The scoop on 'Zoysia Farm Nurseries'

i bought from this company 7 years ago, my yard is about 80% filled in (i didn,t buy enough plugs,my fault!) my yard looks better and better each year! i would not hesitate to buy from them again.

Ordered my plugs last winter, Jan 07, they arrived just as described in early May 07. Did as website said, opened, watered etc until I could start planting. Yes it's hard work! Nothing comes easy. Planted close to 13,000 1 ft spacing as recommended for 3 "full" season fill-in time. I may also add, poor soil in the beginning of NC worst drought, just my luck. Because of that only watered every other week with the recommended fertilizer. Saw some decent results (greened up and some spreading)by Fall. This spring (April) greened up quicker then I thought it would and now is already spreading some, 1" plugs are now 5-6" with runners reaching out. If this keeps up I will be very pleased. I have not had any customer service questions/problems. I did e-mail them a question this morning am waiting for response as of this writing.

For all of those that wrote negative comments, go back and read their web site. From what I've read from some of them, seems like you only read what you wanted to read.

I admit the 1" plug is hard to do, I recommend wetting both sides of sheet to keep dirt wet so soil hold on better, but I even planted some of the bare root edges and they seem to be coming along. During any home improvement project you should estimate 10% loss of materials. Planting plugs is no different.
If you are looking for quick/right now results re-read the website. Even 1ft spacing is a 3 FULL growing season project. Plant more closer together or choose a different option.
I think with the ongoing water problems and people becoming more environmentally friendly, more and more people are going to be planting this type of lawn. If you are patient, willing to do some hard work and do the recommended actions it will be well worth.

I have dealt with this company 3x. Two by mail order and once we road-tripped to their annual warehouse sale at their actual farm. Once I ordered in early April, received as stated approx 8 days later, opened immediately because I knew that plants (much less zoysia) can't stand to be inside of ups boxes for long. Watered in boxes(grass is in bags inside of boxes) for three days until weekend, planted that Saturday. I agree w/ others that plugs should be more like 3"x3", not 1"x1" for optimal growth. The key some here are missing is to, 1) open boxes immediately and care for them until you can plant, 2) cut plugs a little larger than 1"x1",3) prep the hole a little...dont plant too deep and dont just kinda 'step it' into the ground and expect good results, 4) water new plugs every day it doesn't rain and you will have a beautiful result (no matter if the material comes to you brown or not). If you do not follow procedure/instructions then you will fail as well you should. If you expect instant gratification then order enough to 'sod' your entire lawn (not plug) or get fescue that you have to water, feed, weed, and mow constantly. Any complaint about being shipped at the wrong time is legit or a vagary of nature (& why don't you simply use their replacement guarantee? It's not as if they send somebody to your house to make sure you did it right, you know?). Any complaint about late shipping, well, perhaps you should have ordered earlier but I do see your point. 2nd time I ordered it was for Dad's B-day (october, wrong time to plant) and I requested them to charge me, send a receipt, and mail the plugs in the spring. They followed through perfectly and his lawn is as beautiful and care-free as mine. As I said, I have been onsite and found the people/atmosphere to be down home/down-on-the-farm but professional, clean and organized. First rate service for me, sorry for those that had bad experiences. Perhaps not enough people that have had good experiences reporting???
One last thought...if EVERYBODY was forced to use zoysia-type grass (from whatever company) then we could cut down on the amount of fertilizer in our ground water, chemicals you and your children are exposed to, less emissions from lawn mowers, and use less water overall as a nation. This should be mandatory in neighborhoods with HOA's (but isn't it ironic that I very much dislike HOA's?), heck mandatory in all parts of this nation wherein it will grow.

I wish I'd have found this site before I placed my order,Luckily I ordered small! I'm going to withold judgement until I get my sod,and see how things go. I am however very interested in zorsia,and may have to look for a new source

As the leading supplier of zoysia grass plugs, you have come to the right place. We have 50 years experience helping many millions of homeowners have beautiful zoysia lawns. We are confident once your zoysia fills in you will also have a beautiful lawn.
With your shipment you will receive complete planting instructions covering different planting situations. Please follow the simple step by step instructions, it is really the best and simplest way to insure success. If you have any questions, beyond our planting instructions, please feel free to contact our customer service team, who can give you expert advise. We are here to help. They can be reached Monday to Friday 8 AM - 5 PM eastern time at 410-756-2311.

Happy planting!

I am interested as to why there is no shipping to Oregon or Washington?

I am very interested in this product, however I can't get it...

Amazoy zoysia grass is very drought tolerant and as such does best in the heat of summer in dry conditions. Unfortunately, Oregon and Washington get their fair share of rain and as such we have decided not to ship to these states. Zoysia is really not a good choice for lawns in the northwest. Additionally, we offer a 100% replacement guarantee for any grass that doesn't grow, thus our desire to only sell Amazoy into areas where it will do well. This protects both the customer and our farm.

There are many good choices for lawns in wet areas and the northewest. As zoysia experts, we can tell you, Amazoy zoysia is not one of them.

I just ordered 900 plus 700 free plugs from Zoysia Farm in MD. I was not alarmed with the brown color because I knew it meant the grass was dormant. I've been in contact with Sue via email many times and she as been very responsive and courteous. After I measured the sod pieces, I determined that I was short plugs which I emailed Sue and she responded quickly saying that she will ship out the rest of the plugs.

So far my only disappointment is that when I cut the sod into 1 inch squares, many times I am left with bare root that I still plant in the hole. I'm hoping that they will still grow. I think the sheet of sod should be larger or only considered 100 plugs per 15 x 10 piece of sod since around the edge is bare roots. I plan on visiting the store and having them demonstrate the cutting of the sod because I can't seem to get a 1 inch piece to stay together as a plug to plant with grass sticking up. Hopefully I am not planting them too deep, but my reasoning is if I need 6 inch edging to keep the roots from creeping where I don't want them to then up to 2" down seems reasonable.

We just want to reassure you that it is fine to plant the bare roots, they should grow. One word of caution, the ideal depth to plant zoysia plugs is approximately an inch to an inch and a half. Do not bury the whole plant, only the roots.

As to the separation process, adding some moisture will help hold the soil to the roots and make this go easier.

We look forward to meeting you in person when you visit our farm and store. Store hours change a little throughout the season. Please visit our website for the most up to date information and directions if you need them. All this information can be found under the Customer Service tab.

Prior to my retirement to South Carolina, I bought a starter house and planted Zoysia plugs on the front lawn (from Zoysia Farms in 1973)...a few years later only half of the plugs survived. It was a lot of hard work. Never again.
Moved from the starter house in 1985 to larger house and the lawn in the back yard already had Zoysia grass established, very uniform growth and green. For the next 22 years, I appreciated the efforts of the previous owner who established the Zoysia grass, because I only mowed the grass in the back yard once or twice in the summer seasons I lived there. And I never watered the backyard. Mother nature took care of that. Occasionally, I would give it some 20/20/20 fertilizer when I thought about it. Maintenance is almost non-existent with Zoysia grass. A few years before I retired, I decided to cut small portions of the Zoysia grass from the backyard and plant it between the sidewalk and the street curb. It had covered 75% of the area before I sold the house.
Now I am down here and bought about 100 3-inch square plugs to start. The plugs are packed in garderner's crate separately and very green. If you do not plant immediately, take the crates out of the boxes and put them in full sunshine and water everyday (crates have drainage holes). Then plant them at your leisure.
The only problem I had with Zoysia is that of concrete slabs or walkways. It will find the slightest crack and grow....once established, it is very difficult to remove it. I used table salt to limit its gowth during the summer season. After any rain, re-salt the cracks!!!!! Also used salt liberally on the seam between the curb and street with good results.

We are sorry that not all of the plugs took 35 years ago. Today, we continue to offer a replacement guarantee for any plugs that don't grow within 45 days.

As to the zoysia gowing into cracks in the concrete, commercial weed killer should do the trick. Salt is a good environmentally friendly alternative. Vinegar actually might work a little better. The best solution, is patch the concrete after putting down one of these alternatives. Good luck and hope you continue to enjoy your zoysia lawn.

I had no problems whatsoever in dealing with this company. By the sounds of many comments, I do believe they are understaffed and perhaps should go thru some customer service training to better train their operators, but in my case, they were very helpful and answered all my questions well. If you follow the instructions the product works well. Watering is key. You must water at least twice a day unless it rains. I used a rain gauge when I watered, to make sure my lawn was getting enough water.

One thing I did differently, and that you all may consider, was that instead of cutting the sod into 1" squares before planting, I planted the big 10X15" pieces on the side of my house and watered for about a month. This gave me a 2 big pieces of zoysia grass measuring about 11ftX16ft each, with the 4000 plugs I ordered. After about a month, when the grass took and greened up, I then used their plugger (the manual one) to cut out my own plugs, which I then moved to other areas of my lawn. I cut the holes for my new plugs with the power plugger (the drill bit) and moved my new plugs to their new locations. Took me some time, but being a very busy person, doing it this way allowed me to work at my own pace, on my time schedule. Now, all my lawn is a lush green color, with a very thick grass that has very few, if any weeds and thin spots. I would recommend this company to anyone, but you must re-think the strategy if you are like me, and time is a factor you want to consider. If you dont plant your plugs within 2 weeks, very likely they will die, and if you knock off a lot of the soil when cutting them, then you are hurting the root system and they may die. To me, plating them like I did made much more sense. Hope this helps everyone.

These people sent us DEAD grass plugs. It took 2 months for the DEAD plugs to arrive. We followed the directions exactly, planting the dry, shriveled, brown "grass plugs" as the directions said to do. Well, not one single blade of grass grew. We wasted our money on these liars, and contacted them about the complete failure of their product. After many e-mails back and forth, they finally agreed to refund 1/2 of our money. But, that money has NEVER arrived. Liars again. I will contact the Better Business Bureau in their town, and will tell everyone I know to NEVER buy anything from Zoysia. They need to be "run out of town on a rail," they need to cease and desist from running their "scam" thru the U.S. Mail, and I do not believe one word of any comment that suggests their product "works." Watch me! Zoysia, I will complain to everyone in your state, of your deceptive business practices. Where is the refund you promised to me??? You people are Liars, and Cheats!

I did a lot a research on Zoysia and decided to buy my plugs from ZFN. I purchased thousands of plugs (Spring 2006) to do my front and side yards. After the sheets of sod arrived I had trouble from the start. The sod was scalped with no dirt, not much of a root system and there was no possible way that you could cut these into one inch squares. I took pictures of the sod and wanted to send them to ZFN but they did not want to see them. They did send me some replacement plugs 6 weeks later. The replacement sod was not much better so I cut them into 3" squares and plated them. Over 50% of the plugs failed even though I watered and fertilized (with their fertilizer) consistently.

I would not recommend Zoysia Farms to anyone.

You only get what you pay for except with ZFN you get less.

Good product. Correct: you do not get 150 plugs with each piece of sod. It's more like 50. It is backbreaking work to get them started. They require TLC, especially in the first two weeks.

HOWEVER: Follow the directions. I live in the Northeast (N
near NYC) and the grass looks better every year as it fills in. Avoid a sprinkler system and plant this grass.

This is just a scam. Got 4 pcs of sod that measured 10" X 15". Supposed to get 150 pcs out of each, no way. I expected to receive 600 plugs, not less than one peice of average sod. This is only 4 SF if you were to plant it as received. Beware of the company. I will go to Lowe's and by the sod, cut out the plugs and be $$$$$$$ ahead.

Our grass was looking hopeless. My husband and I could never get our grass to grow evenly and maintain a healthy look but, with a bit of patience and Dave's Garden we now have a beautiful lawn and get compliments from our neighbors. We'd highly recommend this company. Angel and I thank you so much!

Elizabeth and Angel Cruz

I ordered from Zoysia Farms Nurseries from a website in May 2007. The order was shipped one month earlier than promised. When I telephoned their non-toll-free number, the woman argued with me about what the order read. I said I wasn't making this up and would fax a copy of the order to her. She then because extremely rude- it was shocking. In my profession I deal with hundreds of businesses every week, from small one person companies to large corporations. It was shocking to hear such rude responses, calling me a liar, and then refuse to acknowledge their error. Sending any money to ZoysiaFarmNurseries is a complete waste of money. I'm surprised that they can stay in business and can only attribute any success to their flashy website and aggressive magazine advertising. Don't buy; do your research.

Laura

My husband decided it would be great "gift" for our new house. Neither of us have a green thumb, but after alot of work, and I will admit, I was a bit concerned because they arrived brown but I planted them, and less than a year later, I have the nicest lawn on the block! I referred them to my brother he has decided to do it as well!

Do NOT do business with this company. They false advertise and their product is total crap. Learn from me, I threw my $86.00 out the window. I reported them to the BBB and have disputed the charge on my credit card. From reading the other comments it seems there is no way they are going to give me a refund and there is no way I am going to go through that hassle of planting a new shipment of plugs. This is the worst experience I have ever had with a business. I don't know how they sleep at night knowing they are stealing millions of dollars from people.

I was a fool and ordered from this crooked company. (I had trusted the ad because it was in a rural electric coop's newspaper.) The ad stated very clearly that they would ship at the earliest correct planting time for my area. Instead they shipped while it was still 20 degrees most nights and bearly 40 most days. I contacted them immediately and was treated rudely and they insisted I was supposed to call them long distance to listen to them rant and rave and act as though I had done something wrong.

I followed the instructions and eventually got the squares cut and planted worms and all. Again I followed the instructions and made sure they were properly watered only to watch nothing positive happen. However, my yard is infested with insects that have never been here before.

The other negative comments are on target as to what a mess, scam this company is. I feel certain there are thousands of people who have had similar experiences. This company needs exposed further until they shape up, pay up, or close their doors.

Contacted the company again and weeks later was sent a form acting as though I must not be telling the truth and stalling for more time for them to keep my money. I returned the form immediately. Today via snail mail an absurd, unsigned letter arrived stating they want to pay merely half of the total I paid them, if I won't accept replacement plants.

E mail to Edith on the unsigned letter bounced so they wanted my answer via snail mail for more stalling. I copied e mail to Laura and again told them I am going to turn this over to Federal Trade Commission, U.S. Attorneys and attorney generals, and seek class action lawsuit(s) for damages for everyone they have defrauded. They have used my money for 5 mos. and all I got was the expense and time of messing with having their trash planted, an insect infested yard, and trying to collect what they owe me.

[e-mail:mpankeyusa@yahoo.com]

The first thing I would like to say is it is better to leave the grass in the square shape they come in. I planted mine whole making sure to break up the ground under the sod. Water is the key, keep watering for the first two weeks- everyday. After this water with liquid fertilizer once a week and you will not believe the results you will get. My grass is nice and healthy, I have ordered three boxes of the grass and all of it is doing great. It did arrive looking dead, but it is doing so good that I will be buying more. The key is put out whole squares, it takes less time and a square shovel is all you need!

I placed my order in March. I was told orders would start shipping in early April. starting in May I started checking online for an approximate delivery date only to get the same generic"chain letter". Their claim was orders ship in two weeks. In 2 weeks time I had made 4 attempte to get a delivery date. Well, here it is June 28 and i finally got them to respond to my cancellation notice. I may have been more patient had they just treated me with a little more respect and responded to my e-mails. After reading some of the planting issues, I"m glad I cancelled the order. I will double check my credit card and make sure they did not bill me. I don't trust them.

*******PLEASE READ THIS!!!!!!*********
-------Multi-year Zoysia experience------

My Dad ordered Zoysia plugs from these guys about 6-8 years ago. Through reading the host of negative feedback here, I can sympathize with the reactions. The plugs showed up brown, they were hard to separate into the promised plug sizes, and we really didn't have enough to do the whole yard. We focused on the problem areas and were able to do the entire front lawn, some of the side lawns and some in the back (1/2 acre).
I was convinced that the plugs were dead, there were these holes all over the yard, and me and my brother spent a couple days sweating our butts off to get these things in. That was some years ago....
....Now my Dad has an awesome lawn. Even though we thought the project was a failure, after a summer, the holes had been filled in and the yard looked like it had before we started. After the second year it looked like a patchwork quilt where the zoysia was creeping, and by the third or fourth year it had taken over. The beauty and strength of the grass is as advertised. If you are looking for a quick-fix, instant gratification solution to your yard problems, then Zoysia is probably not for you. For anyone else with (as advertised) about 3 growing seasons of patience and/or a low budget, zoysia definitely delivers on the quality. To add another testimony to the durability of the grass:

I deployed overseas during this last year (June 06- June 07) and while I was gone, I left my Toyota Tacoma parked on the side lawn of my dad's house. It sat for over 9 months in the same spot before my Dad started moving it around. Even with sitting there on the grass for such along time, only the tire spots showed any hurt at all, and there was still grass underneath! I think the web that the grass creates kept the plant parts under the tires alive, within a month the grass was back to normal!

Summary:
Pros:
-Quality as advertised, great lawn when done
-Much more cost effective than sod

Cons:
-Hard work putting them in
-Patience definitely required for filling in
-plug sizes not ideal

-David M.

The grass just wasn’t growing in throughout the yard. A friend recommended your company and sure enough within a year, it is spreading like crazy and is a beautiful green. Like everyone else on this site, I was a bit worried when it came brown but then I later realized it was dormant and within two weeks it “woke up”, and it was sure worth waiting for. Not only does it look better but it is sure less work now.

I ordered 1600 plugs and plugger from this company in March 2007. When I received my order there was no packing list and by measuring the area of the plug sheets I was over 400 plugs short. I planted what came which were dead already and they are still dead. It took me over a month and several emails to get this company to ship my additional grass. When It (450 plugs by their count) I decided to plant each plug in individual containers with potting soil and baby them to transplant size. Time will only tell if this is successful.

Bottom line is, avoid this company at all costs. I would have been just a well off taking $100 and burning it.

We recently recieved our Zoysia plugs from Zoysia Farms - and have planted about 100 plugs so far. Back Breaking work - and had I known then what we know now - I would NOT have ordered this grass.

Ours, too, came brown - we read the message about "don't be alarmed" - yea - ok. We've been watering our squares for 3 weeks, and we do have some green shoots among the brown sod.

We are keeping it watered, and we are slowly planting the plugs - however - after reading the reviews - I don't feel so hopeful!

I, too, emailed them when we first got the "grass" and that was on 5/18 - it's 6/1 and I have not heard from anyone. I also called on 5/25 @ 4:24pm - and am still waiting for a return phone call.

I will post an update in a few weeks, when we have hopefully planted all of our plugs. And let you all know what is going on. But your negative comments definitely have me worried now.

At first, everything started out ok, the plugs arrived in a timely manner, I put them on a sheet of plastic and misted them. All but one of the sheets were in pretty good condition with soil and the ones that had soil were scored. No way you can cut out each individual plug, they are too small. So, I cut them into one inch squares as much as possible. Initially, I dug the holes too deep with the auger, then had to fill the holes back up to about 3/4 inch of the top. Anyway, so I did about half the lawn and wanted to order more but first had questions and e-mailed those questions....no answer. E-mailed 4 days in a row....no answer. This morning, I have tried to call several times....busy signal. I am about this far (finger and thumb about an eighth inch apart) from going to another company. My fear tho is that it will be so drastically different that it will look stupid. My negative review comes from them not returning e-mails and not so much the plugs...although, they weren't anything special.

Zoysia Farms is a joke.I placed an order on 3-21-07, along with my personal check. On 3-29-07 my check had cleared the bank and was in my bank statements.
Today , 5 weeks after my check has made it back to the bank and is in my filing cabinet, I still have not been contacted as to when I might expect my order.
I e-mailed them just a little while ago..I told them that I wanted them to refund my money, that I'd been more than patient with them,and that I didn't want to do business with them.
Also that I was going to take copies of my order,check and the e-mail to the postmaster,my attorney, and the BBB.
I've not gotten a reply from Zoysia Farms yet, but they have had my money in their pockets for 5 plus weeks and I'm not a very happy camper. There is NO excuse for this!

I am in zone 7.

We ordered from this company last year, and I thought I would give the company a chance by waiting a year to see how my plugs did after being planted. Well, like everyone has stated the sheets came barely cut, so we cut ourselves larger than the company said they sent us. The grass did look dry, even after tending to it, but still I waited to see how it would grow. Well, this year, to date, everywhere we put plugs, I don't see anything in those spots. We already had a zoysia lawn and was just using plugs to fill in bare spots. My spots are still bare and my other grass has grown and getting ready to fill in the areas I had replaced with Zoysia Farm grass. I say about them, BUYER BEWARE.

This place is a joke. I placed a very large order from them last year. I heard nothing for 2 months. I finally called them, they said my credit card was declined. That's a crock.
I asked when they could re-order & ship again, they told me 3 weeks. I agreed, & was told my credit card was declined again. (I gave them a different card number for this order.)
I asked to speak to the owner, was told he was on vacation for 3 weeks. Amazing how everything with this company centers around 3 weeks, isn't it?
They lied to me on several occasions, then were afraid to transfer me to the owner. I hope they go out of business & save us all the trouble.

DO NOT BUY FROM THESE PEOPLE, AS THEY ARE MISLEADING & UNSCRUPULOUS !

I live in Jersey and my mother has zoiysia grass on one side of her lawn. I wanted the same thing because of how lush and strong the grass is. I didn't care about it being brown through winter. So I found ZFN online after multiple nurseries told me they couldn't even order it for me and no one at Lowes or Home Depot even KNEW what zoiysia grass was. I ordered the 1000 plug kit (with 900 free) from ZFN last June. The Auger they sent me worked fine - never broke a weld and my soil is VERY rocky...not to mention the garbage such as bottles and metal that I uncovered. Yes its true - the supposed "1900" plugs is a myth. There's no way to cut these things into 1" x 1" plugs - forget it. Most of my plugs are about 6" x 6" and i planted them in the worst spots in my lawn. In some spots I used a 1/4 sheet of the 13 sheets I got. Planted according to thier doucmentation with potting soil, watered consistantly for 3 weeks and even fertilized. The plugs took well and were lush and green through the summer. Went dead at the first frost this winter and just now they are starting to sprout some green blades. Not bad for a cold northeast winter.

I checked out all the plugs recently. I think I lost about a half sheet. I still think that's impressive. Some of the plugs even seem to have covered more ground over the winter. Considering people in my area have spent $1000's on resodding thier lawns, and have still had issues after a winter, I really can't complain. The grass is working. I intend to order another "1000" plugs and put them in this spring.

My only complaint is the number of plugs. There's no way to cut this into 1" x"1 plugs. Its ludicrous to try. 3" x 3" would be more realistic. But other than that, I can't complain. What will make me REALLY happy is if they are willing to ship me a free half sheet with my new order to replace the grass that died.

I'm going to recommend them cause I know it worked for me. And ANY grass that works in North jersey is well worth it!

After seeing their ad in Popular Mechanics I thought this grass would work pretty good here in Clearwater FL. I ordered 600 plugs. After two weeks I called to check on my order and was told it would be shipped in two weeks. Well, after thinking about it I called back and talked to another woman and said I would like to cancel my order. She told me it was being shipped today and it was too late to cancel. I would get my order the following thursday. Sure enough it arrived the following thursday. Now here is my reason for posting this. The women I talked with were nice although I didn't like being lied to by the first one. Start to finish my order took three weeks. But heres the thing. For $40 bucks I received 4 pieces of sod that had to be cut into 150 1 inch pieces each. To give you an idea, appoximately 9 plugs will fit in the palm of your hand. I was just a walmart and they were selling bigger pieces of Zoysia for $1.32 each!! I paid $40 for what I could have gotten a walmart for less the 5 dollars!!! Learn from my mistake!

I just happen to be surfing the web looking at some gardening information and noticed this website and took a look. I noticed all the negative comments about Zoysia Farms and wanted to add a note from my past dealings with them. I got zoysia grass from them years ago and they were very helpful to me when I called for information about the grass when I first considered planting it. I had tons of questions and called them several times and they were always willing to take the time to help me. At that time I do not remember seeing a website for them like they have now but I called and their customer service department was very helpful and courteous to me. They answered all the questions about zoysia grass and what all it entailed since I was starting in a yard that was mostly weeds and very poor soil. I ordered the grass and followed the directions to a tee and my yard is wonderful today. Yes the grass took several years to work but it was worth the wait. The zoysia grass has spread over the years and my grass is beautiful. We had many family reunions over the last several years and the family could not wait to play in the zoysia grass. It is soft on your feet and durable to a fault. Over 100 people running around on it all weekend did no harm to it, not even in rainy weather. All my experience with this company has been great and I plan on dealing with them again soon since my son just bought a home of his own and wants a yard like mine. He will be ordering his grass from them as well. I have read alot of the other comments from past customers on this website and I think everyone looking at this grass needs to keep one thing in mind and that is that all grass is not created equal and there is not one type of grass that is suitable for all areas. I have tried many grasses over the year without much success but Zoysia was the grass that worked for me. I would not have the yard I am so proud of today without this company. Thank you Zoysia Farm Nurseries. A very happy customer!

I'm not sure if I would have ordered from Zoysia Farm Nursuries if I had read some of these reviews but I felt compelled to post as my experience has been different from so many here. After much research regarding grass types for my Atlanta area lawn, I settled on Zoysia. I found Zoysia Farm Nursuries online and ordered the plugs. It did take a couple weeks to recieve the "plugs" by UPS. I called once to check on the order and I was told that they were going to ship to Georgia the following week, and I got them Thursday of the following week. I got the impression that they ship an area based on the weather/planting season. That is just an assumption, so don't count on it. The sheets did have some soil attached. I cut them with a garden shears and it was apparent rather quickly that I was cutting too big to cover the area I planned. I ended up covering about 2/3 of the area I thought I could with the material shipped. The plugging tool was very cheap, but it was relatively easy to use and performed as advertised. If I had covered the intended area if is doubtful the plugger would have made it. As of this writing the plugs have been in the ground since Friday, it is now Monday and they are already starting to turn green and some new grass (very small blades) are coming up from some of the plugs. It is too early to say if I have been scammed, but I don't think so. Other than the sheets of sod not going as far as I hoped I'm pretty happy thus far. If it all dies and I don't get any grass I will amend my post.

I think that if people followed directions, or followed the guarantee to get the free replacement plugs as i did, they would be very satisfied. my lawn is now lush and gorgeous and as promised from the zosia website. there will ALWAYS be someone who is unhappy with a product no matter how good or whatever they are, and want to complain about it. if you really want to try it, get a small pack first before spending alot of money on what could be a good lawn if you FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS!!!!!

If you enjoy a good scam with rude customer service, then this is the company for you...I got the brown dead grass yesterday and it looks like they sent way less than promised. The rudest lady blew me off when I called inquiring about the brown dead grass. Thanks!

FYI, at the Better Business Bureau website, this company is listed under the parent company "The Shelburne Co., Inc.".

Ohhhhhhh, "Zoysia Farms"...should be re-named, "Zoysia ALARM" I honestly cannot believe these people are actually still in business. (I'am reporting them to the BBB and using this link as well)

There is NO need in really getting deep into my dealings with these people. ANYONE who reads these complaints can easily see a pattern. My experience was NO different with zoysia farms. I wonder if anyone has ever visited this place? From my dealings with them, and after reading these complaints, I wonder what kind of outfit they have there. I WISHED a thousand times over I'd have found this place BEFORE placing my order. Receiving brown, dead, brittle rooted "grass" in a box...I knew I was in trouble.
A little note was inside stating: "If your zoysia grass appears brown or "dead" do NOT be alarmed"

Yeah, Ok.



Advertised as :

"To ensure maximum freshness and viability, the plugs are shipped not cut all the way through."

Nope....they're NOT cut at ALL.


Advertised as:

"If you use our exclusive two-way plugger, it’s easy to dig the holes quickly"

The only thing 'exclusive' about this plugger is that after looking at the welds, using it a couple of times, watching it rust.....is that a tetanus shot might be needed. After the first couple of small holes I managed to make with it, a weld broke, allowing the handle to come off and hang at an angle..slicing my hand open in the process. Like everything else they have, it's crap. They advertise it to be some great invention that magically makes planting your Zoysia plugs easier. Trust me, it's not even CLOSE.


I could go on and on and on about these people, but is there any real need?

An expensive lesson learned, but not one to be made again. I PROMISE you that.

Don't get wrapped up in their fancy website. It definately doesn't match the product(s) they sell.

I hope the word gets out on these people.

BBB will look into them I'am sure.

I ordered my plugs on May 1, 2006. By the end of May nothing had arrived and no email shipping notification had been received so I started to send emails asking for order status. Initially I got the same generic response "Your order should be shipping within the next two weeks, weather and field conditions pending" that was May 26!! The more I pressed the snippier they got (by email), using the weather and field conditions as an excuse. When the shipment finally arrived on July 16 without any notice (even though UPS Ground service was used and tracking information could have been provided) it was obvious that the sods had been harvested A LONG TIME ago, they were extremely brown, raggedy around the edges . So much for "field conditions" delaying my order!!

The instructions that came with the package were sketchy at best, they referred to the use of a plugger and we had been sent a drill bit. They said the sods were partially cut and that garden shears should be used to complete the cuts. Ha!! There was no partial cutting done prior to arrival, each had to be completely cut by us. The sods were in such poor shape there was no way that 150 plugs could be cut from each. I was averaging more like 13 rows and each row cut into 8 one inch pieces, rather than the 15 rows into 10 pieces that the instructions described.

My husband and I have conservatively put 20 hours into drilling holes one foot apart in a checker board format, filling each hole with water, and then going one better than the instructions by adding potting soil to each hole before planting the plugs. Since then we water every day. If these things don’t grow I will be more upset about the time and lower cartilage we’ve invested, than the $90.

When I contacted Zoysia with my feedback about their erroneous description of the condition of the sods, they stated “In our literature and on our website, it states that before planting, you must "finish the separation with shears or a knife."” I don’t see how customers can ‘finish’ something that hasn’t been started. They have promised to send extra sods to compensate for the plugs that couldn’t be extracted from the deteriorate sods we initially received.

For those of you that have received your sods. I found the easiest system was to spray the sod before cutting (it helps using the clay/soil to adhere the roots of the zoysia). Then cut one row using small gardening shears, as each one inch section is cut, I simultaneously used the fingers of my left had to pinch the section into a compact ‘plug’.

I got a small tray (approximately 24 inches by 12 inches) and laid out as many one inch plugs as possible and then used the tray to carry and organize the plugs as I planted them.

It is a very labor intensive and time consuming process. Like others I would recommend getting a smaller order and trying it out first. I would never do what we did and if they don’t grow I have NO desire in having them replaced and performing the exercise again

OH I wish I had read all these complaints first!!!! I ordered the whole nine yards (1900 plugs) and cannot believe these people are still in business!! They aren't even PLUGS!! The AUGER was supposed to SAVE in back labor and everyone else is right about the pads of dead roots that I received. I want to report these people to the BBB or something. IT IS A TOTAL SCAM!!! After the rep told me the grass sheets of rotten roots were completely unreturnable all I could do in my complete shock, horror and anger was to tell her to @#$%&@# off!!!

Ordered 1200 plugs from this company and when they arrived I got a pile of dirt and dry grass. The instructions tell you not to worry and plant anyway. (Joke). The tool they provide you broke after attempting 8 holes. A call to the company to complain about your order and tools only irritates them. A new tool arrived 4 weeks later,I did keep the rest of pads wet on a daily basis till it arrived , but to no avail. The second tool broke after 11 holes and by then realized that the pads they sent could not total 1200 plugs. Pads that are 8"X10"=80 plugs. All pads were too small some smaller then 8X10 and only came up with 810 plugs rather then 1200 I was charged for. Trying to get a refund can only happen by contacting your credit card company with the proper info. The reps at Zoysia are very rude, the so -called manager will call you liar and one rep giglled with joy when I was informed that quote; (we have your money!) One of the worst experiences ever encountered...

I only ordered "150" plugs. I guess I'm lucky. I received the dead piece of carpet. There is no way a anyone could get 150 plugs from what I received. I don't think it was 10x15". It was not scored. I planted what I could get from the piece (approx. 30) What a joke. They're still brown. I've been following the directions, but still no grass.

I received what I ordered over the internet. Yes, the grass looked "dead" but was actually dormant as the literature said. I followed the instructions to water every day for the specified amount of time. I did have a couple plugs die, but all other plugs survived and are spreading. At this point, I'm satisfied with the results of the Zoysia. Time will tell if the grass lives up to its reputation.