New Zoysia. Now What?

VentureForth – posted 08 July 2011 10:46

Hey folks. Newbie here. Two weeks ago, i had my mutt of a lawn poisoned off then removed then had Empire Zoysia laid down. I live in Savannah, GA, zone 9.

So the sod has been down for about 10 days now. It is looking good. Not spectacular, but it is still early.

So now what? My wife wants me to fertilize; I was told to wait. Do I? With what? I also had some ‘shrooms pop up. Not concerned about it, but should I be?

[This message has been edited by VentureForth (edited 08 July 2011).]

Stan – posted 08 July 2011 12:18

I think I would give it a liquid tonic sprayed in the late evening. The nutrients and trace minerals soak in the blades. Go to a local garden center (not big box since they don’t carry much beyond pop chemical stuff) and get a fish and kelp liquid concentrate. The fish has absorbable nitrogen and the Kelp provides trace minerals for health and greening. It is usually diluted 1oz per gallon in a pump sprayer!

After it is is rooted you could apply a slow release organic granular fertilizer. The Espoma Organic Lawn Food is good.

HomeTurf – posted 08 July 2011 14:33

Listen to me. I just put down Empire a month ago Florida. You can spread Milagornite any time. Your sod will love it> It will NOT burn. A pile 1 foot thick will not burn. It is a slow release as needed. It will green your lawn too. I put mine down on the soil before install. Golf courses use this too. It is organic and will not harm anything else either.

VentureForth – posted 08 July 2011 16:24

I have used Milorganite before (on my mutt grass) and didn’t really notice any real difference. Now that I have a nice, quality homogenous grass, I will try Milorganite again.

mrmumbels – posted 09 July 2011 08:13

A pile 1 ft thick will break your wallet and smother your zoysia though 😛

quote:Originally posted by HomeTurf:Listen to me. I just put down Empire a month ago Florida. You can spread Milagornite any time. Your sod will love it> It will NOT burn. A pile 1 foot thick will not burn. It is a slow release as needed. It will green your lawn too. I put mine down on the soil before install. Golf courses use this too. It is organic and will not harm anything else either.

Stan – posted 09 July 2011 10:29

I used Milorganite and did not see much of a difference. I did more research and realized it is made from Milwaukee sewage sludge. It did not bother me that much until I read that it could be high in heavy metals. I am not sure how much of an issues this could be in the lawn. I certainly would not use it in the veggie garden. Now this stuff does have an old septic tank smell when wet but will go away in about two weeks.

Personally I would rather use an organic fertilizer from chicken or cow manure which has a more dried grass barnyard smell that seems to last no more than a day. If you would rather not use animal by products then go with the alfalfa meal and kelp.