I think I messed up

[jcb3030]

My lawn in NJ is mainly unimproved tall fescue. I noticed zoysia encroaching on sections and sprayed it with round up.

Now I have sections of zoysia dying but I don't have the time, energy, or money to cut it all out.

I also don't have irrigation and we're in a drought.

I probably should have just left the zoysia alone.

Is dormant seeding into the dead zoysia a realistic option?

Is there any way to salvage this without lots of effort?

Thanks.

[turf_toes]

The zoysia probably isn’t all dead. Generally it takes multiple applications during the hottest part of summer to kill it all.

That means you’ll likely have some of it come back. That’s not good news though.

You can try overseed it. But you’re pretty late in the season to start an overseed project in NJ. (Optimal time here is Aug15 - Sept. 15).

So you’re likely going to have a mess next year. You’ll get some germination from an overseed now. But you’re likely to have some surviving zoysia mixed in next year.

[jcb3030]

I hit the zoysia with roundup again today and fertilized it to try to force growth of what was left of it.

Would a dormant seed over the winter have a shot of growing on top of the (mostly) dead zoysia?

[turf_toes]

You can overseed now. But generally, your zoysia kill is suspect. That’s best done in July, not now when it’s getting ready to go dormant.

If it were my yard, I’d try dropping seed tomorrow and hope for the best.

[jcb3030]

Can I drop seed on top of the zoysia?

[turf_toes]

If you scalp it at the lowest setting of your mower. I almost never suggest dethatching. But with a zoysias lawn, you’ll probably need to do that too.

Good luck. You’re really too late in the year to be doing all this. But you’ve already applied roundup. So you’ll need to do what you can to have a lawn next year.

[Masbustelo]

If the Zoysia is truly dead you can use an aerator to punch holes through the thatch. Then you can overseed and get decent germination. If the Zoysia isn't dead you can spread it all over your yard and have a worse mess.

[Green]

Look into glyphosate tolerant cultivars. An example is "Tarnation GT" TTTF. In this case, tolerant doesn't mean resistant, but it's better than nothing if fighting Zoysia, etc.

[jcb3030]

Well, I mowed short and overseeded the zoysia. But it doesn't look likely that I'll get much germination because the zoysia is too thick.

I'm not sure what my options are at this point. I'm between a) trying to kill as much of the zoysia as I can now and attempting a spring seed or b) giving up and let the zoysia take over.

I just don't know if A is going to be a long-term, time-sucking battle that I have no hope of winning.

[turf_toes]

Well, zoysia is a grass that can benefit from a mid-to-late spring dethatch. So if your goal has changed to keeping the zoysia, that should be something you should consider (assuming you didn’t really kill it.

But if you want to be rid of the zoysia, you need to start planning now for next year.

(You needvto start killing it in June, if that is your plan

[jcb3030]

Should I drop some fast germinating annual grass seed or PR now so don't have a giant dirt/dead patch all winter?

[turf_toes]

I never seed anything I don’t want to grow. Some will end up in your seed bank and you’ll be dealing with it for years to come.

I suggested a week ago that you should drop seed then, if you plan to overseed.

Why didn’t you do it then?

[jcb3030]

I did seed. See post above.

Nothing germinating. It's difficult to keep moist w/o irrigation (just have a sprinkler) and we are in a drought.
And the zoysia thatch is thick. Was thinking as a long shot, something quick germinating might be better than the fescue seed I tried.

[turf_toes]

It seems you wanted to renovate your lawn. But you either didn’t have a plan on how you might do that properly. Or, you had a plan that didn’t include minimum requirements for success.

Keeping the seedbed moist is critical. If you can’t do that, you’re likely to fail.

You also didn’t have a plan to properly eliminate the zoysia from your lawn.

I’m not sure of your best approach at this point. You could try seeding ryegrass. I wouldn’t myself. But in any event, if you can’t water the grass properly, you may end up in the same boat with ryegrass.

I guess you’ve got little to lose by trying. But I avoid seeding anything I know I won’t want germinating in my lawn a year or two down the road.

Id suggest you spend the off season reading up on how to eliminate zoysia grass. You’ll also want to plan out an irrigation strategy.

If you can’t manage doing your whole yard, could you do it in sections over several years?

[jcb3030]

Turns out I did get some germination on the fecue seed.

My plan is to plant a shade tree in the area in the Spring. It may keep the zoysia from taking over there. If not, I may just live with it.