Soil Prep – Zoysia

gt2201b – posted 07 May 2011 13:25

I am preparing to lay 2000sq ft of Empire Zoysia sod on Thursday. I currently have St Augustine. I am tilling up the soil and mixing in lime and peat moss. Should I mix in topsoil and fertilizer too?

Forgot to add:I live in Jacksonville, FL. I have an irrigation well (loaded with sulfur and iron)sprinkler system that runs 1hr per zone each day.

[This message has been edited by gt2201b (edited 07 May 2011).]

mrmumbels – posted 07 May 2011 13:40

Are you killing the St aug first? If not it may come back up in a few spots although it’s really easy to kill in zoysia.

Good idea on the peat moss but remember it has no nutrients. Maybe till some alfalfa, soy meal, or corn meal in also?? And maybe some compost to get the microbes eating that organic material.

Check out the gardenweb forums there’s a really good organic write up there. And they’re all pretty big on making your soil healthy.

I wish I had gone with peat moss when i did mine. How do you know how much lime to put to equal out the ph from the acidic peat moss?

gt2201b – posted 07 May 2011 15:48

quote:Originally posted by mrmumbels:Are you killing the St aug first? If not it may come back up in a few spots although it’s really easy to kill in zoysia.

Good idea on the peat moss but remember it has no nutrients. Maybe till some alfalfa, soy meal, or corn meal in also?? And maybe some compost to get the microbes eating that organic material.

Check out the gardenweb forums there’s a really good organic write up there. And they’re all pretty big on making your soil healthy.

I wish I had gone with peat moss when i did mine. How do you know how much lime to put to equal out the ph from the acidic peat moss?

No. I’m not going to kill the St Augustine. I’m going to try to till it up first. If I run into problems tilling it, then I will kill it.

Good point about the peat moss. So do you think I should go topsoil, lime (100lbs for 2000sq ft), alfalfa (100lbs), fertilizer (50lbs of 10-10-10) all tilled in the soil?

I’ve read many of your postings and I’m afraid that my zoysia will run out of nutrients since I live in a sandy area.

mrmumbels – posted 07 May 2011 18:18

quote:Originally posted by gt2201b: No. I’m not going to kill the St Augustine. I’m going to try to till it up first. If I run into problems tilling it, then I will kill it.

Good point about the peat moss. So do you think I should go topsoil, lime (100lbs for 2000sq ft), alfalfa (100lbs), fertilizer (50lbs of 10-10-10) all tilled in the soil?

I’ve read many of your postings and I’m afraid that my zoysia will run out of nutrients since I live in a sandy area.

I notied you left the lime but removed the peatmoss? What was your reasoning for adding lime? I thought it was to balance out the acidity of the peat. I’d still use the peat too as it holds 15x it’s weight in water, and don’t hold me to it but it seems like it would disintegrate slower than alfalfa.

Now that I’m thinking about it, if i were doing it again I’d also add some pine mulch. Everywhere that I’ve mulched my zoyia is thriving.

I also wouldn’t collect any leaves and I would use alfalfa regularly. The alfalfa definately works great as a fertilizer. I tested out different spots and they’re a nice dark green in compasison.

Basically if I were to do it again I’d get so much organic material in the sand, It would almost be flammable

gt2201b – posted 07 May 2011 23:32

quote: I notied you left the lime but removed the peatmoss? What was your reasoning for adding lime? I thought it was to balance out the acidity of the peat. I’d still use the peat too as it holds 15x it’s weight in water, and don’t hold me to it but it seems like it would disintegrate slower than alfalfa.

Ok. Originally, I thought you meant not to use peat moss because it would negate the lime. But I understand what you are saying now. I was using lime to neutralize my soil’s pH. Now I will just put down more lime because of the peat moss.

quote:Now that I’m thinking about it, if i were doing it again I’d also add some pine mulch. Everywhere that I’ve mulched my zoyia is thriving.

Pine mulch??? I’ve heard of a lot things but never pine mulch. Do you mean you would put pine mulch down before the sod or after the sod has been installed? Wouldn’t that create a lot of bumps in the sod if you put it under it?

quote: I also wouldn’t collect any leaves and I would use alfalfa regularly. The alfalfa definately works great as a fertilizer. I tested out different spots and they’re a nice dark green in compasison.

Basically if I were to do it again I’d get so much organic material in the sand, It would almost be flammable

Can’t you put down alfalfa, peat moss, organic material, etc… AFTER the sod has been layed and it will work its way into the soil too? Why is it too late after you put the sod down? Also would you mix Milogranite in it too? and what about top soil? The more I reasearch laying sod, the more questions I come up with.

Is there anyone that has laid Zoysia sod and been happy with the results across a couple of years? If so, how did you prep the soil?

[This message has been edited by gt2201b (edited 07 May 2011).]

[This message has been edited by gt2201b (edited 08 May 2011).]

mrmumbels – posted 08 May 2011 16:13

quote:Originally posted by gt2201b:[b] Can’t you put down alfalfa, peat moss, organic material, etc… AFTER the sod has been layed and it will work its way into the soil too? Why is it too late after you put the sod down? Also would you mix Milogranite in it too? and what about top soil? The more I reasearch laying sod, the more questions I come up with.

That’s what I’m trying now. I don’t think it’s just going to drop down into the soil that great though. It’ll probably take a few years. Especially through this thick zoysia. I was thinking about top dressing it with all the goodies then core aerating to help it get down a little. Top soil is just what your making by dropping all that organic material down.

mrmumbels – posted 08 May 2011 16:18

[QUOTE]quote:Pine mulch??? I’ve heard of a lot things but never pine mulch. Do you mean you would put pine mulch down before the sod or after the sod has been installed? Wouldn’t that create a lot of bumps in the sod if you put it under it?[QUOTE]

I bought some soil a few times from the local nursery that was made with shredded pine mulch and top soil. I used it to top dress my flower beds but it usually just ran off with the rain. Right below these flower beds is the best zoysia I have. It still rich and healthy as my whole lawn was 5 years ago. I figure it droped down into the sand and is just holding the water