Zenith Zod Help

sloante74 – posted 22 June 2012 08:59

Had Zenith sod installed Tuesday. Here in Charlotte it was 83 on Mondy. I thought Perfect. Yard was tilled Monday.

Zod came Tuesday. I was at work all day. Installer did not instruct me to water the ground prior (I should have researched and done it myself it’s my fault) and some sections of the zod were not watered until 5 hours after lie down….

Heat wave arrived that day, installation day (Tuesday) and it’s been in the 90s all week.

75% of the sod is still green and looks good. But I have a strip along the sidewalk that gets sun 247 and it’s turned to straw with few patches of green. I have kept water on it, keeping it soaked best I could though out the day all week with the help of my wife (stay home mom so she can work the sprinklers for me). If I put my fingers down in the stray I can see slight strands of green (barely). Roots are still wet. Should I keep watering this or remove it? Is it toast?

Thanks!

-Sloan in Charlotte

jugheadfla – posted 22 June 2012 09:48

quote:Originally posted by sloante74:Had Zenith sod installed Tuesday. Here in Charlotte it was 83 on Mondy. I thought Perfect. Yard was tilled Monday.

Zod came Tuesday. I was at work all day. Installer did not instruct me to water the ground prior (I should have researched and done it myself it’s my fault) and some sections of the zod were not watered until 5 hours after lie down….

Heat wave arrived that day, installation day (Tuesday) and it’s been in the 90s all week.

75% of the sod is still green and looks good. But I have a strip along the sidewalk that gets sun 247 and it’s turned to straw with few patches of green. I have kept water on it, keeping it soaked best I could though out the day all week with the help of my wife (stay home mom so she can work the sprinklers for me). If I put my fingers down in the stray I can see slight strands of green (barely). Roots are still wet. Should I keep watering this or remove it? Is it toast?

Thanks!

-Sloan in Charlotte

First of all, don’t worry about not watering while it was laid. I didn’t when my Jamur got put down and it turned out ok. The one major concept you will need to come to understand about Zoysia is that everything about it is slow, so you need to be patient with it. It will be slow to root, it will be slow to green up, it will be slow to repair itself. Although, all this will happen eventually and you will be amazed, you just have to keep watering everyday and relax. It took a full growing season for my Jamur to root and grow together and during that time the grass went through different growth phases. Sometimes nice and green, sometimes dry looking and I am down here in Tampa where its blazing hot every day! I would say do not over react to any part of the lawn that might not be doing that well right now, eventually it will repair itself, albiet slowly. Just remember you have some amazing turf here and it does things that St. Aug cannot. Let me know if you have any other questions.

sloante74 – posted 22 June 2012 13:05

Awesome, thanks for the confidence. The installer told me to wait until next week and any spots that are not green he can replace. But I talked to a good friend of mine (who is a sod farmer by trait), and he basically said the same thing you did – “be patient, it’s hard to kill the stuff” lol

I am a reefer by hobby (salt water fish tanks), so patience I can do.

Just did not want to keep dumping water (or anymore money replacing the sections that are scorched) if there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

[This message has been edited by sloante74 (edited 22 June 2012).]

jugheadfla – posted 22 June 2012 13:22

quote:Originally posted by sloante74:Awesome, thanks for the confidence. The installer told me to wait until next week and any spots that are not green he can replace. But I talked to a good friend of mine (who is a sod farmer by trait), and he basically said the same thing you did – “be patient, it’s hard to kill the stuff” lol

I am a reefer by hobby (salt water fish tanks), so patience I can do.

Just did not want to keep dumping water (or anymore money replacing the sections that are scorched) if there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

[This message has been edited by sloante74 (edited 22 June 2012).]

He is correct it is hard to kill this stuff, but there may be a couple parts that die off at this stage but it will regrow in those areas once it gets rooted. You will also notice, once you start only watering once or twice a week in the summer, that the grass in some areas look like they may be dying where the blades start to curl up but that is not the case. This is Zoysia’s natural ability to become semi dormant when it is too hot or there isn’t enough moisture in the soil. It does this so that it can sustain it self until more water is introduced. You will see that the turf will go right back to normal immediately after watering. This happens quite frequently down here.

Tevisv – posted 03 July 2012 09:05

Hey sloante74,

I’m down in Ft Mill and just installed a Palisades Zoysia lawn the 1st weekend of June. I grew tired of trying to make my fescue lawn shine. Even with a sprinkler system and adhering to a regular maintenance schedule, I got fed up with the bare spots, brown spots, constant weed infestation, etc… So, I did some research and went with the Palisades.

I have a few spots where the sod did not take and went brown, but I knew about the waiting game that zoysia plays. My neighbors have been stopping me one by one, asking about the lawn. In fact, some are considering taking the route that I went.

Honestly, I do not understand why so many people in our area push and insist on growing fescue here. Yes, it has two growing seasons and yes, a great fescue lawn looks fantastic throughout the year, but if you loose it, fescue takes forever to get back, costs a ton of money to maintain and in my opinion, is not worth the headache down here.

jod788 – posted 03 July 2012 16:07

I have Palisades. It’s good stuff. Ive discovered that after a year it’s now rooted in my crappy soil and not feeding off the doped up soil it initially fed off of from the sod farm. Ive slowly gotten my soil in good shape and it’s really getting that healthy green again. The stuff is super slow though..doesn’t spread – at ALL. I mean I could cut out a 4 inch square of sod and there’d still be a 4 inch square void 3 years later I think. If you have any bare spots, don’t expect them to fill in..at least mine didn’t.

sloante74 – posted 05 July 2012 12:43

Here are some pics I took last week. 2.5 weeks in and the zenith is doing great! I really like this grass….heck I now want the bermuda I have in the backyard out, and zoysia in. lol it just feels so much better on your feet, and is 10x greener. But 1 project at a time I guess….

I am still watering once a day. I really want to be sure this stuff roots well before winter. You never know what kind of winter you will have here….

Pic 1:https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc6/278179_3862890885257_379333849_o.jpg

Pic 2:https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s720x720/295145_3862892445296_1487758770_n.jpg

Pic 3:https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/165858_3862891285267_81280606_n.jpg

Pic 4: This was leftover that I formed a section with on the side of the house. I am using it to replace sections that did not make it, and to hopefully grow and turn into plugs.https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/474597_3870653199310_1481837148_o.jpg

Pic 5: One of the pieces from the pic above transplanted herehttps://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s720x720/396811_3870652159284_1710013620_n.jpg

Pic 6: This top zone took a beating on install day, it’s starting to come back nice.https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/s720x720/399366_3870654119333_944399253_n.jpg

Pic 7: This strip was fried on install day (3/4 was straw in 48 hours), hence the reason I started this thread. With lots of attention over the last 2 weeks, I have it coming back!https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/s720x720/553172_3870654719348_2124898794_n.jpg

Pic 8: This zone gets great shade. It took great. https://sphotos.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/s720x720/480419_3870655159359_2045918063_n.jpg

[This message has been edited by sloante74 (edited 05 July 2012).]

sloante74 – posted 05 July 2012 12:55

And yeah my neighbors are amazed. Everyone wants to touch it. lol They are like what in the heck is that?

I like being outside. I play a lot of sand vball, I don’t mind the heat. I also like grass that is responsive this time a year. I have lived down here my whole life and fescue has ALWAYS been a problem June-August. It always seemed like I was trying to keep it alive versus maintaining/playing with it.

Hence why Home Depot and Lowes make so much money on product for it come fall….and spring for all the suckers who do not know any better….it’s a trap.

I had nice fescue on this yard for 2 years. Finally had enough.

[This message has been edited by sloante74 (edited 05 July 2012).]