Maintenance on new sod

NeedSomeAdvice – posted 06 January 2005 22:14

I recently laid myers zoysia sod (9/30/04)in my front yard & was watering it regularly until it got too cold to continue doing so. It went dormant with the winter weather like it was supposed to, but now it’s getting warmer again in my area (high 60’s – low 70’s) & I was wondering if I should start watering again, or if not now, when?

Also, when should I apply fertilizer & what type would you recommend? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

cohiba – posted 07 January 2005 08:07

NeedSomeAdvise,

We NeedSomeInfo. Where are you located?

You say it is getting warm. Is it usual for your area? Or just a warm spell in winter?

You may not need to do anything…yet.

Just my guess……………..

NeedSomeAdvice – posted 07 January 2005 11:56

Thanks for your response. I live in Marietta, GA, but I’m not really sure if it’s warmer than usual right now for this area b/c I just moved here about 2 years ago.

ted – posted 08 January 2005 23:06

wait until it warms up a little more- you’ve got lots of cold weather to go thru yet. you’ve got a warm weather grass. in your market it probably won’t be doing much until april. force feeding fertilizer to it could cause alot of damage this time of year.

NeedSomeAdvice – posted 09 January 2005 14:06

Thanks Ted…I will wait it out like you’ve suggested until it gets warmer. At about what temperature should I start watering again?

ted – posted 09 January 2005 15:57

temps and water won’t be an exact correlation. you’ll need to water when it needs watering, not by the temps, but in your market i’m guessing around late may or if you have a dry spell before that. refer to the purude university website for a great link on zoysia. it’s really different ( not necessarily better)it needs less water and fert. but a lot of other types of specialty maintenance like reel mowing and dethatching.

rotarymown – posted 10 January 2005 22:56

I used a standard rotary mower on my parents meyer lawn for 10 years, it did just fine. Set it to two inches and make sure the blade is sharp. My Empire Zoysia lawn grows at half the rate of the Meyer.

ted – posted 11 January 2005 14:48

don’t recommend a rotary mower on zoysia..

NeedSomeAdvice – posted 11 January 2005 21:59

Thanks to all for the helpful advice. What is the web address for the Purdue site that gives the information on proper maintenance or up-keep of zoysia?