New Zoysia Sod and First Freeze

vivona – posted 12 December 2010 21:20

I live in Central Florida. I had my entire yard cleared of turf in October. The contractor was to install new Jamur Zoysia the next day, but he skipped town for reasons unknown. After two weeks of trying to find him, I had to finish the job with another contractor. That delay resulted in my new lawn being laid on November 22nd.

The Jamur Zoysia has been down for three weeks and has received 1/3 of an inch of water every day. It looks nice and green and is beginning to root down. Most sod pieces do not pull up.

Now comes the problem. It will be in the low 30s overnight most days this coming week, with Tuesday forecasted at 28 degrees. Daytimes are in the 50s and 60s.

Is it likely the turf will be damaged by the cold? Is there anything I can do, within reason, to prevent damage?

mrmumbels – posted 13 December 2010 13:54

I wouldn’t worry too much. Our zoysia is going to turn into straw this week. It’ll go dormant and not even require any water. There will be a few straglers that will stay green but from now until march/april you won’t need to worry about it even trying to grow. If you’re worried about it dying, your neighborhood oaks probably have a better chance of dying. You can starve it, dehydrate it, and freeze it but it’ll always come back.

vivona – posted 13 December 2010 16:12

I know a fully established Zoysia lawn can handle the freeze. I am concerned that my sod has only been down for three weeks, so the roots are only just now starting to penetrate the soil below the sod.

mrmumbels – posted 13 December 2010 18:55

It still should have no problems because it’s dormant. You can spray roundup on a dormant lawn and it won’t hurt it. I can’t remember how the weather was in 2007 but I layed my zoysia down in late Dec and it was amazing the next summer.

Here’s a walk-through of my root issues because of my crappy sandy soil.http://coffeebrandy.com/pics/zoysia/

jugheadfla – posted 20 December 2010 10:25

Does anyone know how often the grass should be mowed once it goes dormant. I have Jamur Zoysia, for reference. I have been told not to cut it at all. Also, is anyone using a reel mower to cut your Zoysia lawn?

mrmumbels – posted 20 December 2010 23:20

If it’s dormant it doesn’t grow. You can scalp it in the early spring before it turns green.

mrmumbels – posted 02 January 2011 09:49

How’s it looking now vivona?

vivona – posted 02 January 2011 15:33

It is interesting that most of the lawn has gone to brown, the back yard overall is browner than the front yard … except the western side of the front and back yards still have a lot of green. I don’t know what it is about the western side of the property that would make the grass stay green there, especially since there is nothing in common with the western side of the front and back yards other than being on the west side.

mrmumbels – posted 04 January 2011 07:58

Do you have trees or another house on the western side? Or is the grass thicker there? My thickest part of the lawn thay green longer and also my southern side because of the trees blocking the full freeze.

vivona – posted 09 February 2011 01:13

Well, the past few freezes have not hurt my new JaMur Zoysia lawn at all. It has almost fully greened up and is growing. I did have a few areas of brown patch that Massey has sprayed and those areas are growing in.

I hope we are done with freezing temperatures in Central Florida for this winter.

mrmumbels – posted 09 February 2011 07:47

I hope we’re done too. This is the earliest my lawn has ever started to turn green. I’m way ahead of the neighbors!

Stan – posted 09 February 2011 23:05

Wow! we in NC still have about two months before greening. I will report when my test patches of El Torro and Pallisades green up.

mrmumbels – posted 14 February 2011 10:21

ugh, got a light freeze last night :/ Hopefully it didn’t set anything back

jugheadfla – posted 16 February 2011 10:49

quote:Originally posted by mrmumbels:ugh, got a light freeze last night :/ Hopefully it didn’t set anything back

The Jamur that I sodded at the end of last October is coming back to life, but really is not looking all that great. Has anyone mowed yet? i’ll try to get some pictures and let you see.

vivona – posted 16 February 2011 14:00

I had used a lawn mowing service in the past, but I am guessing that some of my weed and disease problems were caused by debris from other lawns being spread on my lawn by their mowers. That, along with the damage caused by their enormous rider mowers prompted me to try mowing my new lawn myself. So, I just bought an electric mower and edger and even though the grass isn’t really ready for mowing I tested the mower out on a section of lawn. Because some small patches are still brown from the freeze and/or fungus and the sodding hasn’t had time to grow together, the mowed section looks splotchy. However, I expected this since my lawn was sodded just three months ago. It will probably take many months for the sodding to even out so it will look smooth after a mowing.