Winter Ryegrass Over Zoysia

The most cold tolerant variety is meyer which is actually hardy to 30 f below zero.

Winter ryegrass over zoysia. Dethatch the lawn in june. Zoysia naturally develops a deep root system and it s very efficient at conserving moisture and resisting drought. It gave the yard a little color very thin but wasn t enough to need mowing but once or twice. Less hardy than japanese lawngrass manilagrass zoysia matrella has finer textured blades but is also less cold tolerant and grows slowly.

Department of agriculture plant hardiness zones 5 through 10 zoysia goes dormant when temperatures dip below 55 degrees fahrenheit. Then when it has taken over your lawn it will start in on your flower beds and your neighbor s lawn. Some homeowners choose to overseed zoysia lawns in fall with cool season ryegrass for green winter color but others appreciate its straw like natural hue. Overall zoysia grass is hardy drought tolerant and fairly self sufficient.

That said bermudagrass is the only warm season grass that can usually overcome the stresses of overseeding. A golden brown crispy lawn in the winter is the norm with a warm season grass like zoysia zoysia japonica. Come spring zoysia lawns are among the first to green up again. We did this in alabama then realized we had to mow in the winter and quit none of us liked mowing.

The reason you can plant plugs and not have to seed the lawn is because zoysia grass will crowd out all other species in the lawn. Once it sprouts annual ryegrass will provide you with a green carpet during the southern winter thriving in the cool temperatures. In addition fertilizing the ryegrass may make the turfgrass more easily winter damaged. In fact zoysia will normally heal itself within a few months.

Zoysia will choke out the rye grass in the summer. If you hate to mow but want a grass like ground cover for small areas consider planting mascarenegrass zoysia tenuifolia. Once we tossed about 3 handfulls of rye grass out. Invasive zoysia grass is a very invasive grass.

It prefers usda zones 7 through 11. As with anything there are pros and cons of overseeding with ryegrass. Ryegrass is often used to overseed lawns in the southwest during the colder months while our bermuda grass and zoysia grass is sort of hibernating. Just as importantly annual ryegrass will die back when summer s heat returns exiting in time for warm season grasses to take center stage again.

While it s generally dependent on the type of zoysia grass you have most winter damage will not permanently cause harm as the grass is usually dormant anyway.