Zenith

CGzenith – posted 20 June 2006 15:06

I planted about 58 pounds of Zenith Zoysia 3 weeks ago. I planted it in a fairly well prepared bed with 3000 pounds of lime, 160 pounds 0-45-0, and 400 pounds of 17-17-17. I kept it watered for about 12 days with plenty of water and had sprouts in about 10 days. I would say 60% of the yard has growth and 40% is bare. I was wondering if anyone else out there has planted Zenith as of late and how it is doing and how it did.

TexanOne – posted 23 June 2006 01:25

I’m not sure where you live so I can’t say what kind of results you should expect. However, I planted 4000 ft2 of Zenith seed in 1999 and it took 3 years to fill in.

After several years of trying to get Zenith Zoysia to thrive in my yard, I have several opinions and observations:

1: Zenith is not very well adapted to the hot/arid climate and alkaline soil conditions of West Texas. In the humid, rainy southeast, or in an area where water quality is better than I have, it might do well.

2: Zenith is not very shade tolerant or very full-sun tolerant. It seems to do best where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Under the shade of big live oak tree, it struggles to survive. In full-sun, it burns easily no matter how much water it gets.

3: Zenith takes more water to look good than any other common turfgrass in Texas, except for fescue. Bermudagrass and St Augustine are far better choices in my part of the country. Texas Common St Augustine thrives in the hot sun and +100 deg temperatures that fry Zenith to brown, dead and crunchy.

4: Zenith is easily over-run and taken over by other, more common turfgrasses in my area (Bermuda / St Augustine), which then requires that I use excessive herbicide use to control the unwanted grasses.

After 7 years of attempts to grow Zenith Zoysia, and giving it everything it needed to thrive in my yard, I have given up on it and allowed a much prettier, and healthier “native” St Augustinegrass to invade and grow in its place. From my perspective, the only advantage of having Zenith (or any other Zoysia for that matter) is better cold tolerance.

I planted my Zenith in early-spring 1999. I did not have a decent, good-looking turf until late-summer 2001. From 2001 until 2005, windy 110 deg temperatures, <10% humidity and alkaline water and soil has thinned it to where bermudagrass and St Augustine have a significant foothold in my lawn. I also have a very efficient irrigation system that provides all the water the Zenith should need.

In all fairness to Zenith Zoysia, my water quality is probably to blame for its failure to thrive. With soil and water pH at 8.2 and rainfall 15″ – 18″, the Zenith just does seem to do well. When about 75% of the annual irrigation requirement is supplied by water of this quality, Zenith was not a good choice.

Hope you have better results!

CGzenith – posted 23 June 2006 07:38

TexanOne,

Thanks for the input. I hope that my does better than yours considering I planted about 38,000 SF. I live in the upstate of South Carolina in the western corner of the state where Georgia and North Carolina come together(transition zone). The soil here is actually more acidic. My first soil test came back as 5.0 so I applied lime at a rate of 78lbs/1000SF to bring it up to around 6.0. Honestly I haven’t a clue what the PH is for the local water. There is a test plot of about 30,000 SF about 3 miles from my house of Zenith. It is the local extension agents that was sodded about 4 years ago. It is in full sun and has no shade whatsoever and looks great. It is of couse on an irrigation system and I’m sure it get’s it’s treatments when it is suppose to, but it does look great, so I know it can grow here. Anyway, I don’t know of anyone locally who has Zenith except for that plot and it was sodded so I can’t really relate since I seeded mine. When yours first started coming in could you guess as to what percent of your yard had growth? Also, were the sprouts healty looking? My major concern at this point is that only about 60% fo the seed germinated. I assume that since Zoysia does produce stolons and rhizomes the remaining 40% will cover without having to reseed these areas. Thanks for the input

TexanOne – posted 24 June 2006 14:34

When yours first started coming in could you guess as to what percent of your yard had growth?

– It’s hard to say. I seeded at about 1 lbs / 1000 sq ft. About a week after I seeded, we had a big t-storm blow through that probably washed a significant part of the seed down the gutter, even though it was covered with a peat moss mulch and slightly buried (about ¼”). Whatever remained of the seed did seem to come up ok, but VERY slowly. The first year, the seedlings came up but did not produce visible stolons. It just grew straight up. The second year, the Zenith began to produce some lateral growth and began to look like turfgrass. There were several, small, bare areas that I assume were the result of a washout and in those areas, the Zenith began to spread although it did at a rate of just a few inches / year.

Also, were the sprouts healthy looking?

– Yes, they were healthy looking, but that’s about all. I also had some unwanted annual ryegrass come up with the Zenith, and I had a hard time telling the two apart. However, like I said above there was no lateral growth for at least a year or two.

Mowing height is very important and I would highly recommend that you cut it very high (>= 3.0” or so). I used the recommended cutting height of 1.5” for years that really caused a lot of heat and sunburn damage. The low mowing height also allowed bermudagrass and every other unwanted grass and weed to invade.

I selected Zenith to plant from the NTEP Zoysia reports. In 1999, Zenith was the best seeded Zoysia around. It was also rated the best in drought tolerance. I also tried some El Toro and Palisades in other areas of the yard that were isolated from the Zenith. Of the three, the Palisades and El Toro looked best with probably the Palisades looking just a little better. It sounds to me like Zenith will do well for you because there is a proven area of it growing near you.

I’m not trying to bad-mouth Zenith and it may very well be an excellent choice in Western South Carolina. However here in the Southwest, it doesn’t seem to do well at all. Zenith stops growing completely with temps >100 deg no matter how much water and feeding it gets. Sustained days of >100 deg temps cause it to yellow and begin to decline. The only time I noticed Zenith looked well was when we had a rare period of rainy weather.

Anyway CG, best of luck and I hope you have success with it…

tiger-striped-bass – posted 21 July 2006 21:21

test

tiger-striped-bass – posted 21 July 2006 21:32

I am in S. Louisiana, zone 8B/9A. I planted 25# on approx 10,000 sq. ft on 7/31/05. By the end of the season, you could practically cut sod from it. Right now you absolutely could. From reading forums like this and everyone having trouble, I was extrememly please with my results. I did water very lghtly and frequently(several times a day) at the beginning, until all the seeds germinated. I read that not allowing the seeds to dry out was critical. I know my climate/conditions are considerably different than yours, But the addresse below is to a site that gives a sales pitch about a golf course in Kentucky that converted their fairways from Bermuda to Zenith. Click on the success stories link at the top left and it will take you to a page with a link to an instructive slide show that was helpful to me. http://www.zoysiagolf.com/index.htm

TexanOne – posted 21 July 2006 22:33

Don’t get me wrong; Zenith is a beautiful turf – if you’re able to grow it. I really think the limiting factors for me were hardpan, alkaline soil and poor water quality. Of those two factors, I really believe the water quality was the primary reason it failed to thrive because after a good rain (which is very rare where I live), the Zenith would temporarily perk up and look great for a couple of weeks.

In the Gulf Coast region, I would believe Zenith would make a first-class lawn. I envy ya’ll that get ample rainfall.

I was told by turfgrass scientists at Dallas – TAMU there are Zoysia types in the testing phase that are thriving in Lubbock, TX and are being irrigated with the effluent wastewater from a reverse-osmosis plant. I only hope these tougher Zoysias hit the market soon.

[This message has been edited by TexanOne (edited 21 July 2006).]

tailwalkin79 – posted 27 July 2006 15:01

Tiger-striped-bass,

I believe my Zenith is doing well. Granted it is not ready to cut sod off of unless you don’t mind a 60/40 mixture crabgrass/zenith. Considering my soil conditions and most of the other reports I’ve read I feel as though mine is doing well. As I stated in a previous post I have about 60-70% coverage which I think is fair considering the amount planted and again the conditions. I had to add allot of lime and fertilizer, mainly P. Anyway, I still am not seeing any stolons which I find a little odd. I looked at the slide show that you had linked from supersod and to be honest my Zenith doesn’t look like what they have in their picture. Mine has a thicker blade and again there are no signs of stolons. I will try to post some pics. My biggest downfall was probably not being able to get the seeds closer to one another. I did all the preparation work myself on a farm tractor and used an old drag hare to prepare (smooth) and cover the seeds with. In doing so the seeds naturally migrated toward the groves and they were a good 6-7 inches apart. I feel that this hindered my establishment and was overlooked by me. Anyhow, again I’ll try to get some pics posted. Oh I hadn’t realized that my username had changed but this is also CGzenith!

[This message has been edited by tailwalkin79 (edited 28 July 2006).]