I'm going to have zoysia sod put in at my new house in Raleigh, NC. The landscaping company is asking me which type of zoysia I want. Does anyone know the best types for my area and have any preferences?
Also, they are saying that they will supply me with triple-shredded mulch. Is there anything that I need to verify (ex. type, age, etc) regarding the mulch?
The "old standard" zoysias are Meyer and Emerald. Meyer grows faster and has a larger blade. Emerald has a much finer blade and is sometimes thought to be a higher maintenance grass.
In more recent varieties, Zenith and El Toro are fairly similar to Meyer and Zeon is fairly similar to Emerald.
If you want to do some reading, there is always the National Turf Evaluation Program, which can be found at:
Last summer I installed 7,000 sf of Emerald at our house and this summer I added another 4,500 sf. Next summer I'm probably due for another 3,000 SF and I'll have Emerald in all of my grassy areas...
KB
Do the zoysia grasses stay physically soft year round. A neighbor has a hybrid bermuda that is very "stick like" during the winter. I would like to avoid a zoysia type if it's not soft year round.
Zoysia does go dormant in the winter in most US climates. It is usually thought to be a stiffer, more prickly grass than bermuda.
On the other hand, zoysia tends to grow more densly than bermuda, so it is more cushioney if you fall on it, for instance. This is true year round.
KB
I live in North Dakota and was thinking about putting zoysia grass in my yard here and have a few questions for those of you who might know more about this topic. There is also farm land (i.e., many acres of wheat fields) near my house. What type of border do I need to put down so that the zoysia does not invade the crop spaces?
Is there a specific type of zoysia that would be best for the northern climate here? I know the grasses originated in Korea and should be somewhat cold hardy, but does anyone know what the coldest temperature they can endure is? I was also wondering how warm the ground temperature needs to get prior to the zoysia greening again in the spring.
I was thinking about going with the Zoysia Farm Nurseries for the initial grass. Does anyone here have any experience working with them? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
David
IMO, zoysia is a poor choice for northern climates, even if it will survive the winter. A neighbor has it here in coastal NJ. It goes brown in Oct and looks like dead straw all winter. It doesn't return to green until mid May. My bluegrass/fescue will stay a nice green most of the winter, only going off color Feb, and quickly greening up again in early April. Zoysia performance in ND has to be worse.
Trader4, I am not question your experiances with Zoysia but here in north Jersey, my Zoysia stays green until I stop watering it and greens up in about a week after I start watering. The previous owner put it in so I don't know which variety it is. What I can't answer, is David's question about howto stop it from spreading. Even 4" deep edging only slows it down. Bob
Your saying your Zoysia in NJ doesn't turn brown/green in response to seasnonal temps, only watering? Never heard of a grass that does this. Plus, in Fall and early Spring, there is almost always enough water here in NJ so that lawns don't need to be watered and doing so won't have any real impact on color change.
Finding the keyboard operational snipped-for-privacy@optonline.net entered:
I mistated that. If I keep it watered, it stays green longer then if I don't. The guy next door has a lawn (not Zoysia) that looks like a putting green but he's retired and can spend all day 2 or 3 times a day working on it. The other neighbor also has Zoysia and doesn't do a thing other then cut it. I am basing my comment on the results of my watering early and late in the season. By late October till April, I have that brown lawn that comes with Zoysia. Bob
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