New Lawn, new to TX, thinking about Amazoy

Troz – posted 06 August 2007 10:41

Let me preface by saying any help would be appreciated and apologize for being long winded.

Here is the situation:

We just moved to Rowlett, TX (near Dallas)and this is the first time we have to start (or repair) a lawn. We have a total of 6 trees; 4 in front and 2 in back that provide patches of sun throughout the day. We will soon be getting all of them trimmed back to allow much more sun. The entire back had no grass, the front had half of the lawn with St. Augustine and the other half bare.

Not knowing much about the soil and grasses here, we tilled the front and back about 7″ down, fertilized with seed starter and seeded with TT Tall Fescue. We were looking for a type of grass that was soft and thin and did ok in partial sun. Maintenance wasnt an issue. The TTTF has grown well until the first time we mowed (rotary blade). We had a very hard time trying to cut it and where the wheels went over the grass, in those spots the grass has not straightened back upright, even after a week. After some reasearch, we learned that this type of grass we planted too early and is really not wear and tear tollerable and also that it doesnt sent out runners so we will continually have to overseed every fall.

So now we started the search for a similar grass. We were tossed between bermuda and Zoysia. We were straying from Bermuda due to the light that it needs. When I started calling around for Zoysia, no one would sell less than a pallet and I was just looking for around 10 ‘sheets’ to plug. I ran across the Amazoy Zoysia available in small quantaties and before I ordered, I wanted to get some opinions.

First, will this strain do well in both full sun and shade? Will the Zoysia overtake the SA or will the SA need to be killed first? Where the SA is, we didnt till. Is the Amazoy strong enough to penetrate and run the soil (clay) w/o having to till?

tommy – posted 06 August 2007 11:25

St Augustine and Zoysia are very different looking grasses- so you might want to spray ‘Round up’ on the St.Augustine before planting. Zoysia will do good in clay soil as long as its not rock hard. Zoysia will take all the heat you can throw at it, but it will turn brown with the first hard freeze. It can be over-seeded with ryegrass in the fall for a green lawn all winter.

tommy – posted 06 August 2007 11:47

…….also, another option would be to make the whole area St.Augustine. You do this by digging chunks out of the solid St. Augustine area, and plugging it into bare spots. The spots you dig out quickly heal over, (after you fill the void with soil of course), and the new plugs spread out to make a solid lawn else where. This may be a better option, because although Zoysia has good shade tolerance, it does not spread very quickly in the shade like St.Augustine does.

Troz – posted 06 August 2007 12:51

Thanks, Tommy. We were trying to avoid the SA being it is a thick-bladed grass and not as soft as Zoysia or Bermuda.

I’ve been reading more and more and starting to stray back to Bermuda. The house we are in, we only plan to stay about 2-3 years so long-term reliabilty isnt really a factor. We will have to have our trees trimmed very far back in order to allow the sun to permeate and last.