Zoysia Lawn Renovation

I have a similar problem.

Soil test and fertilizer is the first step I would recommend.

Soilkit.com is what I use.

I’ve also aerated and top dressed with a dump truck load of compost. Did this myself and it took a while. I have 13,000 sf though.

I also drilled around 1000 holes in my yard with a soil auger to improve drainage in low areas.

It probably would’ve been easier for me to kill everything, remove the shite dirt, and start over with 4” of good topsoil and new sod

Soil test results from last year. Since then I’ve added a ton of pelletized lime to try to raise the pH and fertilized in the fall and spring.

About how much did that project run you if you don’t mind me asking?

You don’t need to over seed zoysia. Once it starts going it will explode if the soil is good enough.

If you have clay and sand you need a lot of peat moss for the clay mixed in with the top soil.

quote:

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My plan was to find some zoysia seed

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Don't do this. Get your soil corrected then plug where needed.

This is extremely common as most builders scrape off the topsoil leaving only the inert compacted subsoil that’s concrete hard from using heavy equipment during the build.

My strong advice is to til the existing yard in sections and append compost to the top level to a depth of 1-2” then resod, removing the dead subsoil where needed.

I’ve done everything you see online including consulting with soil professors at UF and it was just a losing exercise even with perfect treatment practices and watering because the roots can’t get to the nutrients and the water sits on the hard pan resulting in root rot and other diseases.

The areas I’ve done so far have exploded and look great relative to three years of aeration and topdressing which don’t even need to be cut most weeks due to lack of quality roots.

Do you have a pool in the back?

If so, apparently pool builders love packing the clay to keep pool in place (or so what l was told). Maybe good for pools but sucks for growing grass

I had to have someone tear the back yard up with a tractor breaking up that clay. Then they dumped a lot of sand down, then put down the zoysia. Now I have a full backyard of zoysia.

It was a compacted soil/clay problem

Look up Azomite and soil activators. use these instead of chemical fertilizers to put nutrient into the soil. This develops microbes into the soil to break down the clay and soften it. this also allows water to penetrate deeper resulting in less watering.