Zoysia won’t take root

GMC – posted 21 August 2011 11:04

I put down 56 pallets of empire zoysia. My soil conditions seem fine, ph, etc., when the test came back. Appr 50% of the zoysia has not taken root after 7 weeks and is dying. The person that put down the sod applied liquid charcoal this week in an effort to neutalize any chemical buildup when the lawn was treated previously by a lawn maintenance company. Very discouraging to see 56 pallets die not to mention the cost.

ANY help would be appreciated.

mrmumbels – posted 21 August 2011 13:52

Wow, I feel for you. Where are you located? What type of soil? Do you have a sprinkler system on all that grass? What was your watering schedule after you laid it down?

GMC – posted 21 August 2011 14:12

I live in Savannah, Georgia. We watered twice per day for the first 2 weeks at 45 minutes per zone. Since then we are watering once per day at 30 minutes per zone unless we get rain then we do not water at all. We have added 15 0 15 fertilizer once in the past 7 weeks. I am cutting / bagging twice per week in an effort to keep the grass at a good height and also to keep from taking too much of the leaf off at once.

ezf – posted 21 August 2011 15:04

Maybe it’s better to let the grass grow taller. Taller plant is stronger and can afford to develop deeper roots. I planted some Meyer Zoysia patches this summer and had not fertilized for the first two months. They looked brown and sick and there was no top growth. Then I fertilized the patches with soybean meal and they turned dark green within two days, and grew tall and dense very fast (in a month or so).

GMC – posted 21 August 2011 17:22

Thanks…….When I cut the grass twice per week it is at a height of 3″.

Stan – posted 21 August 2011 21:12

I suspect it could be the chemical fertilizers burned and kill some of it. I learned my lesson with these strong N-P-K synthetic fertilizers. I will now only use organic, They are typically low N-P-K numbers but break down slowly and enhance the soil with microbes. You will have to check with your garden supply but the Espoma Organic Lawn fertilizer is good but a little on the expensive side but will hold you out longer.

I think you will just have to see what comes back and let it try to fill back in naturally. Then apply the organic. Watering too much can also cause fungus and make the roots lazy. Good luck!