Zoysia Lawn Care in North Mississippi
Zoysia is slower, denser and fussier than bermuda, and it will not forgive the same mistakes. It is the second most common lawn around DeSoto County after bermuda, and most of the trouble people have with it comes from treating it like bermuda.
It spreads slowly, so a thin patch takes a long time to fill back in. It holds colour later into the autumn and greens up later in the spring. It tolerates shade better than bermuda but not as well as people are told when they buy it. And it builds thatch, which bermuda does far less of.
How to tell zoysia from bermuda
Zoysia has a fine, stiff blade and grows into a dense mat you can feel underfoot. Push your hand into it and it springs back. Bermuda is softer and more open, and it runs above ground with visible stolons.
The clearest tell around here is timing. In April, when bermuda has greened up and is growing, zoysia is often still tan. People panic and assume it is dead. It usually is not. It just wakes up later.
How zoysia is cared for differently
Mowing
Lower than bermuda, and sharper. One to two inches with a sharp blade. Zoysia is stiff enough to tear rather than cut if the blade is dull, and torn tips brown off and make the whole lawn look off colour.
Feeding
Less than bermuda. Zoysia does not need the nitrogen bermuda wants, and overfeeding it builds thatch faster than the lawn can break it down. Feed it through the growing season and stop before it has to get ready for winter.
Watering
Deep and infrequent, in the morning. Zoysia is more drought tolerant than it looks, and shallow daily watering does more harm than a dry week.
Aeration and thatch
This is where zoysia differs most. It builds a thatch layer, and once that layer is more than about half an inch thick water and fertilizer stop reaching the soil. Core aeration in June through August, while it is actively growing, is the fix. Never aerate it while it is dormant.
What goes wrong with zoysia here
- Large patch. The disease zoysia gets most around here. Circles of thinning, off-colour turf in spring and again in autumn when nights are humid and soil sits in the 65 to 75 degree range. Treated with fungicide, and the autumn application is the one that matters.
- Thatch build-up. Spongy underfoot, and the mower scalps on every high spot. Core aeration, and easing off the nitrogen.
- Slow recovery. Zoysia repairs itself far more slowly than bermuda, so damage from a dog run, a parked trailer or a scalped strip can sit there for a season. Prevention matters more than it does on bermuda.
- Winter weeds standing out. Because zoysia goes dormant and stays tan, Poa annua and other winter weeds show up bright green against it from November through April. The autumn pre-emergent is what stops that.
When each job happens
Zoysia runs on the same soil-temperature calendar as bermuda, not the same calendar as fescue. Pre-emergent goes down late February into the first week of March for crabgrass, and again September into October for winter weeds as soil temperatures drop back through 70 degrees.
Aeration happens in the heat, June through August. Fungicide for large patch goes down in the autumn, before you see the damage rather than after.