Dr. Grow: In pursuit of the low-maintenance lawn

My first introduction to zoysia grass was in the late 1960s. I saw a Sunday newspaper supplement that advertised mail order plugs of zoysia grass. The ad suggested that this dense, slow-growing, soft-to-the-foot grass eliminated several mowings a year, allowed no weeds to grow, required no fertilizer, and needed very little water to survive. This sounded like the perfect grass.

Unfortunately many people still have this same misconceived picture of zoysia in their mind. Perhaps this is why I have discouraged people from growing zoysia in this area. The no-maintenance concept is a misnomer.

Because zoysia is a warm season turfgrass, it grows rapidly in the summer. When the temperatures start to drop in the early fall, zoysia begins to go dormant and turn brown. It is slow to green up in the spring. A lot of people don't like zoysia because it stays brown six to eight months of the year.

Zoysia spreads out by developing stolons and rhyzomes. These are above-ground and below-ground shoots that spread from the mother plant and develop a new daughter plant. Because of the spreading habit, the best way to get zoysia started in your lawn is to buy sod or plugs. You can purchase seed for zoysia. Unfortunately the price is extremely high and the germination rate is low.

Expect rapid growth

After the plug or sod gets established, it starts to spread and begins to take over your lawn. Zoysia's dense growth habit will crowd out most bluegrass, fescue and ryes. It has a difficult time competing with bermuda grass.

Because zoysia grows rapidly during the summer, it should be fertilized heavily at that time. Use a fertilizer such as 28-4-4 the first of June, July and August. Use the rate suggested on the bag.