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Low Nitrogen Rates Are Best for
Zoysiagrass Establishment By Elizabeth Guertal, Professor, Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Auburn University, AL 36849 • guertea@auburn.edu
The Rationale
Al ab ama Tu rf Tim e s > >> Fall 201 9
Previous research with zoysiagrass establishment was fairly clear in all the results: lower rates of nitrogen (N) are all that were needed for establishment of the grass, whether from sprigs or plugs. What, exactly, were ‘low rates’? Faster establishment of zoysiagrass occurred at N rates below 2 lbs N 1,000 ft-2 year-1, regardless of the N source or timing of that N application. In general, exceeding 2 pounds of N per 1,000 square feet per year was either deleterious for or did not speed zoysiagrass establishment. One issue with all of this previously published work is that the vast majority of it was done with only ‘Meyer’ zoysiagrass, an older, wide-bladed variety of Zoysia japonica. While there is certainly nothing wrong with that research, the fact is that many new and improved zoysiagrasses are now on the market, and there is no research that evaluates best N rates for newer cultivars of zoysiagrass. So, the Objective of this two years of work was to evaluate rates of N fertilization for the best establishment of three newer zoysiagrass cultivars, which were L1F, Jamur and Zeon.
The Experiments To conduct the research, we installed a total of three experiments at the Auburn University Turfgrass Research Unit (TGRU), located in Auburn, AL in 2015 and 2016. In 2015 two studies were installed: 1) an early spring establishment study, and 2) a late summer establishment study. In 2016 the early spring establishment study was repeated. For all
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