Dummy about Soil

terrilou – posted 13 June 2005 09:21

I live in Dallas, TX and have recently built a retainting wall and backfilled with sandy loam. It’s 100% morning sun. Because of the unexpected cost and quantity of dirt, sod is now out of the question. I decided to seed with Zoysia. I’ve got the patience and the irrigation – my question is; what should I do to prepare the soil properly? Right now it’s just sandy loam.

turf r us – posted 14 June 2005 06:30

There are alot of evalutions of Zoysia, seeded and sod varietie, starting with the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program, as an aside. Here’s a good resource too.

http://www.super-sod.com/seed-zz.html

If you have a nice seedbed, clean and free of weeds, then mix the seed with some clean sand and broadcast it. Lightly rake it in or roll it in. It needs to be no deeper than 1/4″ and will need frequent, light watering until it germinates. Look for a thin, single blade…..anything else and it’s a weed. If you don’t have the time to keep the top 1″ soil moist until germination is complete, then don’t sow Zoysia. Mow frequently to keep any weed invasion at bay.

Good luck

terrilou – posted 14 June 2005 07:23

Thanks for the info. I’ve printed out some of the text from the link you gave me. I’ll keep it handy for the next few months while I watch my seedlings grow (hopefully).

turf r us – posted 15 June 2005 06:10

Good luck. I’m beginning to think Zoysia germinates as slow as it grows! At least it’s given me a chance to hit the entire area with Round-up again which will reduce the weed pressure substantially. Think “country” where there a thousand different weeds, sheeshhhhh. That’s where I’m at.