Sirhornsalot
**The Official Horn Sports Landscaper and Landscap
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2013
- Messages
- 33,356
Zeon Zoysia is a winner in the shade!
I’m going to spend this time this month responding to some good questions that have been posed to me in recent weeks. I think a lot of people might have the same questions and perhaps could benefit here.
So let’s get right to them . . .
1. In your opinion, what is the best option for turf in a yard with lots of trees and shade?
Answer – I really like the performance of Zeon Zoysia turf in shade. I have a few customers who have this turf and their properties are very shady. The Zeon doesn’t seem to mind it at all. Lots of times, with other types of grasses you see recession from the shadiest parts, but not so with Zeon. And it does fine in sunny conditions, too.
Zeon is a thinner blade Zoysia, but is a beautiful shade of green and provides for a lush, thick lawn. Army worms won’t touch a Zoysia lawn. Just not on their menu for some reason.
St Augustine does fairly well in shaded conditions. But it does have its issues with fungus in those conditions, specifically in Fall.
Other types of Zoysia, such as Palisades and Emerald Green Zoysias, do fine in shade, too. But the Zeon seems to hold its look better than the others, in my opinion.
2. Question – I keep hearing a commercial on my radio about a company called “Fast Growing Trees.” Whats the story with this? What kind of fast growing trees do they sell?
Answer – No, nobody has developed a new species of fast growing trees. I have not done business with this company but did read up on them at their website. They’re simply selling small trees as an online source. The trees they sell are the same types of trees you find in your local nurseries. They just sell them as one or two foot specimens and provide written instructions on how to plant them.
They include a 30-day warranty on their trees. This might sound good at first, but seldom do new trees bite the dust in the first month. That would normally happen in the second, third or fourth month. And if you do lose it in the first month, you then begin a process of return and acquiring a new tree.
They openly admit the difficulties and risk involved in shipping a living organism, saying that their packages are at times subjected to abuse by the postal service.
The prices for their trees were rather expensive by comparison. For example, a 1-ft tall Cawtawba Crape Myrtle was around $60. At a local nursery, you might pay $15-$20 for a 1-ft tree.
I’m sure an online source like this will work somehow for someone. For myself, when it comes to living organisms, I like to see before I buy. And I don’t want to start out with a one or two foot tree. Plenty of types of trees can be found in nurseries in 10-12-15 feet height for nearly the same prices this company is charging for their drastically smaller trees.
3. Question – This is my second year trying to grow Onions. Again this year, they’re not getting very big. Whats the secret here?
Answer – Make sure you get your onions in the ground around Jan 15-16-17. Cold weather won’t hurt them. My onions were typical size and health last year despite the historical winter storm we had.
After about a month after planting, you can start feeding your onions with Soda Nitrate. You can get Soda Nitrate from many nurseries, feed stores or even Amazon. You can buy it in small quantities.
Soda Nitrate has a 16-0-0 formula in a water-soluble base. Just spread the product around the onions before watering. To get even more advantage, I will often feed my onions right before a rain event. I do that because rain water falling from the sky has extra oxygen molecules in it. When plant roots have more oxygen to work with, they are able to absorb more nutrients and this brings you bigger and better onions.
I would encourage folks to save rain water or create a way to harvest and store it and use it on your landscape plants and garden.
4. Question – I’ve heard you recommend watering at night during late spring and through end of summer. Everyone else I hear speak on this says to water in the morning. What gives? Who’s right?
Answer – It depends on what month it is when you ask that question. April through end of August is when you should water during the evenings. This allows your water to spend more time with the turf and plants/trees. Thats an additional 6-7 hours, in fact, opposed to the one or two hours you might get before the sun begins evaporating the water.
We don’t have to worry about things like fungus during late spring and summer. It gets too hot here during the summer for fungus to get started.
And finally, I challenge you to see the results yourself. Evening waterings during summer will produce a much healthier turf.
5. Question – What kind of mulch do you use and why? Are there any “bad” mulches out there that we should avoid?
Answer – I really like the mulch sold as Texas Native Hardwood mulch. It comes in either dark brown or black. What I like about this product is that it’s a shredded mulch. Every bit of it is shredded. This gives me two advantages, one being that shredded mulch locks together very nicely, helping it to stay in place and not wash during heavy rains. The second is that the shredded product provides for a smooth, consistent look for the beds. There are no “chunks.”
Some mulches I’ve seen have had chunks in them large enough to burn in a fire place. At that size, it’s wasted product as it doesn’t perform the function that mulch is supposed to do. The chunky mulch floats and washes during rains as well.
Last week, I saw a post on Facebook where a resident was trying to sell the waste from a stump grinding – as mulch. This is a really bad idea. Stump grindings typically contain wood that is still “green.” Every bit of the grindings, when put down as a mulch, will suck away all available moisture as part of the decomposition process. It will also heat up as it decomposes. Heat and lack of moisture will cause damage to any bed of plants.
It’s a not a “great deal” as the post said. It’s a recipe for disaster.
Fertilization
If you missed your April fertilization, I would encourage you to just wait until mid-June when the next round is due. Its that or do it now but skip the June feeding and do the next fertilization in late August.
Poa Annua, above.
Weeds
You may notice a particular weed that may have taken up shop in your lawn. It’s called Poa Annua and there are more than 75 varieties of this weed. No chemical that I know will kill them all. I’ll provide a photo, but this weed has a pom-pom type look with feathery ends at the top. This is a cool season weed and will not survive long once temperatures reach the 90s daily.
But they are nasty and a pest to deal with. If you have a Bermuda lawn, you can use a product called “Negate” which will kill most varieties of Pop Annua. You cannot use this product in a St Augustine or Zoysia lawn, however.
If you choose to pull them yourself, one good thing to do is to water the area several minutes before you begin pulling. The water will soften the soil, allowing easier removal.
For St Augustine and Zoysia turf owners, once we get in to the mid-80s, consistently, we will be able to kill weeds very effectively in your lawns. Weed killing chemicals for St Augustine and Zoysia lawns are heat-enhanced, meaning they don’t work well when the weather is cool.
Feature plant – Persian Shield
This is a plant that does not bloom, but is often included in spring flower plans because of its dramatic purple and green colors. This plant is rated as good for growing zones 8-11. However, they seldom make it through our winters here in North Texas. So we treat them as annual plantings. Further south, this plant can get to 3-4 feet high and the same in width. But here, they’ll top out at 2 ft high and 2 ft across.
This plant is one of those that can be used in a shaded bed space. It looks great when planted around plants like Artemesia. Lemon Corral (lime green color) looks nice with this as well.
It does like water so it can’t be left alone during a Texas summer. It must have moisture and at best, filtered sun with afternoon shade.
Availability is hit and miss in the DFW area. Some nurseries will have them for a short time in April and May. Beyond that, you won’t see them much. So don’t miss out!
