Houndawg – posted 26 December 2012 00:59
I’ve done a great amount of transplanting the last two summers and I have learned things doing it. I dug up shovels of the Zoysia and broke the plants apart then planted them in rows. Rows planted about a foot apart will come very close to filling in , in one summer , if you feed them a little and keep them watered. They start off very slow ,but when they catch hold ,they start making lots of runners. About the first of July this past summer, I decided to try transplanting some of the new runners into another area. I took knifes and pulled the runners up breaking the small roots up from the ground and cut them about 7 inches long from the mother plants. I used a screw driver and stuck a hole in the ground and stuck the runner upright as it was growing into the holes leaving an inch or two sticking out the hole on some and some I buried in shallow trenches. I watered them about twice a day , maybe more if it was real hot. Just the rows. About all of them lived. They caught hold very fast, some of them made runners a foot or more long, in the short time from July to frost. The neat thing about this, I grew enough runners from one area to give me a huge jumpstart in a second area. The area I took runners from still filled in well , even with me stealing from it. In places it became hard to get runners up because it was filling in fast.
Houndawg – posted 26 December 2012 01:35
I area I stole runners from is about 25 x 100 feet , it has rows about one foot apart with plants planted about 8 inches apart in the rows. The plants I planted in the other area in the trenches , I left the growing tips sticking up about an inch or two out the dirt. I pulled lines of string to mark the rows so I would not step on them . And watered only the rows to save water.The new rows are about 35 feet long, two feet apart, forming a checker board pattern . Next spring I hope to grow runners off these to finish filling the area in. They should do way better because these will have an extra month to make runners..
Houndawg – posted 26 December 2012 01:48
I planted the plants closer in the checker board area. This area is on a downgrade and rain leaves it without soaking in. Once the rows get thick rainwater will be caught , I won’t cut this area next summer, until I have nice deep rows. I may even see some seedlings caught in the blocks. This past summer I saw my first wild Zoysia seedlings in the other areas.
Houndawg – posted 26 December 2012 02:06
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=506722502676726&l=cbd38676fd
This is where I stole runners from..Hope ths link works..
Houndawg – posted 26 December 2012 02:22
This shows how well the rows did since July this summer..
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=518464768169166&l=a39cf7a70f
Houndawg – posted 26 December 2012 02:26
This shows the checker board area, and out farther the other two areas that were planted the past two summers.
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=539876182694691&l=cfbbfad90c
ezf – posted 04 January 2013 14:44
Thanks for posting your experience. It’s the most efficient method I have seen without using any heavy machinery, very helpful.
Houndawg – posted 22 January 2013 20:14
You are very Welcome. I only have a tiller. I did get a neighbor to plow one section of the yard with his tractor . That area had centipede grass and the roots were very tuff. My tiller would not turn it over. I killed the other areas with Gly-Star, and allowed it to die and my tiller can break those now. This is a large yard, it’s going to take awhile to cover it with Zoysia.
Houndawg – posted 22 January 2013 21:26
The area that has a checker board pattern is still showing green blades. The rows should get about a foot wide this coming season. Water is the issue in here. This area is a slight hill, and water runs off it. Once the rows get deep it will hold rain. Then the grass will grow faster.