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daynado_gw

Empire Zoysia in Sandhills of NC - can too much rain ruin it?

daynado
10 years ago

Hi all, I have read through the posts on empire zoysia for some help but can't find anything along the lines of what I need help with.

I think my main question is if empire zoysia can become distressed and get weeds from too much water? I live in Aberdeen NC and it has been raining like crazy for probably 2 months. My husband was deployed and I was out of the area so we have had a lawncare company taking care of the lawn and I was really, really disappointed when I got home and saw the grass.

I called the lawn company when I got back and they said that basically because it has rained so much the grass is distressed and the weeds are growing like crazy. It has been about a month (and has still been raining alot) and the problems are the same if not worse.

Specifically, the issues are:
- The grass looks very thin and sparse and is not a nice deep dark green like it was last year. Some yellowish spots (not brown)
- There are little weeds all throughout the lawn (I have seen it before but don't know what it's called), they look like little short weeds with the black wheat looking tips. Not a good description, sorry.
- There are weeds or seedlings in one large area under my Live Oak - I am guessing that these might be seedlings?
- There are huge weeds in some areas - I attached a picture of the worst part.

I have looked on this forum and online and I have learned about the general care of my empire zoysia and I know that watering is supposed to be deep and less fequent. I'm trying to give the benefit of the doubt but this just doesn't seem right to me and I'm afraid they have just taken advantage of us because they knew we were not home so I'm hoping someone out there might have some insight.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read.

Comments (2)

  • dchall_san_antonio
    10 years ago

    All that happened in 2 months? The yellow flowers are dandelions.

    What was your watering schedule over the winter and through the spring? I'm looking for frequency and duration.

    When were the last two times you fertilized and what did you use?

    I do not see an impossible situation. I would wait a few weeks for the heat to break before spraying for the weeds, but you need to correct the underlying issue as much as Mother Nature will let you. Yes, watering too frequently will cause this, but I would have expected to see these weeds in full force starting in April or May and not July or August.

  • sell_it
    8 years ago

    Perhaps too late to help BUT

    1. It looks like the neighbor does not have the same problem. Since, the poster says she was not home, I would ask them what they are doing differently. First of all you can learn what works. Perhaps, more important, you politely tell them you are trying to correct the problem.

    2. Does not seem to be a too much water issue as from the photo that low spot behind the mail box would be more wet than the higher parts in the picture.

    3. Not sure how large the lawn is but, for dandelions the commonly sold dandelion digger (fork) if properly used-cut root well below ground gives instant permanent chemical free results.

    4. Dandelions are easy to kill with the common broad leaf weed killers. You need to be sure the instructions say OK for zoyzia. The problem is these products take about two weeks to kill dandelions in that much time those yellow flowers will turn to the grey puff ball seeds so by the time the chemical works the dandelions will not only seed your lawn but neighbors for miles around.

    5. DO NOT used the commonly sold weed and feed products on zoyzia all that I've see are far too high nitrogen for empire zoyzia. The liquid concentrates work faster than the powders and are less costly to use. I spot treat with diluted spray in a windex type trigger bottle.

    It seems to last forever. I think the qt I have is at least 2/3 full. It still works fine and I bought it at least 5 years ago.