Beginners guide to laying Zoysia sod
When we first built our home it wasn’t in the budget to sod the area around the house, so we seeded with fescue. Five years ago when we built the pool, we began the process of replacing the seeded/weeded areas in the backyard with Zoysia sod.
Zoysia was a no brainer selection for me since I wanted no maintenance and something that tolerated foot traffic well, particularly around the pool. There are a few varieties of Zoysia sod. We chose Zeon Zoysia. Zoysia is similar to Bermuda and goes dormant in the winter/cooler months of the year. It does extremely well in our Georgia climate with hot summers, cold winters. You should see how lush and green it gets in the late spring and summer months.
Beginners guide to laying Zoysia sod
Laying Zoysia sod or any sod for that matter is a relatively easy process. The biggest thing you need is time to lay the sod and patience to watch the sod grow. I have put together a few steps when laying Zoysia sod so you can handle your next sod job.
Prep your area
Remove any current grass or weeds and rake the entire area smooth. Get rid of any rocks, sticks, clumps of dirt. Since we have hard Georgia clay, using our tiller came in handy to loosen up the soli.
Rake the area smooth
Fill any low or uneven spots with extra soil by using a rake. Use a heavy duty rake designed to loosen the dirt. Get your surface as flat and smooth as you can get it.
Lay the sod
This is where the fun part begins. Lay the sod. Place the sod pieces as close as you can on your dirt surface. You can either stagger the sod pieces or place them side by side. For any pieces of sod on the edge, use a sod cutter, box blade or garden knife to cut your uneven pieces.
Water your Zoysia sod
Watering your Zoysia sod is key. For the first 10-12 days (depending on weather conditions), you will want to water your Zoysia sod twice a day. Water once in the morning and again in the evening for about 15-20 minutes each time. Avoid watering at the hottest part of the day. Starting on day 12, reduce your watering schedule to once per day.
Sit back and watch your sod grow and get established.
It takes up to eight weeks for the Zoysia sod to get settled in. The sod needs to begin to develop a deeper root system so it’s important to increase the amount of time between watering to encourage roots to grow deeper in search of moisture, without stressing out the lawn. If you are seeing brown spots on your new Zoysia, time to give it more water. If you are watering too much, your soil will be wet and mushy. Let the sod dry out until the top 2 inches of soil are dry and crumbly.
Shop the products I used to lay our Zoysia sod
Following these steps for laying Zoysia sod and following a watering schedule will ensure a beautiful green, lush lawn for years to come. Have you ever laid sod?
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