weeds where I am considering trying Zoysia seeds. Wish I had seen your video in February so I could have taken more advantage of the early growth season.
Goo luck with your yard. The seed was fun but it was slower. A great experience for me. I loved learning through it.
I live in Hildebran NC, I have seeded with two different types of zoysia, Zenith and Compadre. I have had the best results with the Compadre zoysia seed which I purchased from Hancock Farm & Seed Company. The Compadre is expensive but seems to come in better than the Zenith seed did. Now I take plugs out of my lawn and move to other areas to allow growth. However, I have not had any luck with zoysia in shaded areas. I appreciated the video.
Thank you too. I am gong to get mine going again really soon. The weather here is picking up. Agreed on the shade. I'm working to eliminate as much as I can.
Zoysias depending on variety will need anywhere from 4(zeon) to 5 or 6 (zenith).
I live in the northeast and never heard of spreading sand when you seed. We lay top soil, then seed with a rye, blue and fescue mix then cover it in peat moss. If watered correctly it will come up like a carpet. Would like to see further progress in your zoysia renovation.
Johnnyta43 Hello. The challenge with this seed is it’s size and how much sun it needs to germinate. Sand was originally thought to be a good solution because it would not cover the see as heavy as other options, would hold moisture and heat, and was relatively cost effective. It worked well for me but now there are other options out there too.
Great video, thanks for doing this
Glad it helped you.
I ordered Zoysia plugs from an ad in the Sunday paper in 1977. I remember I received 6 12" square pieces, but instead of doing the plugging, I opted to dig out the old grass and lay it down like sod in 6 different places. I watered it when I got home from work about 7 every evening until Aug came & a dry spell) and it turned brown, so I thought it was dead and I quit watering it. The next mid season I noticed portions of my yard growing a think covering of grass that laid low. It filled in a little over half of my yard, but it seemed to stop in about the 3rd year, or that's when I stopped paying attention because my wife was cutting the grass. Now my yard is about 60% Zoysia and the remainder is fescue with a lot of weeds that look good when cut. It all stripes good except for an area in the left front yard that is mostly weeds. I haven't fertilized or watered my yard, except for the 6 years that I owned a lawn care company that I purchased from my son after I retired from factory work at age 65. I fertilized the yard regularly for those 6 years and I plugged and broadcast fescue in the non Zoysia areas. This year I plan to order some more Zoysia plugs and plug the remainder of the yard. The pros of the Zoysia in my yard is that it lays low and is soft to walk on. If I had only Zoysia in my yard, I wouldn't have to cut it every week, maybe go 3 weeks in between mows. I cud cut it much higher than the Fescue and it's basically weed free (No room for weeds to grow) but the blades have to be really sharp or I will find roots pulled out and laying on top of the grass. Thick Zoysia will chock down the mower with dull blades, whereas the Fescue doesn't know the difference. The bad is Zoysia takes about 3 or 4 weeks more to turn green in the spring and it turns brown about that much earlier than fescue. and when we have a drought it turns brown early. Most winters here in NC the fescue never turns completely brown & we sometimes have to mow up to Christmas time. I am almost tempted to aerate my fescue areas and spread Zoysia seed and at the same time, fertilize and Lime the whole yard. If only 1 out of 5 plug holes produce a sprout it will be about thje same as plugging by hand. Anyway, thanks for your video and all the discussion from others and the no name calling. Lots of useful information is freely given on this site.
Thanks for watching and for commenting. I am in love with this grass. Like you said, you can mow it high. I am at 3 inches but may try 4 next year as some have suggested. Its soft and looks great.
FYI, the purpose of doing multiple short waterings isn’t to keep the seed wet. It is to allow the seed to go through a wet-dry cycle. Every time the seed gets wet and then dries out, the protein layer around the seed breaks down a little more, causing it to germinate faster.
Thank you. It certainly worked. I had grass way earlier than expected.
I started my July 6th. I did 2 applications of starter fert. Light applications to spoon feed a bit and have had some great results. I had to go over a few spots this past weekend already to mow. I did however have some large bald spots that just didnt take at all so took the garden weasel this past weekend and through a few more seeds down. I will see if I can share some pics but overall looking really good for just over one month.
I was also in the same boat, couldnt find any content online around zenith zoysia seed. great job posting!
Sounds good. I have some bald spots too. I am going to let them go for now and see how it spreads. It already filled in some spots. I plan on getting a small amount of sod next season to patch those areas.
@@ccooke70 My exact plan as well. I left the edges completely unseeded with the idea to wrap the yard with solid sod in spring and let the seed fill the center. Looking forward to see the progress.
instead of getting SOD, go on Amazon and buy a plugger. This is the one I felt was probably the best and easiest to use, and has great reviews. Then just take plugs from your existing lawn where the Zoysia is dense, put them in a wheel barrow and then take plugs from the soil where you need Zoysia and put in the plugs and depending on your soil each plug should spread a 6-18 inches depending on the quality of your soil and amount of sun you get. I'd recommend getting a soil test that covers not only the nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium, but also the micronutrients like calcium, manganese, iron, etc. The pH of the soil effects how well the Zoysia can absorb these nutrients, so you want to correct soil pH as well. If you put down a pre-emergent herbicide that can reduce the speed the rhizomes and stolons spread, but they will still spread. Probably the easiest way to fill in the holes where you pulled the plugs is to buy a bag or two of top soil with starter fertilizer already mixed in. If this is your first full year with Zoysia, you probably won't have a thatch issue, but it is recommended to aerate your lawn each year which also helps with soil compaction. Just be aware if you do this, you're punhching holes in your pre-emergent layer, so do this before you apply your pre-emergent, or put down half the pre-emergent, then do a follow up pre-emergent application with the other half after aerating to keep fighting back weeds. Anyway, look up the info below and you'll see the plugging tool I'm looking at.ProPlugger 5-IN-1 Lawn Tool and Garden Tool, Bulb Planter, Weeder, Sod Plugger, Annual Planter, Soil Test I put down Zoysia last year as well, but I did MUCH more work. I bought some "Compare-N-Save" glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup) and sprayed my lawn, mowed it about 2 weeks later, then sprayed a 2nd application (recommended by a lawn care professional), and mowed my lawn and then rented a SOD cutter and removed the top 2 inches of soil. I did a soil test in there and the guy that sells the Zenith Zoysia seed said not to do anything to my soil...he said he wished their soil was where mine was (lucky me!). I tilled the soil and rolled it pretty flat, then used a drag mat to get the soil pretty level. There are still a few spots I'll need to fix with top dressing, but my lawn is even enough I can probably mow down to about 1 inch without scalping. I was about to put down my seed and the weather called for thunderstorms and torrential downpours, so I held off on putting down seed until the storms passed. As luck would have it, the forecast remained the same for a full month, so when the weather finely calmed down, I was much later putting down seed than I wanted, at the very end of August versus the end of July. It filled in well in most places, but not as much as I'd have liked. Not the fault of the seed, just bad luck. I had a sprinkler fail and the one I replaced it with failed so I have a corner that is completely dead. The worst part about it was that 1 month of rain was 100% slow and very gentle, so it would have been perfect to germinate my seed...#$*! weatherman sucked! I saved about 1 pound of seed for instances like this so I'll probably reseed this area. Because the seed went down so late, the grass wasn't established enough to put down any pre-emergent herbicides so I ended up with a ton of winter weeds. However, my Zoysia is starting to green up here in central Virginia so Super-Sod said most of the winter weeds will die off, and as the Zoysia spreads and fills in, just keep mowing very frequently to stop as much weed seed production as possible, and to keep the weeds mowed outside their comfort zone, and as the Zoysia spreads it should crowd out most of the weeds. I'm hand pulling weeds to reduce weeds and open up the soil to direct sunlight for the newly emerging Zoysia. Herbicide tips - that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger. That goes along exceptionally well with weed killing. If you spray an herbicide on a weed and you don't kill it, you make the weed more resistant to that weed killer. I was watching a lawn care video where a guy discussed a study done that showed going from 1.5 modes of action to 2.5 modes of action gave you something like 85-95 times more effective treatment with post-emergent herbicides. I don't know why they didn't just go from 1-2 or 2-3 types...it just made it more confusing but if you're applying a broadleaf weed killer, 2, 4D is a good one, and Quinclorac is another good one. Both are Zenith Zoysia safe, although you should wait until the Zoysia has fully greened up before applying 2, 4D, but once the Zoysia has greened up for about 2 weeks it is extremely safe to use. The 2, 4D won't touch crabgrass, but Quinclorac will. As long as your Zoysia is established you can (and should) use a non-ionic surfactant. Mentolated Seed Oil (MSO) works well, but I found some Southern Ag non-ionic surfactant on Amazon that does well as adding some cling to the herbicide. Bought at the 1 gallon size it worked out to about a nickel per 1,000 sq. ft. I used this last fall while my Zoysia was germinating (after talking to Super-Sod first), and even without the surfactant, and doing a split application, the first application killed 100% of my crabgrass. I did a follow application 2 weeks later and although spurge isn't listed on either herbicide, it took out the spurge as well.Pre-emergent herbicides. Prodiamine is a great one to start with (generic form of Barricade). But I was watching other videos by lawn care professionals and they say you should rotate your forms of pre-emergent every year or two so you don't get resistance building up to the same pre-emergent product. I think Pendamethaline (SP?) is a good one, and Isobuxlin (I butchered that one). Look up "Pest and Lawn Ginja" and he has a lot of great info. Here are two links on pre-emergent herbicides that are worth watching.th-cam.com/video/4q4Omn-JviUh/w-d-xo.htmlttps://th-cam.com/video/sR4z_LydHDkH/w-d-xo.htmle also includes a cost per 1,000 sq. ft. with several pre-emergent herbicides. He speaks very highly of Tenacity, but unfortunately, Zoysia isn't tolerant of this herbicide, which sucks as it is a great herbicide with both pre and post emergent properties. If you ever want to get rid of Zoysia for some reason, that may work in your favor.When you do your soil tests, make sure to get the more detailed version that lists both macro and micro nutrients. Micro nutrients are often overlooked but play a big part in how your lawn looks. For instance, iron plays a key role in how green your lawn is. Some effect the general health of the plant and so on.
I'm not sure I follow the logic there Warren. If you level your soil before seeding and leave the outside soil in your lawn bare, when you put down SOD, you'll have a high spot, or you will have to come back in and dig the soil to make the SOD level with the existing lawn which is a LOT of work. Mother Nature is modest and if you leave naked soil, Mother Nature will cover herself with something, which is usually weeds and undesirable grasses. The best defense against weeds is a thick and healthy lawn. It just seems like a lot of useless extra work versus seeding the entire lawn all the way to the edge. The seed fills in very nicely, and if you get it down early enough in the year the seed should germinate and fill in very well without the extra expense of SOD or extra work laying it down. Spring is the best time to put down seed or SOD once soil temps are at or above 60 degrees. If you're worried about the edges, double up on the application of seed to ensure more dense growth. I linked a SOD plugger in a post nearby that you may be able to use to take Zoysia plugs from your more thick and dense areas of your yard and fill in gaps. Then just get some stop soil that already has starter fertilizer in it to fill in the empty plug holes so the Zoysia can easily fill those spots back in.
Hello, I'm redoing the lawn but missed the window before frost.. So I'm thinking about dormant seeding. I was going to buy bulk soil and sand mixture. I have 2 questions. Why did you use only sand? The dead grass doesn't have to be completely removed? I'm thinking I should remove everything.. because it was infested with weeds.. how's your the lawn look today?
Hello. Ideally, removing the grass would be better. I got a lot of it up and was satisfied with it. The seed needs good sunlight so the more grass you remove, the more it gets. I used sand because that’s what I had seen golf courses use and there was not a lot of guidance out there when I filmed this. I had to go with what I thought would work. Soil and sand will work too but you don’t want to cover the seed much at all. It needs a lot of sunlight.
@@ccooke70 thank you Chris for the quick response! How's the lawn looking now? Like a golf course I guess?
@@samuraioodon Its done well. I had a couple of bumps with storms and trees going down but now the front yard is all Zoysia. Check out my channel and you can see a whole series of videos up to a month or so ago. Its doing well.
August 7th 2024
Rewatching this video ❤ your yard has come along way.
Thank you. Yes it has. I’m glad I did it and I enjoy working on it today.
Very nice transformation. Baby it.
Thank you
I have been killing off and digging up my combo St Aug / Torpedo grass lawn for a few years now. I'm about 75% Bermuda right now hoping to get to near 100% by next spring.
It's a lot of work for sure. Good luck with it.
jeez it takes a long time!
Yeah, it’s a slower seed but it does well once you get it going. I probably did too much but there was zero help on the internet when I started.
thank you for this video. Any update? We are in coastal NC and are planning on doing this to our yard next season. We have centipede grass with tons of weeds and have had professionals tell us we need a whole new yard, and zoysia is the way to go. Like you, we were hesitant to try zoysia because there was just not a lot of info available.
Hello. Yes. Check my channel. I have 12 more vides on this all the way through last season and the beginning of this season. Thanks for watching. I need to find out how to link them. Sorry. I will work on that so you can go to the next one easily.
This is EXACTLY the video I needed to see! I have a front lawn that is half established Zoysia - the other half, other grasses and weeds. I have put down Roundup on the "bad" yard, and will scalp and till what's left. How did you put down your seed? After the sand, did you just drop it, and then water? No top soil for cover? What about fertilizer? Any help would be greatly appreciated. This Zenith Zoysia seed is expensive. I want to avoid mistakes. Thank you!
Hello. Glad you found it and hope it helps you. We put the seed down on top of the sand and added a basic starter fertilizer. The water will help the tiny seeds get into the sand enough. It’s tiny. Keep it wet through frequent short watering sessions and it will pop soon.
What was your reason for planting Zoysia? I understand zoysia is supposed to do well in shaded areas. I thought that was the primary reason for going zoysia because it grows in the shade, however in your video you seem to be worried about the zoysia growing in the shade. Thank you for taking the time to do this video.
Hello. I got tired of the constant maintenance with fescue. The heat kills it every summer and you have to replant. Zoysia is great in the heat. It’s also one of the summer hot season grasses that does a little better in shade, depending on the type you install. Zenith has a seed but other variants don’t. Zorro and Palisades are very good in the shade but they only come in sod. Zenith is doing good in some shade.
@@ccooke70 Thank you for your reply and additional helpful information.
@@cwfain Zoysia is just the opposite. It’s a terrible grass for shade. There are several varieties that can handle some shade but that species of grass prefers as much sun as it can get.
Thank you for putting your rough break down of how much it costs to do this. I’m buying a house and the sod that they’re putting down is centipede. I don’t like the idea of tall grass and stuff, so zoysia interests me.
You're welcome. I like it because you can cut it short or let it grow taller. Its soft when its tall too.
I never knew you could get zoysia grass in seed form..the only thing I saw adds for is buying the plugs..I am interested on doing it buy seed though..
Its something that hit the general market about 2 years ago so its fairly new. I think Zenith is the only Zoysia in seed form so far.
I seeded 90 days ago and about 50% is thick amazing grass! the part that gets the most sun. the shaded area is fully covered but looks to be about 2 months behind. Ive been fertilizing every week for the past month to push it and its finally sending off some big runners!
Thats awesome. I have bare spots but I think the storms here caused that. I may reseed those in the late spring though. Check out my other videos. Its spreading very well.
You need to be careful how much fertilizer your pushing. Grass stores carbohydrates for times of stress or for when it is going dormant for the winter and fertilizer can force growth which forces the grass to use the stored carbohydrates. So fertilizer applied too heavily or at the wrong times can force growth, forcing the grass to use carbohydrates required for stress or dormancy and you can end up causing more harm than good. I like to think of it as a bear storing fat for winter hibernation. Without the fat stores, the bear may not survive the winter, or it may be weakened and sickly in the spring.
I have straight clay over my new septic tank/field lines, here in Sylacauga Alabama....and I spread rich, topsoil/mixed mulch over top of the big area. Should I spread sand over the topsoil/mulch? I putting down Zenith zoysia seeds on half the area and Emerald zoysia matts on the other half , because its in the sun most of the time. The sod farms in Alabama usually have Emerald and Meyer
I think you ill be fine as long a you don't cover the seeds up. Its a small seed. I used sand because thats all I had seen done at the time. It worked well and it held heat and moisture. If you don't have a big area, the sand is fairly easy to use though.
So you used just sand for the seeding? I was wondering if I needed to get topsoil or not. I currently am in a new home and the backyard is all grade sand. Weeds love it currently
Hello. At the time, there was not a lot of guidance out there so I went with normal playground sand. It worked but there are likely better alternatives. Some day too dressing sand would have been better as that’s what golf courses work. Peat Moss would likely work too. They key is not to bury the seed heavily from what I learned.
It's looking good. I'm about to start mine. A but late but figured in the southeast I should still have a good 60+ days of above 70 temps
You should be fine. Lots of August heat yet to hit us. :)
Any update on this? I plan to do this next May in Denver, NC
Awesome. I am in south Charlotte and glad to help with any tips or advice you need. I will film a final season update this weekend after the rain passes. I have some spots I will need to reseed from the washout rains we had early in the season but I am very happy with the seed.
Thanks for sharing. I planted my zenith zoysia in my backyard 3 1/2 -4 weeks ago Its been watered constantly when not raining here in Atlanta. I checked the Ph today and its 6.6. I have a grass like plant that has germinated after about 10 days but I am not sure if it is the zenith. It seems to thin. I'd like to trade pictures and compare. I dont think this platform allows to attached pictures.
Hey John. Check out the other videos I have to get a better look at how it looked through the early growth to see if that helps. I am on Facebook too of you want to contact me there to send a photo?
@@ccooke70 sure but there are many Christopher Cookes in NC.. You can respond to my email and I'll send the picture. pettigrewfam10@yahoo.com
Great video Chris👍. Im in CLT too. Where did you ordered the sand? Does it work the same on bermuda seeds?
Thank you. I cannot remember what company I used for that. I will check my receipts to see if I have one for it.
I don't think you need anything like this sand for Bermuda though. That seed is far more tolerant. You can plant it in topsoil, etc.
Thanks a lot for prompt response😊
Enjoyed the video very helpful. I did not catch if you mentioned how many days it took for the grass seed to germinate?
According to the seed documentation 26-30 days. I saw grass starting in about 2 weeks though.
It continued through the first 1.5 months though.
should the seed be on top, or lightly mixed in with the soil/sand?
Hello. I put mine on top and then watered it in. The seed it tiny and the water pushed it into the sand but I wanted it to get as much sun as possible.
So --- what happens if you don't have a timer-connected sprinkler system, your work schedule has you away from home 13 hours a day, and the ground goes dry before the next watering? Then, what?
You do the best you can or you go get a timer for a manual sprinkler in a garden hose. If you are taking the time and investing the money in the seed and supplies, the timer and sprinkler is not a big addition to that.
Keeping it wet is idea but I’m sure it would grow with daily watering. Maybe not as quickly or as dense. However, I think it would still grow. Maybe morning and evening watering?
Thanks for the Awesome video series! It has been very helpful! I planted about a month ago, and it is growing in well. I have some areas that germinated late, and is still real tiny, and some areas that are two inches or so tall. When can I safely do the first mowing without hurting the late bloomers? It seems that you started walking on yoru lawn pretty early.
Hello and congrats. I would let it go a while longer. Maybe a few weeks. Even if those original areas get tall, you likely have seed germinating through the first month and you don't want to pick that up with your power. It won't hurt it at all to get long up front. You can cut it back. Once you mow it a few times, you can mow it low from there out and it will tend to grow out at that point. So, I would say the first month is all about germination. I would probably not mow until a few weeks past that. Hope that helps.
@@ccooke70 Thanks for that. My last question is about when to switch from watering 3 times a day for 7 minutes (what I have been doing since the beginning), to watering less often for longer. Any thoughts on that?
Hi! What did you use to spread the zoysia seed. Can I use a drop spreader like the Scott's? This seed is awfully small.
The seeds are tiny so a drop spreader may not work as it may spread them too heavy. We used a broadcast spreader barely opened up.
I'd throw it out like chicken feed by hand.
In over all, what did you learned? What would you had done different? I am planning to do the same Zoysia from what I heard and read is also drought tolerant. I live in Southern California in the desert area, we get scorching summer, and cold winter. You had to install for germination as the temperature gets warmer? is that my take, also sand for the seed to be stable and water not soaking. I just purchased a property were the previous owner never watering the lawn, after a few rains a lot of the grass came bak I can see a lot Pos, Bermuda and tons tons of weeds, which is ok for me. I have a desert tortoise that roams the backyard and feeds on the weeds. I will be my first time taking care of a lawn, thanks for the info, any other advice?
Great question. I may do a video on that very topic. For me, my only regret was that I should have put out more seed after that huge rainstorm or at least once I saw the grass growing heavy in certain spots. I really did not put 2 and 2 together to figure out why. Looking back, that washout should have resulted in me getting another bag of seed and hitting those high spots again and I would have got better coverage.
Christopher Cooke I have the same epiphany I thought I had to aerate the lawn and use plugs to sort have the instant look, but I rather have the zoysia acclimate from seed, I noticed the backyard 80% is sunny, along the edge of the property there a few fruit trees, that give a lot of shade to the backyard lawn- will see how it will turn. I am doing the solarization method since I can’t treat the lawn with chemicals since the lawn is also a food source for my tortoise.
@@archsilton Sounds good. I'm leaning toward adding some plugs into my spots where I moved my bed in my front yard as they seem fairly cheap compared to getting sod, a sod cutter, and removing dirt from the yard.
Christopher Cooke I did a project two years ago remove the lawn with a sod cutter (st Agustin and bermuda three years a later a see a Bermuda shoot popping here and there - that thing will buy die. I transform the front lawn into a more efficient and suitable landscape for my area with a lot of natives plants to attract more wild life and turned into a sanctuary for birds, bees and butterflies, to attract more pollinators - seems to be working so far.
that's similar to what i did. I killed the lawn with glyphosate, then used a SOD cutter to remove the top 2 inches before tilling the soil, adding fertilizer and spreading the seed. Instead of buying SOD or plugs though, I'd buy a plugging tool from Amazon. There are many, but search for the one I have at the bottom. If you find a better one, please link it. Then just get some top soil with starter fertilizer mixed in to fill in the holes where you pulled your own Zoysia plugs. If you have a partially established Zoysia lawn, you already have TONS of plugs to pull from without spending money or waiting for delivery. With proper soil Zenith Zoysia should spread anywhere from 6 to 18 inches from each plug in a season, so the closer you put your plugs, the faster it should fill in. Once you hit the end of the year, use a pre-emergent to help keep winter weeds from popping up in your dormant lawn. Pre-emergent herbicides can slow the spread of Zoysia, but if it is established, it will still push outward. A thick and healthy Zoysia lawn will naturally keep out most weeds, and mowing low and frequently will help keep down the number of new weed seeds while helping to promote Zoysia growth. ProPlugger 5-IN-1 Lawn Tool and Garden Tool, Bulb Planter, Weeder, Sod Plugger, Annual Planter, Soil Test
Hey there, i like the idea of using sand. Im going to be putting in a new lawn from stratch. Would compacting the sand help or hurt the seed?
Thats an interesting thought. I think it would be fine as the sane will still let the seed through a bit with watering.
What kinda sand and how deep of a seed bed did you make with the sand
A thin layer of normal playground sand. 1/2 inch to an inch. You could use peat moss too. There was not a lot of info out there when I did this so I did what golf courses do and used sand.
Is sand safe to put on clay? I heard it can make something called concrete soil?
No problems here. I read some stuff about that too.
Don't put sand on clay it will worsen your drainage. Till your clay with some compost and then add your seeds. Don't forget to level your soil.
the round up doesnt inhibit the seed germination?
Hello. Not if you wait a few days. The bottle of whatever product you use will tell you the time you have to wait before seeding. Thanks for watching.
Thank you for this video. I am strongly looking to make the switch as well. I am here in CLT as well. Thank you again for the video. Awesome work. Do you get your seed locally?
Ogsan1 you are welcome. Yes I got the seed at SuperSod in Pineville. They carry the seed and the sod.
@@ccooke70 Thank you. Wish we could chat about your experience. I am gonna do this in 2021. What made you switch to Z grass? Just wondering. Great info thank you. I live about 9 mins from there.
I got tired of my rescue burning up every summer and get like I spent too much money and time on it every year reseeding, etc. get your yard prepped and ready to plant in late March or early June. Once night temps are in the 70s you will be fine. Keep it wet but not soaked. Ie water in short sessions every 6 hours or so for about three weeks and you will have grass. Cut back to twice a day and it will start growing.
@@ccooke70 Hey I am back and I wanted to chat with you about this. I am going to go grass as well. Got a few questions. Thanks, How's it going?
@@ogsan1296 it’s doing very well. I have some newer videos uploaded from this season(season 3).
I sodded with Palisade. Can you get Palisade seed?
Hello. I think that one is sod only. Zenith is the main one that you can seed.
@@ccooke70 what would be helpful is video showing how you actually broadcast the seed, how deep it was planted and if you added any fertilizer and what type.
Did you used any fertilizer or pre emergent?
Hello. Starter fertilizer but no Pre-m the first year.
Did you spread seed then sand? Or sand then seed and rake it in?
Hello. We did sand as a base then seed. We were trying to make sure the seed did not get buried.
@@ccooke70 I worry about birds eating them. Did you see that as an issue?
@@deneehurst5177 The seed works into the sand a bit as you water it. It is less covered than if it were in dire but still fairly protected from view. I’m sure the birds are some though. The sand holds heat and moisture pretty well too.
If u use compost and have grass grown. U dont have to water yard as much because the compost holds more moisture
ryan treacy No argument about compost holding more moisture. However, the manufacturer of the seed suggested sand due to compost and topsoil having more of a threat to prevent the germination needs of this seed. It needed to have something very thin to hold heat and moisture, to keep the small seeds in place, and not cover the seed where the sun could not get to it. Not saying they would not work. I was just using what had the highest chances and was approved by the supplier.
What variety of zoysia grass..
Zenith
You skip actually showing stuff like doing the seeding, or the mower. But still I appreciate this
The seed was just sprinkled on top of the sand, that's it?
I don't see how I would keep weeds from taking over while germination is going on
Yes. Sand then seed. This seed does not like to be covered up or it dies. Weeds are an issue with ANY grass planting. You can't treat them until your grass is rooted well. Zoysia is a bit harder as its seeding time is right in the middle of the perfect season for weeds. You just have to keep it mowed for the first season and then treat the weeds the next year. Once the grass begins to spread, it takes over most of the weeds anyway.
You can obviously put down pre-emergent early in the season that will keep the weeds from coming up during summer. Then plant the zoysia in late spring/early summer. Sand down first. Perfect combo.
If the pre-emergent is still stopping weeds from completing germination, it can do the same to desirable seeds. if you e-mail the people at the Super-Sod website they can tell you how long you need to wait before putting down seed depending on which type of pre-emergent you put down. I'm not saying you're wrong, but there is a time issue and I'd just hate to see someone put down several hundred dollars of seed just to have it die due to a still active pre-emergent.Zoysia seed likes to be covered about 1/8 to 1/4 inch with soil for proper germination. if you go much deeper, the seed may not germinate. I didn't cover my seed with soil either. I applied seed to bare soil, but as a prep step, I roughed up the soil with a stiff bow rake prior to seeding. Bad weather forecasts forced me to delay seeding past the time I wanted to, but I still had great results before the lawn went dormant last year.
Noneya Frigginbezwax Some great points. Thank you for sharing
How did it turn out? Is there a video update?
Hello. Yes sir. There are over a dozen videos now. It's almost time for another one as its kicked in pretty well this season now that the heat is here. Click on my channel and you will see them all. Thanks for checking it out.
@@ccooke70 I just found them after I sent this. I've been seeding with the same stuff. I love the finished product but man it takes forever to grow. The seed I planted last year is awesome looking. By any chance do you know if this grass will have seed heads on it?
@@mudagirl Great to hear. I agree. Its a slow process but it really takes off after it gets going. I have not seen any seed heads. It develops a network of roots underneath the green blades though. You will see them shoot out all over the place and then it runs.
@@ccooke70 thank you so much. I really appreciate the time you took to make the video. Have a great rest of the weekend.
That same 2lb bag is selling for $1000 right now!! 😳
What was your procedure to kill the grass or weeds completely?
Hello. I used round up. I stopped watering for a few weeks prior to starting also.
If you go on Amazon, look for Compare-N-Save Glyphosate. It's the same active ingredient in Roundup, but highly concentrated. You pay less for the concentrated gallon than a gallon of pre-mixed Roundup, but you get enough to make 20-40 gallons of Roundup equivalent mix. I also recommend using a Turf Marking Dye so you know you haven't miss places, and if you get overspray on something you don't mean to, you can see it and rinse it off. You get better results using a non-ionic surfactant. I used one from Southern Ag which I also found on Amazon. This helps the herbicide stick to the plants better versus running off into the soil, so it absorbs and translocate through the plant for better absorption and a more effective kill. If you are spraying a large area, look up a Chapin 362 hose end sprayer. It doesn't spray 100% evenly, but if you're going for a full kill it's a great option. Glyphosate is broken down by the microbes in the soil usually in a matter of days so you don't have to worry about it hurting seeds that you are putting down after for a new lawn.
Very cool! If you are on Facebook search for the group Zoysia Life.
Thanks. I joined it yesterday
@@ccooke70 Hey bro can you send me zyon zoysa grass seed to India, I will send you money , can you share your contact number or Instagram id
@@DevOps_Ninja_Academy I don't think our local store has it any longer as the season is almost over. Join the Zoysia Life Facebook group and see if there's an option there. Florida may have it longer in the year. Amazon also sells it but I am not sure about getting it to India. Hope you can find it. Its been a great grass for me.
@@ccooke70 can you say what was acctual price if this Grass Seed in your local store, in india it's not available in Amazon platform,
@@DevOps_Ninja_Academy $80 per 2lb bag.
Any issue with the sand getting too hard or run off with water? Did you constantly water or keep wet?
Not at all. The sand has been helpful for me keeping the seed wet while germination was happening. I watered every 4 - 6 hours, depending on our temps. The sand helped hold moisture.
Even though I tilled the ground I have this clay soil that becomes solid at the top quite quickly especially in this heat 95+ temps in alabama. I found watering 3 times a day to keep it moist was mostly fine(all i could do anyway) but I also had to go gently over few spots with a garden weasel to break just the surface tension of the soil. also be adding humic acid etc to help with soil quality. in areas where its been real bad i did more frequent shallow watering to keep the top moist knowing below the surface has water.
Why did u use sand. I'm using compost. Sand doesn't have any nutrients
ryan treacy At the time, sand was the suggested product by people who produced and sold the seed. It had more to do with not covering up the seed than nutrients. The seed is tiny and cannot be covered up as much as other seeds.
Sir you can tell me how korean grass seeds look like?
I'm not sure. In the video, I show these seeds. Not sure about the others. Sorry.
@@ccooke70 how can i buy these seeds online which delivered in india?
@@shikhardixit1730 This is the one I used. Amazon carries it now. Scotts brand also makes one now. I will link it too.
www.amazon.com/Zenith-Zoysia-Grass-Seed-lbs/dp/B006RSDM3Q/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=zoysia+grass+seed&qid=1597602557&sr=8-6
www.amazon.com/Scotts-Builder-Zoysia-Grass-Mulch/dp/B00ARYRY1W/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?dchild=1&keywords=zoysia+grass+seed&qid=1597602623&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEzU0M5MTNGT0JJUUdRJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzIxNzM5MlhCMTBUMjNRR002TCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwODAwMDQzMVI1VEFCMktTWkpDSSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
@@ccooke70 thanks for great help
You on a well or city water?
Ben Becker city of Charlotte
@@ccooke70 Jiminy christmas I bet that was a nice water bill! Thanks for sharing your watering frequency. For whatever reason people just will not share even what they *think* you should do. Watering too little is such an easy mistake to make.
Ben Becker you are welcome. It was not that bad. I watered often but not heavy. We had enough storms last year to cover it. Lol.
What is an update on the zoysia? And if you had to do it all again, would you just use sod? Thanks.
I would do seed again no doubt. WAY cheaper. Its really a matter of time/patience to cost. The season here will kick in shortly and I will be posting videos all through the season. Killing off Poa Annua right now which is in my bare spots. I was going to sod them but I am really thinking about plugging those spots. I enjoyed learning as I went though.
Thank you. I have done a significant amount of research on zoysia and I have noticed that time/patience is a big part when starting from scratch. I am a fan of tall fescue myself. Reason I was asking was I had a client that was dead set on 3/4 acre lot of weeds being transformed. I talked him through the entire process step by step and he was immediately turned off by it. Most people want instant results, minimum labor. Cant wait to see how your lawn turns out.
If the person is paying someone to do it and has the money for it, SOD is obviously the quickest and least work for the customer, but by far the most expensive. Compare-N-Save Glyphosate is the cheapest non-selective herbicide I could find. For cost versus performance, I'd spray the entire 3/4 acre, do soil tests, till the soil, drag it as level as possible, put down the seed, and use a gas powered top dresser to put down some soil or sand and soil to put a very light cover over the seed, then let it go and water, water, water. Since Zoysia thrives best in temperatures between 85 and 100, once the germination phase is complete, we should be hitting the perfect temperatures for winter weeds to die out and Zoysia to spread and fill in. As long as the soil temps are 60 or above, it's a good time to plant Zoysia. Zoysia will grow well until about the first frost which in central Virginia is around the 3rd week in October, so spring with 60+ ground temps is the perfect time to start a Zoysia lawn. Contact Chris with the Super-Sod. He is a 3rd generation Zoysia SOD farmer and they grow over 15,000 acres of Zoysia every year so I can' think of anybody more well versed in growing Zoysia and discussing options. Zoysia is great because it grows a new root, then discards an old root, so the grass is constantly renewing itself so you never have to overseed unless you have some kind of catastrophe. My dad put down Zoysia back in the mid '80's and I was looking at the lawn online recently and I can tell no love has been given to the lawn, but it is still filled out nicely and a nice Zoysia lawn. I don't think they have a clue how nice their lawn could be with a little love and attention.
Did you consider Zeon zoysia?
This was the only one that I knew of that could be purchased as a seed. At least thats all I could find locally.
@@ccooke70 that is correct. Zenith is the only one that can be seeded in zoysia. I had some put in my backyard and my biggest concern was/is shade tolerance. After watching your video seems like you have some that is in a shaded area under the tree. How's that coming in?
@@rahulthakur5301 Uploading a final video shortly. I just filmed it today. If its full shade, it won't take. I have areas in the back that are partial shade and some seed came in and its been expanding through the season. I can tell it takes more sun for seed germination than the grass does, once rooted. However, it does need a few hours of sun a day at least. I'd say in the 5 - 7 hours.
Compadre Zoysia seed also.
Leon Herndon Jr. our local super sod store only had this one. I’m sure we will see more and more seed options coming though.
After watching the entire video, I think you would have had much better results putting down soil versus sand. I planted at the end of August or early September due to bad weather, and I'm in Central Virginia and I had much more growth at the 1 month mark. I had done a split application of 2, 4D and Quinclorac before I was able to mow once and although Sedge isn't on the list of controlled weeds on either, the first application kicked it in the gut and it was struggling, and the second application of 2, 4D and Quinclorac killed the sedge. I mowed once last year before the grass went dormant and to date I've not seen any more sedge. A GREAT website to check out if you are not aware is DoMyOwn.com. They sell all kinds of lawn care herbicides and list the full label as a PDF document. They also have professionals on staff that can help guide you towards the herbicide you need and they can help you identify any weeds you may not recognize. I had misidentified goose grass thinking it was crabgrass and neither of the herbicides touched it so I just cut it off at ground level with my knife to keep ahead of it and stop the goose grass from maturing enough to drop seeds. I'd love to see a video of how things are going this year for you. I'm guessing your grass just started greening up these past few weeks?
Maybe so. Sand seemed to be the recommendation most places were making so I went with it. They stated that soil was risky because the seed size. It could get covered and would not germinate then. I think I am going to try some peat moss in a few areas this year as a test.
@@ccooke70 I think maybe they did not explain what they meant very well. If I am understanding what you did correctly, you put down sand and then put the seed on top? The sand didn't have any nutritional value to help the seed grow so what did grow was seed that washed down through the sand to the soil. I've seen tons of people put down soil, and and soil mixed, or just pure sand after the lawn is established to level out low spots and bumps so you don't scalp the lawn in places, but have never seen someone put down pure sand before seeding as the bed for germinating new seeds. Then again, I'm not a lawn care professional, but sometimes I play one on TH-cam LOL. I'd like to see what your lawn looks like this year though. Did you post any new videos of your lawn this year? About 20% or so of my lawn is weeds, and I'm hoping as the winter weeds die off the Zoysia will fill in the gaps and luckily I work from home so I'm able to go out on my lunch break and spend 15-20 minutes a day pulling or cutting back new weeds while the Zoysia spreads and new seeds establish in the bare spots. That's one of my conundrums...I have about 800 Sq. Ft. that is a mixture of weeds and grass. There's not a lot of grass, but it is present through out and I keep going back and forth on if I want to just kill the entire area and start over, or just get rid of the weeds and over seed with some of the left over seed I saved from last fall. I'm leaning towards the over seeding because I hate to kill established Zoysia. I do have some extremely dense patches that I can buy a plugging tool and move plugs to thin spots.
- Christopher Cooke: Have reviewed this video in extrema detail, BUT... *_ABSOLUTELY NO_* info on the actual zoysia seed broadcasting method. You went from sand install, directly to "OK, now finished w/ the lawn seeding." Bah, Humbug!. You said this was *_complete!_* Just how can you consider this complete w/ *_NO_* info on seed broadcast methods?!?
You get a _YT thumbs-down_ accordingly.
You can distribute it any way you wish but most people use a broadcast spreader. The seeds are tiny and the bags have instructions.
Round up is dangerous
Oh my goodness $80 / 2lb bag + truckload of sand w delivery + dingo rental = economical...I don’t think I live on the same planet as this guy. But congrats on all the cash your house is very lovely
The sand delivered and installed with the rental was $600ish. Thats 2 pallets of sod if you get a good price. :)
We did not buy by the bag.
I realize what you are saying now. It's not a bad price if you factor it against the cost of zoysia sod. The sod here is $300-$350 a pallet. That does not cover the other work and resources need to prep for it and to lay it. iE leveling the yard and removing dirt, etc. So, the price I paid for everything for my initial seeding was several thousand less than having sod installed. Does that help?
@J Han Yeah. Its pricey up front but over the long haul, its way less work and money each year. I now have 4 neighbors who have started the switch too. LOL.
@@ccooke70 I don't think she knows how much Zoysia sod is. I got quoted $9K for a 11K SQ ft backyard.... And that with self pick up & self install... So heck yeah, I might just seed plant those suckers and water them.
I might spend $1500, but it's no where near the $9K tab for sod 😂
holy shit why are you walking on it
Anyone in Tampa on here have success growing zoysia from seed?
It should work even better there. Your more constant on heat during the day and night.
@@ccooke70 I put in some Zoysia plugs in as an experiment. They have done fantastic. I bought a bag of seed and tried a 10’ x 10’ area. I probably had 4 blades grow. I have another bag and upgraded irrigation so I plan to do the area again. I’m thinking not enough water was a big factor.
@@JenniferAguiartampa sounds like it. It all depends on what you use with it. If you use peat moss or compost you may not need to water as much. I found it worked better with frequent small watering sessions. Every four to six hours or so. Keep it damp but not soaked.
Think I would have went with sod
Not really the point. Seed was new. Nobody had videos on it or much info out at all. I gave it a try and documented it for everyone to learn. It did well and it’s a fraction of the cost of sod. There’s a whole series of these videos on my channel covering two years of tests including plugs, seed, and sod. Thanks for watching.
@@ccooke70 That would be 15 pallets at 400 square feet each. $3000 plus delivery in Florida. You made the right choice.
@@nram1 $3K ....that's a deal .... I got quoted $9K 😭 ...2022 inflation is a bitch!!!!
Hey bro can you send me zyon zoysa grass seed to India, I will send you money
Why sand?
Its far cheaper than the soil mixture places sale for seeding Zoysia and it holds heat and moisture well.
I was wondering that as well. It may hold heat and moisture well, although from what I've read water tends to pass through sand faster than soil, and soil has nutrients to help seed germinate and grow where sand doesn't. I've seen plenty of people top dress with sand, or a mixture of soil and sand, but i don't think I've ever seen anybody put down sand to germinate grass seed because there's no nutritional value. I bought the same seed as you but I thought the instructions said to cover with a light layer of soil? The proof is in the pudding though...you had successful germination and the stolons and rhizomes will take care of the rest this year. if you plan on top dressing to level out your lawn so you can mow low, look at the Pest & Lawn Ginja on youtube and he does an episode on leveling his own lawn. If nothing else, seeing the top dressing tool in action is worth it if you've never seen one. It's essentially a huge seed spreader with maybe a 5 HP engine to spin and distribute the soil and sand mixture or whatever you choose to use. It saves tons of back breaking work, and spreads more evenly than you can do by hand. I haven't seen your follow up video yet, but I'm heading there now.
If your dog keeps walking around your yard after you treated it with Roundup, It could make your dog sick weeks or months from now. Please keep the dog off the part of the yard that you treated with Roundup. Good luck.
Thanks but this video is a couple of seasons old now. The dogs are fine.
Boooooo to roundup. Love it otherwise.
Wonder if his dog died from walking on it or not
Mistake #1….you live in a subdivision.