Newly Sodded Zoysia not doing well

Love_Zoysia – posted 02 June 2011 08:28

Sodded Zoysia Jamur 7 weeks ago in my front lawn (Greater Atlanta). Seems like the lawn is in shock and the growth is very minimal. Grass blades are not yet vertical and in many places it is brown or not growing; I applied lime, alfalfa and 10-10-10 in the soil before sodding. I have sprinkler and watering well. Any idea why this is happening. I have not done the soil test in this area, but an adjacent area showed PH has 6.7 which was sodded last winter that also has stunted growth. See pictures below. Thanks for your help

hodad – posted 02 June 2011 10:07

Based on your photos I am having the same dubious results so far with my Jamur. I am in the NE Cobb area of Metro Atlanta. My neighbor had his yard sodded at the same time and it looks about the same.

I guess it could be the early hot weather we are having. I am going to continue watering every third day and put some high nitrogen fertilizer down this weekend and hope for the best.

Love_Zoysia – posted 02 June 2011 12:03

Thanks; I got it from NG turf. Could be a defective product if this happens in multiple locations? Where did you buy yours?

hodad – posted 02 June 2011 12:45

I got it from a landscape contractor who also installed it for me. I will have to ask him where he purchased it.

I will let you know.

mrmumbels – posted 02 June 2011 14:31

Have any of you pulled up a shovel full to see the roots? Take pics if you can. Love-zoysia, did you take those pics after a rainfall? Looks pretty saturated.

Love_Zoysia – posted 02 June 2011 14:53

I have posted the root picture on the other thread. I have sprinkler system. I watered it everyday for the first 30 days. No I am doing once a week

awin4me – posted 02 June 2011 15:22

How much shade is your new turf getting? I talked recently with a sod farmer and he said Jamur was similar to Empire in that it likes a great deal of sunlight. I noticed the one photo the sod had been shaded over.

I have seen several landscapers suggest Empire to my neighbors with significant shade from Oak trees when Zeon or El Toro are the more shade tolerant versions of zoysia that I have seen

Love_Zoysia – posted 02 June 2011 15:24

Plenty of sunlight; I would say at least 6 hours

hodad – posted 03 June 2011 09:53

I thought Jamur was supposed to be a more shade tolerant variety of Zoysia? My grassed area gets at least 4 to 6 hours of good sunlight each day so it seems that would be a good balance for this variety.

Even though it is quite hot and dry theses days in Atlanta (mid 90’s I am watering for 2 solid hours every third day. Is that enough?

jugheadfla – posted 03 June 2011 10:08

Jamur is definately shade tolerent. I can tell you that the areas of my lawn that get the least amount of sunlight(on the sides of the house) are growing very well. The areas of my lawn that are getting 10 or so hours of sunlight are the ones having the problems for me right now. I think that is mostly because of the lack of rain and the amount of heat recently. I think once the summer rains start, those areas will get better.

ezf – posted 03 June 2011 14:35

I live in Atlanta area too. i put a few squares of meyer zoysia last year and about 100 pieces two months ago in my backyard (bermuda). If I don’t fertilize they grow really slow for the first 2-3 months and don’t need any watering at all after that. They will grow vertically by the end of the season and grow dense next season without any fertilization and irrigation. I mow at 3 inches. I did fertilize some of them heavily and they grow fast and become less drought tolerant. I think meyer zoysia likes to be neglected.

vvitti – posted 09 June 2011 13:04

I am glad to hear that others are having the same problem with their Jamur. I had mine sodded in October, it went dormant and now is starting to grow but it is not what I expected. I am also experiencing some brown patches and weak growth. I did read that this grass is slow to mature and after one year it really takes off. Right now, I am somewhat disappointed with the results as I have witnessed other installs in my neighborhood that have yielded better results. Thanks for your help!

mrmumbels – posted 09 June 2011 13:47

Where are you located vvitti? Did you or they ammend your soil at all before sodding?

quote:Originally posted by vvitti:I am glad to hear that others are having the same problem with their Jamur. I had mine sodded in October, it went dormant and now is starting to grow but it is not what I expected. I am also experiencing some brown patches and weak growth. I did read that this grass is slow to mature and after one year it really takes off. Right now, I am somewhat disappointed with the results as I have witnessed other installs in my neighborhood that have yielded better results. Thanks for your help!

jrmorgan – posted 11 June 2011 15:28

We are in Southeast NC. Plugged my 3300 Sq ft. centipede lawn with Jamur two years ago. Plugs were approx. 4″X4″. As of now the plugs look healthy but have only grown to 9″x9″. Very little verticle growth.Fertilized with 24 4 24 which is what Cape Fear Turf Farm recommended.Very disappointed at this point. We were assured this method of installation would work fine.

vvitti – posted 14 June 2011 13:23

quote:Originally posted by mrmumbels:Where are you located vvitti? Did you or they ammend your soil at all before sodding?

I am located in Atlanta, GA. I don’t know what ammend means. If it pertains to pre-treatment, they spent an incredible amount of time treating the soil prior to implementation. As I am writing you, it is actually getting worse.

Love_Zoysia – posted 14 June 2011 13:56

LOL; must have meant amending the soil with some top soil etc…….

mrmumbels – posted 14 June 2011 19:45

Woops, Ya I meant amend. To treat it with organic material, top soil, compost…

quote:Originally posted by Love_Zoysia:LOL; must have meant amending the soil with some top soil etc…….

jod788 – posted 15 June 2011 09:36

90% of my Jamur is super healthy. I laid it last Sept. and it greened up fast this spring. Right now its just super and this stuff chokes out everything – there’s not a single weed in the entire lawn and I have not sprayed it at all. Loves the shade. The shady parts seem the healthiest. Have a patch on a slope that gets the most sun that’s having a bit of a hard time. I think it’s a water issue though. I aerated it and adjusted sprinklers. we’ll see.

vvitti – posted 16 June 2011 14:47

quote:Originally posted by mrmumbels:Woops, Ya I meant amend. To treat it with organic material, top soil, compost…

They did. It is true that Jamur takes a long time to mature?

vvitti – posted 16 June 2011 14:49

quote:Originally posted by jod788:90% of my Jamur is super healthy. I laid it last Sept. and it greened up fast this spring. Right now its just super and this stuff chokes out everything – there’s not a single weed in the entire lawn and I have not sprayed it at all. Loves the shade. The shady parts seem the healthiest. Have a patch on a slope that gets the most sun that’s having a bit of a hard time. I think it’s a water issue though. I aerated it and adjusted sprinklers. we’ll see.

Mine was installed in October. Interesting point about choking out the weeds. That is another issue I am having with the front. The weeds are starting to make their way through the turf.

Love_Zoysia – posted 16 June 2011 15:04

Update:

Jamur has turned good 85%, Did soil test and found that it needs potash and phos. Along with seaweed, it is turning good. Thanks

Jamur is hardy, it does,not die so soon. GLTA

hodad – posted 27 June 2011 09:10

Just an update on my Jamur. Installed in May and is looking very good at this point. I watered pretty heavily and consistently during the dry periods (two hours every third day) over the last month and the the recent afternoon rains have definitely helped and have not watered at all over the last several weeks. Fertilized once and have thrown down some lime to get the ph a little more balanced. A few spots are slow to catch on but those were “weak” slabs of sod to begin with. Other than that I am quite pleased.

HomeTurf – posted 27 June 2011 13:42

This is about the watering I am finding during dry time too be perfect. At first I mowed too short 1 inch and made scalp spots (greened in 5 days ) 2 inches seems to be dark green and perfect. I use milagornite so as to not have a possible burn but give it every bit of what it wants. I have some mushrooms in a spot that gets a bit more water but Hey…I am figuring this out and LOVE LOVE the Zoysia look. I have only mowed it because I wanted to test it out and am pretty sure once a month would be just fine if you wanted.

hodad – posted 29 June 2011 15:19

I mow mine pretty short also and occasionally get some areas a little too short, but like you said they seem to green up pretty quickly. I think I will mow it a little longer next go round just to see what it looks like.

Note: The guy that installed it was by recently and said that once the seed heads start showing it is time to mow again. The seed heads are sterile so they don’t help propogate growth at all. In fact, he said they hinder the growth somewhat.

Getting dry in Atlanta again so I will go back to my every third day watering routine until we start getting some regular rain/thunderstorms.

The primary reason I put it in was for the drought tolerance. We’ll see what happens come mid to late August.

hodad – posted 16 September 2011 10:51

An update.

My Jamur did really well in what turned out to be a relatively hot, dry summer in Atlanta.

After the sod was established watering once a week or so (if it didn’t rain) for a couple of hours kept the lawn fresh and green.

Pretty easy to see when it needs water. The grass stems (if that’s what you call them) look dry and get thin. Once watered they thicken up and regain their green color almost immediately.

Getting ready to see what happens this fall and winter.