ManoNegra – posted 11 October 2012 11:23
Location: Pomona, CAMethod: Zeanith seed. Bought 4 lbs but really only needed 2 lbs to cover the ~2500 sq ft area. I wasted a fair amount of seed during the process.
This is a brief account of my experience establishing a Zoysia lawn on my home. I’ve read several accounts stating that establishing a Zoysia lawn from seed is very difficult proposition and that is best to stick to sod. I knew very little about lawn care coming into the project so I hope that my experience and mistakes can be of some help to other contemplating the same project.
Description.Lawn is separated in to two sections: 1. Front entrance, driveway side of the house that sees constant sunlight and has 5 – 8 ft range sprinklers space ~6 ft apart.
This section was covered in Bermuda grass at the start or the project.
2. Street sidewalk section that is 80% covered in shade by trees but still gets a fair amount sunlight throughout the day. This section is watered by two 15 – 20′ range sprinklers.This section was sporatically covered in wild grass, crab grass and weeds.
Preparation.The existing grass with killed using Round-Up in early February 2012.The lawn was tilled and raked flat. I did a mediocre job tilling as I kept finding solid areas while I raked and removed rocks and old grass bits.I dragged a wood pallet weighed down with cement blocks to flatten the lawn. This was donkey work and in hindsight renting one of those rolling barrels filled with water would have been a whole lot better.
2/2012http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/551101_10150985059163764_629082519_n.jpg
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Originally I planned on buying Palmetto sod and planting it as plugs but I got annoyed with the sod farm’s poor communication and chose to go with Zoysia instead. Then I found out nobody ships plugs to CA and read a lot of negative experiences with plugs so I decided to buy seed instead.Then I found that Zoysia seed is sold seasonally and that it wasn’t available at the time. Sigh.In the meantime weeds started to pop up on my newly prepped lawn so I bought a big roll of heavy duty black plastic and covered up the lawn. Neighbors probably thought I was crazy.
Finally purchased and received the seed near the end of March and planted it.I wet the lawn and spread the seed very liberally. I used ~ 1 1/2 lbs of seed to do so. I then raked lightly the seed per instructions. Then I watered using the lawn sprinklers regulary.
Week 4 – 5/19/2012very little grass. mostly weeds.http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/559635_10150979269283764_17348767_n.jpg
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Week 8 – 6/18/2012http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/198297_10151043365338764_1829818662_n.jpg
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At this point I bought some Weed N Feed spray bottles and applied the to the lawn. In hindsight it wasn’t a good move because while I did see weeds withering, I also noticed that the Zoysia seedling didn’t progress as well as they had been and it took a few weeks for it to recover.
Week 10 – 6/30/2012http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/166027_10151071920443764_441914627_n.jpg
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The shady area wasn’t progressing as well as I liked. I realized the two long range sprinklers watering this section weren’t providing adequate water. I started watering the area with the hose using the shower setting on the nozzle almost daily. At this time I also spread the rest of the seed I had in the worse areas and applied a mixture of peat moss and chicken stearcol in the gaps of the lawn. These steps yielded very good results for me.In hindsight, I think that I would gotten very close to 100% coverage by now (October) had I watered the shady area by hose from the start.
Week 14 – 7/29/2012http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/306456_10151135669883764_2040451698_n.jpg
The pine needles seen here were put down to address erosion of the soil the long range sprinklers were causing.They didn’t work and I ended up removing them a little after.Repairing the damage area with peat moss/stearcol and using the hose did the trick.
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Week 17 – 8/25/2012http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/394325_10151199199288764_1774446602_n.jpg
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Week 23 – 10/05/2012Mowed to ~1 1/2″ with a reel mower two weeks ago.http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/602294_10151265531183764_1451565548_n.jpg
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And that is where it stands as of this past weekend.The temperatures are starting to come down into the mid 50s during the night and 70s during the day so I don’t think I’ll be seeing a lot of growth from now on.
Again, hope some of you find this helpful.
-Juan
[This message has been edited by ManoNegra (edited 11 October 2012).]
[This message has been edited by ManoNegra (edited 11 October 2012).]
ezf – posted 11 October 2012 22:26
It’s pretty impressive for just one season, and should get much denser next summer.
ManoNegra – posted 18 October 2012 12:42
quote:Originally posted by ezf:It’s pretty impressive for just one season, and should get much denser next summer.
thanks, the lawn has been my primary home project for the year.It’s been a lot of work but also very rewarding.
pyro – posted 19 October 2012 07:18
impressive