Zoysia Sod vs Fescue Sod

NeedAdvice33 – posted 07 September 2004 20:36

I live in Marietta, GA where it’s usually hot/dry & I’m looking to sod my front yard, but don’t know if I should lay down Zoysia Sod or Fescue Sod (which is more popular in my subdivision). I like the idea of less maintenance, but don’t want my lawn to look dead in the winter when it goes dormant. Any suggestions/recommendations?

jb – posted 09 September 2004 21:47

I too am looking to redo my yard. I currently have fescue, but it hasn’t perfomed well mainly to two factors- lack of sunlight, and a sloped yard. I like the look of fescue and the year round color, but I’m not fond of having to cut it so often, and its not as hardy as I’d like.cI’ve recently solved the sunlight issue, so I’m really kicking around the idea of sodding with zoysia, in particular the El Toro variety. Zoysia makes a very pretty lawn, and from what I understand this variety is especially hardy and withstands drought well. Apparently it was developed at Texas A&M to overcome some of the weakness’s inherent in zoysia.Since the winters aren’t that bad here in Marietta ( i live there as well) I figure I might have to live through 4 months or so of the browning of the grass, but I don’t think it looks all that bad anyways. Also, I’m looking for something I don’t have to mow every week…what a pain. I found a place in Rome that will sell it to me for 90 bucks, but you have to pick it up yourself unless you get 5 pallets or more, then they will deliver. There’s another place ( can’t remember where, but its North Ga Turf) that sells it for 216 a pallet..quite a difference, but that includes delivery. I used to cut lawns for a living while in college, so I’ve seen quite a few. The prettiest ones I’ve ever seen were a tall fescue variety- Rebel. This lawn was lush green and gorgeous but grew like crazy. The other was a zoysia..not sure what variety. It too was beautiful..didn’t have to cut it as much, but it tended to grow thatch and could get quite thick- had to keep the blades sharp for that one! The other thing thats driving me to zoysia is that I want to sod no matter what I go with. I’ve had it with trying to seed and there isn’t many choices that I’ve found for cool season sod.Good luck with your decision!

NeedAdvice33 – posted 10 September 2004 14:50

I’m swaying toward the Zoysia…but I’m also starting to consider either bermuda or centipede…any thoughts/suggestions with these?

ted – posted 10 September 2004 21:27

zoysia’s great in your market- just overseed with ryegrass in the winter for year around color.

NeedAdvice33 – posted 10 September 2004 22:07

Will the rye grass be able to grow simultaneously with the dense zoysia sod that I will be laying?

cohiba – posted 11 September 2004 09:13

Needadvise33,

Ryegrass is an amazing turf. It needs little or no soil to germinate. I’m sure it will work in your zoysia. I have 4″ ryegrass plants growing out of a utility vehicle at work. As long as it has access to water it will germinate and grow. depending on where you live and the variety you use, you may have a hard time getting rid of it in the summer.

Good luck…………….

ted – posted 11 September 2004 14:05

if you’re putting down new zoysia sod, it won’t have thick thatch yet, so seeding will be relatively easy. and don’t worry, by next summer your ryegrass will easily burn up in the atlanta heat! it won’t have a negative effect on your zoysia.

cking – posted 13 September 2004 10:33

I just moved to Birmingham, AL and zoysia is a great choice in this climate. I was tired of fighting the annual summer battle with fescue.

NeedAdvice33 – posted 13 September 2004 22:30

Thanks to everybody for your valuable advice…I’ve decided to go with Myers Zoysia sod. Any suggestions for initial watering/maintenance after it first gets put down?