Zoysia or Centipede grass? (Columbia, Charleston: HOA, how much, new house)

[robm]

I've completely given up on trying to maintain tall fescue grass here with out a sprinkler system. We have a new house, so between the lack of shade and hard clay it's nearly impossible to grow fescue with out daily watering.

Does anyone have a Zoysia or Centipede lawn here, which one does better here? Does the Centipede make it through the winter, when do they go dormant for the winter and come back in the summer?

[marndt]

Both of those grasses will turn brown in the winter (dormant) during the late fall. When the temps begin to rise in the late spring they will return to green. Make sure that your HOA allows these grasses, some do not and will only allow tall fescue. Tall fescue will generally stay green all year long with the exception of extreme heat in the summer and preforms best with 1" of water a week.

[PharmD/MBA]

We gave up last year on Fescue in our back yard. We have two golden retrievers and the sun is on the back all day. We sodded with zenith zoysia last fall and after fertilizing this spring you couldn't tell where the fescue stopped and the zoysia started. Now after the past couple of weeks of 90+ the back yard is lush, dark green and thriving while the front yard is dry, brown, and so brittle it pricks your feet when you walk on it. As a side not we water the front yard twice weekly and the backyard once weekly. We are from Charleston and everyone has a warm season grass there that goes dormant in winter so it doesn't bother me that my grass in the back is brown during the cold months. Overall we are very pleased with the zoysia here in fort mill and several of my neighbors are considering changing as well not only for ease of maintenance but due to being easier on the environment requiring less water.

John Bell with Southern Greenscapes installed our sod by the way.

[graylons]

Unfortunately, you live in an area that is very "border-line" between using a cool season grass & a warm season grass. I know exactly what you are up against because we lived in Rock Hill for over 9 years & every year was a real challange for tall fescue grass. We aeriated, re-seeded, fertilized, de-thatched during that time & nothing seemed to work. Also there was a drought condition in that area for the past several years. We lived in a development where everyone had fescue, so one lawn in the area that would become dormant in the Winter months may not sit well with the HOA, so heed the advice of the previous response & check your neighborhood by-laws. If it is not "spelled out" specificallly, I wouldn't bother with asking the HOA - they may "invent" a reason to deny your request.
I don't have any experience with Zoysia, although I've heard very good things about it, but we've had Centipede at a home in Georgia & now in Summerville (near Charleston) SC & we've had great success with it. It does very good in sandy soil conditions but I'm not sure it would do well in clay. Depending on how much effort & money you want to spend to have a nice lawn, you may consider a complete renovation. I spent less than $500 to do my entire back yard in Georgia, got a truck load of top soil delivered, rented a Bobcat, leveled the area, raked, seeded & within 2 years it looked as good as an area around a storage building that I had "sodded" earlier.
Good luck on your project.

[bmd69]

I have centipede, hardly have to water it.

[robm]

Thanks for the input everyone, I'm pretty set on the Zoysia now after talking to a few people who have it and reading everything on the Clemson and NC State websites.

[trchala]

We have some type of zoysia in our yard - whatever our builder used 2 yrs ago. We had it checked at Supersod and they confirmed that it's zoysia. The one problem that we've had with it is that it's invasive. We are constantly weeding our planting beds because if we didn't, the zoysia would take them over. We've actually been considering killing our whole lawn off and going with a Scotts bluegrass hybrid (can't remember what it's called, but it's drought resistant). Anyway, your mileage may vary but just trying to convey our experience.

[greenvillesc]

It is invasive. That's why it grows so well from the plugs...they spread fast. Our neighbors have zoysia, and it grows under their fence and into our yard. My husband is constantly putting out Roundup next to the fence to keep it out of our fescue yard. I can see why some HOA's don't allow it.

[michakaveli]

Would the zoysia be ok to use in full sun here in Columbia? The bermuda here in my yard is wearing me out.