f3c76e4c_egarding_Zoysia_Farm_Nurseries__Content
[Rating] Neutral [Author] klvester (1 review) [Content] 
On Jul 6, 2009, klvester Rochester, MN wrote: Right now, I am certainly NOT pleased with the grass plugs that I received. I ordered in mid-March, they arrived May 21. As most comments suggest, they were very brown and dried out. I'm not really a gardener so I don't know what kind of bugs were on them but there were certainly quite a few. I was disappointed by this point but decided being I had spent the money already, I would go ahead with planting. I ordered 600 plugs and got 3 sections of sod. Most of the dirt was already gone so I could not see the scoring. I planted them the same day they arrived. I followed the directions and cut as close as I could to the correct size using a garden shears. The step on plug thing wasn't exactly "self cleaning" but after about 15 minutes I realized that shoving a spike through the cutting hole between digging holes would loosen the trapped dirt enough so that I could more easily dig the next hole. It took me about 3 hours to get all of the plugs planted. I have been diligently watering them every day in an attempt to get them established. It is now 46 days after planting. They really look pathetic (I planted some grass seed a week later in other areas of my yard which have fully filled in now). The plugged area is black dirt with little balls of brown "straw" still. However, if I look closely, there is 1 or 2 strands of green in each bundle. I'm still watering them every day and my husband says I got took but I'm still holding on that I just haven't given them enough time yet. After reading the posts, I am hoping that they will soon come around because right now, I'm really wishing I would have just bought an extra bag of seed and been done with "establishing" my yard. On July 6th, 2009, klvester added the following: So far the company representatives have been very kind to me. I did inquire about the delay in shipping so I did know that I would not be getting the grass until mid-May. The UPS log may have shown that they were delivered on May 19 but May 21 is when they showed up on my doorstep. We have had very little rain this year (about 3 inches total). I have been watering every day (except when it does rain at all...I skip those days) but it should not be enough to kill off anything from over watering. The soil is so dry that it is cracked where bare. I did read that you are only supposed to water it for 3 weeks until established. There was NO sign of life at 3 weeks so that is why I continued to water thinking maybe it just hadn't taken yet. The few strands of green that I now see turned up about a week ago so that is why I haven't completely given up on them just yet. Like I said, where I planted seed is a full lush lawn right now and where I planted the plugs is a grid of straw bunches with dirt background. I also read that it takes quite a while for this type of grass to fill in so I wasn't expecting immediate results but I was expecting more by this far into the process. I haven't given up yet and hope that they will come around someday. I'm just thinking "is it worth it". I really hope they can prove me wrong and it will look like I have something that actually resembles grass growing someday soon. On Jul 6, 2009, Zoysia Farm Nurseries responded with: "On Jul 6, 2009 2:09 PM, Zoysia Farm Nurseries responded with: Minnesota is one of the states for which a USDA inspection is required before shipment. This is to insure the product complies with all required state agriculture standards. The first inspection for Minnesota shipments took place this year on May 13 and according to UPS this order was delivered on May 19. This order was held pending the inspection date. With the limited information provided, it is hard to know why this customer had some issues with the step-on-plugger. Compacted soils can make the self cleaning not very efficient and some wetting of the soil might have helped. I think the best advice is what this person did; try different approaches and use the one that works best. From the posting, the Amazoy is being over watered. In our instructions we advise to lightly water for 21 days after planting. 46 days is too many. Amazoy zoysia loves hot dry conditions. A little water is necessary each day after planting, but too much water will damage the roots at a time it is attempting to establish itself. We want all our customers to be successful and the good news is we stand behind our product. We guarantee to replace any plugs that fail to grow, even when the planting instructions have not been followed fully. On Jul 7, 2009 11:27 AM, Zoysia Farm Nurseries added: Minnesota certainly has been dry and that is just the way Amazoy zoysia likes it. The one thing it does not like is too much water over an extended period of time. Zoysia does everything very slowly including turning green when coming out of a dormant state. It can take 45 days for it to start sending up new grass shoots, especially if it is getting too much water. Patience is the key word with zoysia. Just give it time. Ive heard it said the more you ignore zoysia the better it does. Not literally true, but not bad general advise. The fact zoysia is so slow growing is one of its great benefits. Once established, it will not need as much mowing and will stay green even with less than 3 inches of rain. Lets hope with less watering you will now start to see your Amazoy zoysia grow (slowly). Any questions please give us a call. We are here to help. Good Luck. "
Comments regarding Zoysia Farm Nurseries