Zoisia and shade

A forum to learn and discuss the importance of lawn care basics
Post Reply
KeepinItReal
Posts: 1
Joined: May 22nd, 2019, 11:18 am
Location: Atlanta Metro
Grass Type: Bermuda
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Zoisia and shade

Post by KeepinItReal » May 22nd, 2019, 10:41 pm

I have had a landscaper offer to re-sod my yard with Zoysia because he says my bare spots are caused by too much shade and Zoysia is more shade tolerant than the Bermuda I have. He says the bare spots in the Bermuda I have is caused by too much shade from the trees in my yard. Isn't some of the bareness caused by the trees sucking the nutrients out of the soil? If so, aren't I still likely to have some bareness under the trees even if I switch to Zoysia?

User avatar
bernstem
Posts: 4232
Joined: April 15th, 2011, 2:59 pm
Location: St. Louis, MO
Grass Type: Front: Solar Eclipse/Award/Bewitched/Moonlight SLT/Prosperity Back: Solar Eclipse Monostand + Bewitched (shade)
Lawn Size: Not Specified
Level: Not Specified

Re: Zoisia and shade

Post by bernstem » May 30th, 2019, 5:31 pm

Some of the issue is competition for water and other resources by the tree. Some is directly related to shade from the tree. While Zoysia will tolerate shade better, I don't tend to think of it as a shade tolerant grass.

I also don't have a lot of experience with warm season turf. You might get more responses in the warm season grasses forum.

User avatar
Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3339
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: Zoisia and shade

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » June 17th, 2019, 4:22 pm

In general zoysia is not shade tolerant; however, there are some varieties which are very shade tolerant. One, which is no longer available, was called Shadow Turf. If you find references to that on the Interwebs, it is no longer available. It was a hybrid of the Manila type of zoysia (not the japonica varieties). The grower was an agricultural hybridizer for crop production. Their venture into turf apparently did pan out. I kinda miss them, because they had a really good buffalo grass and the shade tolerant zoysia. You might contact these guys at Ivey Gardens Greenhouses, as they discovered the grass which became Shadow Turf.

Here's more on zoysia from Wikipedia
Zoysia matrella (Manila type of zoysia)
It forms extensive, velvety, green mats, spreading vigorously by stolons, or occasionally by rhizomes, once established. Z. matrella grows in low elevation preferring sandy soils where other grasses establish poorly. The stems are slender and prostrate, ranging from 5–25 cm in length. The leaves are alternate, produced at 1.5–3 cm intervals along the stem; they are slender, 2–10 cm long and 1–3 mm broad. The flowers are greenish, produced on erect racemes 6–35 mm long with a single 2-3.5 mm flower in each spikelet.

zoysia japonica
Parade Magazine grass
coarse bladed, can be seeded, needs humidity to survive
Varieties include
El Toro
Belair
Meyer
Midwest
Palisades
JaMur
Empire
Zenith
Compadre

Emerald Zoysia
Fine bladed hybrid of z. japonica and z. matrella
Should be mowed with a reel type mower
Slow growing and spreading as compared with other slow growing zoysias
Can be sensitive to excess fertilizer and die out

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests