"Blue" wrote in message ...
I am in a life and death struggle with what I have been told is a Kikuyu
grass invasion here in Los Angeles county. I treated it with Roundup and
then after arduous dethatching reseeded it with annual rye to await the
hot
months. The stuff actually poisons the ground where it is densest and the
seeds won't take. Now I see it resprouting from the roots, something I
was
told to expect. When it takes off again I plan to apply Roundup again
but
just don't know where I am going in this battle.\


I would recommend contacting your county cooperative extension office for
help.

On 02/04/2004 12:18 PM, Vox Humana said:
"Ev Dugan" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 03 Feb 2004 16:51:42 -0500, Chelsea Christenson
wrote:

Ablang wrote:
I saw an ad for Amazoy (Zoysia) grass in the last Parade magazine,
and was wondering if anyone can attest to its claims so far as not
requiring much watering of cutting, and its ability to stay green in
hot/cold extremes. I am considering this in the northern CA region.

I mentioned it to the landscaper once and he said it's essentially
crabgrass. Which doesn't tell you if it needs water or stays green, but
should give you an idea of its agressiveness...

Zoysia was in widespread use in the New Jersey suburbs (Zone 6) thirty
and forty years ago. It was planted as plugs and spread from the plugs
into older lawn grasses, eventually replacing most of the old lawn. It
was stiffer than fescues, definitely not comfortable for bare feet or
as a play surface. It did need watering, but even with that, it turned
brown in August and remained brown until the middle of May. I see only
rare patches of it these days; I believe most homeowners dug it up and
replaced it with more ordinary lawn grasses which do stay green all
year.


I remember zoysia being very trendy in the 1960s. My parents replaced their
lawn with it by inserting plugs. Eventually it spread into a very dense
lawn. They were in zone 6. The lawn was ugly about 6 months out of the
year because it went dormant. While weeds weren't a problem, it had insect
problems (grubs I believe) and patches of it died. As I recall, it was hard
to mow. Eventually they had it removed and replaced with a conventional
fescue mix. It might be OK in warm areas, but I don't think it makes sense
where it get cold enough for it to go dormant.


My parents too, but they still have theirs. Their front lawn is
100% zoysia grass, and it so dense that very few weeds can get
started. It does turn brown in the winter - not the typical
suburban lawn, but I like that look. Brown grass and a few
evergreen shrubs - looks nice to me.


--
Joe
http://www.joekaz.net/
http://www.cafeshops.com/joekaz