Meyer of El Toro that is the question

Tom Z1 – posted 15 May 2005 20:23

I am currently preparing my backyard for Zoysia sod installation. All along I have been planning to install Meyer, however I am reading more about El Toro. I plan on mowing with a rotary mower. The area will be a play area for the kids and was wondering if there was a texture difference or performance difference between the two varities. I have sun hitting all areas of the backyard at some point in the day. Anyone have any recommendations?

KyleinMarietta – posted 15 May 2005 20:48

I installed El Toro in at my previous home and was slightly disappointed with the outcome. It didn’t fill in as well as I expected, and the texture was wider than I expected as well. Meyer (IMO) is a little more dense, and has a slightly finer blade.

For what it is worth, one of the local sod farms near Atlanta has always sold Meyer, and planted a field in El Toro a few years back. Today, they only carry Meyer.

Their story is that they just didn’t find that El Toro was an improvement over Meyer, so why switch to a new product when it didn’t seem to offer any advantages over the older, more proven, produc.

Tom Z1 – posted 16 May 2005 19:00

Many thanks for your input. I have been leaning towards Meyer and now you have given some additional reasons to make my decision.

Thanks!!

RickL – posted 20 May 2005 14:23

I used Palisades Zoysia. I had a chance to see the difference side by side in the field. I did not see Meyer. I saw El Toro, Palisades, and Cavalier. El Toro and Palisades look virtually identical. They are both medium bladed zoysias that look to me like straighter and fuller St. Augustine with slightly smaller blades. El TOro and Palisades should be called Wide Zoysia or some other name because they look nothing like Cavalier. Cavalier is fine bladed. Is Meyer fine bladed? My only problem with fine bladed is that it requires a reel mower to look decent. Otherwise it will look bad with a rotary mower.