Emerald zoysia

buff – posted 09 September 2011 07:54

I had emerald zoysia installed on the the 18th of Aug 2011, about 3 weeks ago. Have been watering as recommended and it is looking pretty good. I have nutsedge popping up all over the yard and yesterday went out and hit it with the weedwacker. I understand this is an annual weed and will go away when it gets cold. My question is, how long should I wait before the first cutting and what height should the first cutting be? Thanks

jugheadfla – posted 09 September 2011 08:55

quote:Originally posted by buff:I had emerald zoysia installed on the the 18th of Aug 2011, about 3 weeks ago. Have been watering as recommended and it is looking pretty good. I have nutsedge popping up all over the yard and yesterday went out and hit it with the weedwacker. I understand this is an annual weed and will go away when it gets cold. My question is, how long should I wait before the first cutting and what height should the first cutting be? Thanks

First, where are you located? I would probably wait until you start to see the seed heads start popping up. They usually tell you when the grass is ready to be mowed. I cut my Jamur Zoysia at 3 inches using a reel mower and that seems to work pretty well. You will most likely see some weeds pop up until the grass takes and starts thicking up. After that, the grass should start choking the weeds out. I would try and hand pull the weeds out in the meantime if possible.

buff – posted 09 September 2011 12:22

Thanks for the info….I’m in Peachtree City, Ga.Too many nutsedge, getting the crabbgrass and coffeeweed picked, but there are too many nutsedge (8000 sq ft.) to pick.

jugheadfla – posted 09 September 2011 13:43

quote:Originally posted by buff:Thanks for the info….I’m in Peachtree City, Ga.Too many nutsedge, getting the crabbgrass and coffeeweed picked, but there are too many nutsedge (8000 sq ft.) to pick.

Its a tough call because winter is just around the corner and like you said most of the weeds will get killed off any way during that time. I don’t really have any issues with Nutsedge here in Tampa, but crabgrass, definately. You could probably put down some weed and feed but it might be a tad to early if you laid the sod only a month ago. Personally, I stopped trying to fight the crabgrass myself. I still pick it out by hand but it keeps coming back. I’m just going to let it die during the winter and make sure I put down some pre-emergent next spring. One thing to make sure when you have Zoysia is that you have very healthy soil underneath. We have very sandy soil down here and its always a struggle to keep enough organics in it to be able to hold enough water. You guys probably have a clay type soil up there, so I’m not sure how to handle Zoysia in that scenario. All I know is that it is a very tempermental grass as many on this board can attest, but when you have it healthy its amazing!

ezf – posted 09 September 2011 15:12

I have had emerald zoysia for 2 seasons (north Atlanta). I keep it long (3 inches) and mowed once a week. I use only organic stuff like corn meal, soybean meal or milorganite. Weed is no problem at all as long as you mow regularly. The good thing about zoysia grasses is that they will choke out weeds gradually, and the only help they need from you is to mow regularly. Don’t use chemical or overfertilize it.

Houndawg – posted 23 January 2012 07:33

Nutsedge ( Nut Grass ) Is hard to get rid of. As it grows it leaves Nuts in the ground. You can wipe round-up on them , But some folks pour sugar on them. I had them last spring and summer in my vacant field. I dug them up when they came up. Bet I dug a thousand of them up. No grass out there yet. Not until the nutgrass is gone.