my zoysia grass looks brown

Rob in San Antonio – posted 07 September 2003 14:04

Has anyone had a problem with there El toro zoysia grass not looking really green. My neighbors have St. Augustine grass and the Zoysia looks brown comparatively. The grass was planted last summer and looked great last year but this year has never really greened up. I composted this past spring. Can anyone give me any suggestions as to what the problem could be?

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 10 September 2003 22:13

How are you mowing, watering, and fertilizing?

murph – posted 16 September 2003 22:48

Fertilizer? Iron? None of the above? Then i would guess that’s the issue.

redbird – posted 17 September 2003 05:21

I agree with the above posts – I had read so many posts advising that zoysia only needed light fertilization twice a year – and as I watched, my empire zoysia got yellower, lighter, browner – the clor was mottled/patchy. I began looking looking wistfully at the color of my neighbors st. augustine. The answer? Frequent (every 4-6) light fertilizer/iron applications. I am still being very cautious not to over-fertilize and promote thatch. But, the bottom line is that in our long SE growing season the lawn needs frequest light fertilizations (as opposed to infrequent heavy fertilizations) to look it’s best. The color is uniform dark green again.

Mike

Rob in San Antonio – posted 01 October 2003 21:05

Thanks for all the replys. I was watering three times a week for 15 minute intervals at each irrigation station. I have since increased to watering five times a week. The last time I fertilized was at the start of the May and I also placed compost around that time. The grass looked great and was growing like a weed for some time and for the past two months has turned brown. Since increasing watering some sporadic new green growth can be seen, however the rest of the grass seems to be going dormant. Any advise of what I can do? Since fall has approached is my grass now going dormant? My neighbors seem to have beautiful green zoysia still.

redbird – posted 02 October 2003 09:30

I think that you may have mis-interpreted the questions regarding watering – Zoysia simply does not thrive with frequent watering (not in my personal experience (empire zoysia), not in any information shared from growers, landscape professionals, or friends w/zoysia).

Zoysia should only be watered when it needs it – I have never seen that to be more than twice a week during blazing heat. I have gone for periods of 3 – 4 weeks at a time this year with NO watering (except to water in fertilizer/.insecticide). Over-watering really screws up zoysia (and virtually every other grass, for that matter). It rots the roots, promotes fungus, makes the bugs happy.

You will KNOW without a doubt, when zoysia needs watered. You will look across your lawn and see areas which look slightly “off” or darker in color. Upon close inspection, the area will exhibit tiny, thin blades like bermuda grass. This is the zoysia curling each blade lengthwise – the first sign of drought stress. A day or two after this point, drought stressed zoysia will go dormant – BUT – it will bounce right back when watered (in 1 or 2 days, max).

Water deeply (45 min. per station w/rotor head, or whatever you measure that is about 1″) only when you see drought stress – curling blades. Never leave your system on an automatic schedule. Now that I hear your watering schedule, I believe that any initial problems you may have had are exascerbated by over-watering (IMHO).

Mike

Coz – posted 08 June 2011 11:05

This is my second season with my empire zoysia. Looks great except for one side near neighbors yard. This 5′ by 30′ foot area is very ‘hay brown’ in full sun. Gets plenty of water, will not turn green. Sandy soil ? Suggestions ?

HomeTurf – posted 08 June 2011 14:06

Example …watering each zone for 1 hour 1 time a week is way better. The roots follow the water deep and teach them to get there own water. Watering frequent and short teaches them to stay completely at the surface and depend entirely on your water never going into the dirt because the water never gets into the dirt. It will turn brown in a day without water if that method continues.

HomeTurf – posted 08 June 2011 14:07

It will turn blue first and shrivel , them brown. Watering then becomes a chase to survive rather than water deep and thrive.

New in Pensacola, FL – posted 20 May 2012 07:50

I have El Toro and live in Pensacola, FL Since I have very very little time to spend on my almost acre of zoysia, I heavily fertilize once or twice in the spring, and once in the fall, with a very heavy sprinkling of cottonseed meal or alfalfa pellets, Never ever water unless the grass turns thin-bladed and dark green. It just doesn’t need that much water at all, but it does need high nitrogen, and believe me, the weeds will hate the high nitrogen, the zoysia will LOVE it, and you will have a golf-course, envy of the town, lawn. I also keep my zoysia fairly short, in fact, it’s on the lowest setting of my rotary mower, but I let it get long just a few weeks before the cold weather sets in. So it will stay long throughout the winter, but I keep it short all summer long. It really looks awesome!! I also use diatomaceious earth to keep the bugs away, and hopefully, the moles too!! Moles have been my primary problem, because I don’t use any chemicals, just organic feed, that you can get at any feed store.