How to Do Zoysia Grass Maintenance in the Houston Area
Is Zoysia grass maintenance hard? No it’s not, and Houston Grass South Owner Michael Romine explains Zoysia grass maintenance in this video. If you have questions about Zoysia grass, please call our office at 281-431-7441 or send us an email through our contact form.
Summary of Michael’s Zoysia Grass Maintenance Video
– – [Michael] Zoysia Grass Maintenance. We get asked a lot about the maintenance of all the different grasses, and a lot of them are pretty much the same, the watering requirements, and the fertilization requirements, are pretty close. Some of them may be a little bit more, a little bit less.
Zoysia grasses grow a little bit slower, so theoretically, you’re not mowing quite as often. With the medium textured Zoysia, like the Palisades Zoysia, I would say that’s absolutely the case. Because it has a little bit thicker leaf — the medium texture as opposed to a fine texture — you can get away with mowing it with a rotary mower a little bit easier, as long as you have a good, sharp blade.
On the other hand, Emerald Zoysia grass has a super dense canopy and really thin leaves, and those leaves are actually pretty tough. As a matter of fact, if you walk on a Palisades Zoysia, it feels kind of spongy and soft under your feet. In contrast, the finer-bladed Zoysia grasses like Emerald feel a little more prickly.
Zoysia Grass Maintenance — Mowing
Emerald Zoysia grass looks its best and performs its best when it’s mowed off at about a half an inch to one inch, but to do that, you should mow with a reel mower. Reel mowers are the mowers that have the blades that turn like this. A rotary mower has a big blade that spins around in a circle. That’s what I mean, the reel versus the rotary mower.
[Both Cavalier Zoysia and Palisades Zoysia grass can be maintained with a rotary mower with a sharp blade at heights between one and two inches. If you cut your grass shorter, perhaps on a golf course or athletic field, you should use a reel mower to cut the grass.]
Zoysia Grass Maintenance — Watering
Zoysia grasses can be described as fairly drought-tolerant, as opposed to a St. Augustine. Zoysia grass is maybe quite as drought-tolerant as a Bermuda grass, but drought-tolerant nonetheless.
We take care of our grasses all the same. We recommend an inch of water per week during the growing season. Basically, if the grass is green, if it’s not falling out of the sky, you need to make sure it gets one inch of water a week to look healthy. It can survive on less, but if you want it to look its best, they all require, a good established grass that’s getting full sunlight, it needs about an inch of water per week.
Zoysia Grass Maintenance — Fertilization
So we touched on that a little bit, Emerald Zoysia can be fertilized a little bit more often. We normally recommend that you fertilize every grass at least twice a year. Bermuda grasses should be fertilized maybe four to six times a year, because they can take and absorb more fertilizer, and to keep them that pretty, dark green color, they’re going to take a little bit more fertilizer.
I would say Zoysia grasses would be between those somewhere. So maybe three, three to four fertilizations per year to make them look their best and perform well. The lower you’re mowing any grass, the more frequently you’re going to have to water, though, and the more fertilizer it’s going to take, because it’s just a little bit more stressful on the grass. You’re going to have to follow up those mowings with water and fertilizer a little bit more frequently. If you’re going to have them, what they’ll survive on and what they’re going to thrive at are two different things, but that’s what I would say, that it’s kind of the minimum requirements and realistic expectations.
Zoysia Grass Maintenance — Brown Patch
Another thing that should be noted about the Emerald Zoysia is that several of the Zoysia grasses get brown patch, like the St. Augustine grass does. One of the weaknesses of St. Augustine is that it does get brown patch, Palmetto in particular, is particularly prone to brown patch.
The Emerald Zoysia, we do see the brown patch, especially in the fall, pop up when we start seeing it in the St. Augustines as well. We see that a little bit more frequently than we see it like in the Palisades Zoysia, for some reason. The Palisades Zoysia grass is susceptible to brown patch, but not as susceptible as the Emerald. So you would need to make your two to three treatments in the fall.
There’s lots of products out there, Nitro-Phos makes a really good one to combat the brown patch in the grass. We carry the Nitro Phos Total Brown Patch Control and it does a great job.
I think that kind of touches on taking care of that grass. Like I said, Emerald Zoysia is a pretty, dark green grass. It just needs to be cut shorter, and because of its stronger leaf, thicker leaf, it’s a little bit tougher to cut. It dulls lawnmower blades a little bit quicker, so you’ve got to stay on top of that.
Call Houston Grass South for Your Zoysia Grass
We now carry three varieties of Zoysia grass to meet your needs — Palisades Zoysia, Emerald Zoysia and Cavalier Zoysia. Need help deciding which variety is best for your project? Call us at 281-431-7441, and we’ll be happy to help you find the right grass for your needs and your budget.
Houston Grass South is located just off Highway 6 on McKeever Road. We’re a few miles east of Sienna Plantation and a little west of the intersection of Highway 6 and FM 521. You can pick up your grass at our office or we’ll deliver to your project site. We can also arrange for installation. We’re proud to say that we carry the best quality grass you’ll find in the Houston area!
