Your Guide to Zoysia Turf
Searching for new turf for your home or property? There’s a lot to consider when you’re comparing different kinds of turf.
You’ll want to find a turf that will look and feel amazing, suiting your home perfectly. But the grass’ care needs and suitability to your region’s weather and climate are equally important.
Meet Zoysia Turf
Zoysia is a super appealing turf! It has a dark green medium blade leaf offering a soft, plush touch and it’s tough too, wearing well under traffic from the kids and pets. Once established, Zoysia’s deep root system allows it to cope better than other varieties in drought conditions. But possibly its biggest plus is saving you time and effort – it requires around half as much mowing as couch or buffalo. Zoysia is an amazing selection for Queensland yards.
What sort of environment does Zoysia Turf like to grow in?
This turf provides dense and deep roots, so it takes good hold of soil and is able to conserve more moisture than other kinds of turf.
It is a tough, strong, and enduring grass which is drought resistant and can withstand up to 50 per cent shade throughout the day. It also thrives in extreme heat and is incredibly tolerant of salt.
Due to this hardiness, Zoysia is well-suited to clay and sandy soil areas and warm, coastal areas.
As this turf is so wear tolerant yet soft to the touch, it’s an excellent backyard choice for families with children.
A tough turf, suited to slopes and retaining walls Zoysia turf actually strengthens soil. Its roots bury deep and take a strong hold of soil making it the perfect variety for steep slopes or retaining wall areas. Another reason to use Z for slopes is it requires less mowing – Councils love it!
What does the turf look like?
Zoysia provides a lovely dark forest green colour. It’s a plush and soft-looking grass due to its fine to medium blade thickness.
This turf is built for hotter, drier parts of Australia, like those found in regional Queensland. Because of this, even in drought-like conditions, it thrives and keeps that lush green grass look — as opposed to the typical yellow colour of drought-stricken turf.
How long does it take to establish?
Zoysia will usually take a little bit longer to establish than other turf varieties. This is because of a very deep root system which requires time to develop.
Typically, you can expect Zoysia to establish in three to four weeks, but once it does, the turf’s characteristic low maintenance means it’s smooth sailing from there.
To see if your turf has established, you can lift up a corner of the turf slab to see if it has “taken”.
Of course, as with all turf types, you can help it along by keeping the traffic over the turf to a minimum.
How to care for your new Zoysia Turf
The golden rule for grass: keep it moist
Until your turf has established, the best thing you can do for it is to keep its soil moist.
First Week: Water early morning and in the afternoon to keep soil moist.
Second Week: Water early morning, but deeper to encourage root growth
Third and Fourth Weeks: Deep water 2 – 3 times a week
Once established: Zoysia has a deep root system so it is highly drought tolerant and only needs occasional watering. Give it a deeper watering when required.
*Note: If you’re planting in the Queensland summer, your turf will dry out very quickly. Watering is critical. Obviously, if we’re getting plenty of rain, that’s wonderful and less watering will be required in these times.
Mow: You can start mowing your new lawn when the turf has “taken” and is growing.
As always, ensure your mower deck is on a high setting for the lawn’s first mow — you don’t want to scalp it.
Once your Zoysia turf is established, it’ll typically require less mowing than other turfs. You can mow it at 25 to 30 millimetres for a manicured lawn look or at 35 to 45 millimetres for a lush, carpet-like lawn.
*Remember keep your mower blades sharp.
Fertilise: Zoysia turf needs minimal fertiliser. We recommend picking up a quality, slow release fertiliser and applying it in the early autumn and early winter months.
It’s important you pay close attention to the application rate and follow it accurately.
Keep pests at bay: Luckily, Zoysia is extremely pest-resistant and isn’t very susceptible to pest attacks. However, like all turf types, lawn grubs can be an issue occasionally.
Getting ready to lay down your own turf? We can have our turf delivered to you, or you can visit our turf farm and pick it up yourself, we’re just one hour out from Brisbane.