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Does anyone have any experience with this type of zoysia? I was looking into it for it's shade tolerance, but it's expensive. I was quoted $399 per pallet here in the Raleigh area.

I've seen the ads, but always wrote it off as marketing hype.
How much shade are you talking?

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Interesting. Probably marketing hype, but would be interested to hear if someone has had some experience with it.

My zoysia that sees 1 hour of direct sunlight through the full growing season looks reasonably thick. A different area that sees full direct sunlight for an hour at the peak of growing season but sees shade for part of the growing season due to the sun's changing position....is all but gone (destined to become hardscape).

beedix, before you commit to hard scape, take a look at shade tolerant plants for north Texas.
https://www.texasgardener.com/pastissue ... retum.html
These suggestions may not suit your design ideas, but perhaps , with more research you may be able to find something. The level of your commitment is the deciding factor, and your choice of whether to have a hard scape or living plants, is entirely up to you.
Good Luck!

$400 for a pallet of grass, unless it's pot, is awfully expensive.

Alan wrote:$400 for a pallet of grass, unless it's pot, is awfully expensive.

I'd recommend getting a few different pieces of zoysia sod to test their shade tolerance. In my partial shades area I was able get celebration Bermuda to thrive during the summer, but it didn't thicken up the next year until July. I had the same experience with zeon zoysia.
With some leftover Zorro zoysia I sodded an area last spring in my shade area, looked great all summer, but again now it's just a waiting game.
My Zorro was from professional turf in Dunn, suppose to have decent shade tolerance.
I'm testing three cultivars of Hybrid bluegrass this spring in the shade, want to see how they fare.

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tigertailbell wrote:I've seen the ads, but always wrote it off as marketing hype.
How much shade are you talking?

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I was able to pay more attention this weekend to how much sunlight this area gets and it looks like it gets more than I originally thought. It's surrounded by trees which are bare now and will fill in as the weather warms up, which will limit some of the sunlight in this area. For those who have experience with Bermuda and Zoysia, which do you prefer? Zoysia is less maintenance but doesn't repair itself as quickly as Bermuda.

I much prefer zoysia for several different reasons. I have some shade areas around the house and under a couple of trees that caused the bermuda a slow death and allowed weeds to take over those areas. The zoysia is happy and thick in all those same places.

I have seen the ad for Leisure Time Zoysia as well, but don't have any experience with it. I will tell you that my El Toro and Palisades (also both zoysia japonica grasses like the Leisure Time) only require mowing once a week if allowed to grow to 2 inches or so. Last year I was maintaining around 1 inch and cutting every 3-4 days. I applied half-rate generic Primo and went to cutting once every 10-12 days.

I think the drought tolerance of both grasses is similar, but zoysia will show stress faster with leaf firing, etc. Recovery is slower with zoysia as it doesn't respond to synthetic N like bermuda does.

Zoysia is also better with cold tolerance than bermuda, so it stays green longer into the Fall and greens quicker in the Spring.

I've seen a neighbor keep geo zoysia growing where I thought they'd for sure fail w/o cutting down a tree. It's very hard to distinguish from zeon.
Yes, growth is slower for the zeon, geo varieties at least.....throw in shade ...slower +1. Shade complicates everything.

I personally like the look and barefoot test of japonica, way less "needs" (first n squirt, mowing). Biggest risk is fungus outbreak on a slower repairing grass. If I was a typical homeowner = once a week service and typical HOC....i think japonica is a layup.

I have tifgrand, part sun and trained to stay low. I'd be happy if the whole yard was tifgrand. But run of the mill 419 ....not for me. Feel free to pm me

$400/ pallet sounds about right for the area. I am currently in the planning phases of my reno and have been quoted roughly $433/ pallet for Zeon Zoysia

ECUPirate wrote:Does anyone have any experience with this type of zoysia? I was looking into it for it's shade tolerance, but it's expensive. I was quoted $399 per pallet here in the Raleigh area.

Out of curiosity, did you get the quote at SuperSod?

Yeah, I believe it was SuperSod.


Sent from my iOS device using the Yard Help App

I installed LT in my backyard, Atlanta, last summer and it’s too earlier to tell how it’s going to do but one clear issue is it doesn’t like wet feet. Atlanta experienced above average rain all year and it’s continuing in 2019 so far. Hopefully the warmer temperature will improve results. I may have to reslope one area to improve drainage and possibly resod

I also live in Atlanta. I purchased Leisure Time Zoysia from SuperSod. I installed it in my front yard. By spring, serious "sand dune effect" was in play with large swathes not greening up. My lawn guy complains that it is very difficult to mow because of the ruts and holes in the sod. His rotary mower blades are sharp. Supersod came out and took a look. They agreed there were problems and suggested using their Level Mix 3 to try to solve it. They could not recommend anyone to lay in the level mix properly. I have used about 2/3rds of a cubic yard ($200) to try to repair the bald spots. It will take time to evaluate.

But I think there are problems with this Leisure Time Zoysia. I too, suffered from heavy rains and my front yard is on a pretty steep slope. But the real problems came in a more level area where water appeared to accumulate over the winter. I had workers rake out the thatch but it has revealed substantial bald spots, ruts and "holes" in the sod installed in the spring 1 year ago. It has greened up in some areas, but not in others and is not lush and thick, as promised.

I understand Supersod outlets are not selling Leisure Time Zoysia this year, at least in the Atlanta area. They have not cited a reason.

I fear I have made a costly mistake in choosing this new summer grass.

Follow Up: Supersod in Alpharetta just confirmed to me on the phone that they will NO LONGER BE SELLING this new Leisure Time Zoysia.

Reason: Not Enough Demand. You can take that at face value. I wonder if there is, perhaps, another reason.

This sod appeared to have some serious problems. I won't be able to re-sod damaged portions of my lawn. I'm just hoping and praying it makes a comeback in my front lawn. I will post photos and an update.

Is there any follow up from gearscout? Here we are in August 2020. We redid our lawn in August 2018 and experiencing some problems. Would like to see if his lawn came back after May 2019?? and what problems he was having.

Nah. He wasn’t a regular. Most people ask a question, hopefully get an answer, and move on. His only activity was on this thread.

Thank you for your response.

EASC and others...Leisure Time Zoysia has been disappointing. It is not as shade tolerant as I had hoped. Let's go back in time.

This is the freshly sodded lawn in Atlanta, Georgia in 2018:




A year later, you can see the significant problems with "sand dune" effect.






This area was treated with SuperSod's S3 Humus Compost to fill in innumerable "holes" in the lawn. I hired Tru Green and then Arbornomics to apply successive weed control, fertilization treatments. I also spread Milorganite myself to try to stimulate growth and rebuild the lawn. The above photos are, again, from 2019. I'll have to add another post to show more.