Removing zoysia grass takes persistence because the plant spreads through both above-ground runners (stolons) and underground stems (rhizomes), meaning you have to attack it from two directions at once. A single pass with a herbicide or a shovel almost never finishes the job. The most reliable strategies combine chemical treatment with physical removal or soil solarization, and even then you should expect to revisit the area over several months to catch regrowth from fragments you missed.
Why Zoysia Is So Difficult to Get Rid Of
Zoysia’s reputation as a tough, low-maintenance lawn grass is exactly what makes it a nightmare when you want it gone. The grass forms an extremely dense mat of interlocking stolons at the soil surface and rhizomes several inches below it. Even a small piece of rhizome left in the ground can regenerate into a new stand. Unlike bunch-type grasses that stay roughly where you planted them, zoysia actively colonizes surrounding soil, which is why it tends to creep into flower beds, neighboring lawns, and sidewalk cracks.
The plant also goes dormant in winter across much of its range, turning straw-brown and entering a metabolic slowdown. During dormancy, it absorbs herbicides poorly, which limits the window for chemical control to months when the grass is green and actively growing. Research on zoysiagrass and bermudagrass has noted that zoysia in particular is under-studied relative to its widespread use, meaning that some removal advice is borrowed from work on other warm-season grasses rather than being tested directly on zoysia cultivars.
1Crop, Forage & Turfgrass Management. Zoysiagrass sod production: A reviewKilling Zoysia with Glyphosate
The most commonly recommended chemical approach is repeated applications of a non-selective herbicide containing glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup and many generic formulations). Glyphosate is systemic, meaning the grass absorbs it through its leaves and translocates it to the roots and rhizomes. For zoysia, this matters because you need the chemical to reach those underground structures, not just burn off the visible foliage.
Timing is critical. Research on zoysiagrass response to glyphosate during the postdormancy period found that applications made when the turf had barely begun to green up did not injure the grass above about 30%, and did not reduce overall green cover over time.
2Weed Technology. Regional response of zoysiagrass turf to glufosinate and glyphosate applied during postdormancy transition based on accumulated heat units – Section: Results and Discussion In practical terms, this means spraying glyphosate on semi-dormant or barely-green zoysia is a waste of product. You want to wait until the grass is fully green and actively growing, typically late spring through summer, so it takes up and moves the herbicide throughout the plant.
Plan for at least two applications spaced about two to three weeks apart. After the first spray, wait for the grass to brown completely, then watch for any green regrowth from surviving rhizome fragments. Hit those spots with a second round. In severe cases, a third application may be necessary. Mowing the area short before spraying can help, but do not mow so aggressively that you remove most of the leaf surface; the grass needs enough foliage to absorb the herbicide.
One common mistake is assuming that a single strong dose will compensate for poor timing. A heavy application on partially dormant zoysia still underperforms a properly timed application on actively growing turf. Be patient and let the calendar work in your favor.
What About Glufosinate and Other Herbicides
Glufosinate (sold under brand names like Finale and Basta) is another non-selective herbicide sometimes suggested for grass removal. It works as a contact herbicide rather than a true systemic, burning down whatever foliage it touches but moving less effectively into roots and rhizomes. Research comparing the two chemicals on zoysiagrass found that glufosinate was consistently more injurious to the visible turf than glyphosate, causing greater than 30% injury regardless of application timing during green-up.
2Weed Technology. Regional response of zoysiagrass turf to glufosinate and glyphosate applied during postdormancy transition based on accumulated heat units – Section: Results and Discussion That sounds like good news if you want the zoysia dead, but the catch is that glufosinate’s limited systemic movement means it scorches the top growth without reliably reaching the rhizomes. The grass looks dead for a few weeks and then regrows from below.
Separate herbicide trials on Japanese lawngrass (a zoysia species) found that sulfentrazone combined with diuron, and isoxaflutole applied alone, caused enough damage to kill plants by 42 days after application.
3Academic Journals / African Journal of Agricultural Research. Selectivity and efficiency of herbicides in warm season turfgrass varieties – Section: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION / Japanese lawn grass These are selective herbicides typically used for weed control in other turfgrasses, and while they demonstrate that certain chemical classes can kill zoysia, they are not widely available to homeowners in convenient retail formulations. For most people, glyphosate applied at the right time remains the most practical chemical option.
Graminicides like fenoxaprop and fluazifop, which target grasses specifically, have also been shown to injure zoysiagrass seedlings and reduce their coverage.
4Cambridge University Press. Safety of Herbicides on ‘zenith’ Zoysiagrass Seedlings These are sometimes used when zoysia has invaded a cool-season lawn like fescue or bluegrass, since the graminicide can be applied selectively to damage the zoysia while the cool-season grass recovers. The results are slow and uneven, though, and usually require professional application and multiple treatments over a full growing season.
Physical Removal Methods
If you would rather not use chemicals, or if you want to speed up the process alongside a herbicide treatment, physically removing the zoysia sod is effective but labor-intensive. The basic approach is to cut the sod layer off the soil, removing the stolons and as many rhizomes as possible in one pass.
A sod cutter, which you can rent from most equipment rental shops, slices horizontally beneath the grass at a set depth (usually two to three inches). Roll up the cut strips and haul them away. After cutting, go over the area with a garden fork or tiller to break up and remove rhizome pieces that the sod cutter missed. Research on zoysiagrass establishment found that simple tillage was as effective as more elaborate soil preparation involving both tillage and vegetation stripping, suggesting that thorough tilling of the soil does a good job disrupting the root network.
5Crop Science. Zoysiagrass Sod Establishment along Guardrails: Evaluation of Cultivars, Soil Preparation Techniques, and Planting TimingsFor smaller areas, hand digging works. Use a flat-edged spade to cut around the patch, then pry up the sod and shake soil off the roots. The critical step is sifting through the underlying soil and pulling out every rhizome you can find. Even fragments an inch or two long will regenerate if left behind. This is tedious, but for a small bed conversion or a zoysia patch that has crept into a garden, it is often the fastest path to a clean result.
Whichever physical method you use, do not compost the removed sod unless your compost pile runs hot enough to kill plant material (sustained temperatures above about 140°F). Zoysia rhizomes in a cool compost pile can survive and re-root wherever you spread the finished compost.
Soil Solarization
Solarization uses the sun’s heat, trapped under clear plastic sheeting, to cook the soil and everything in it. This method is chemical-free and can be surprisingly effective, but it requires warm weather and patience. The basic process involves mowing the zoysia as short as possible, watering the soil well, and then covering the entire area with clear plastic (not black) that is weighted or buried at the edges to hold in heat and moisture.
Research on soil solarization in field conditions showed that it reduced weed emergence by 94 to 96% in the fall and winter following treatment, and 67 to 81% the following spring and early summer. Solarized areas also needed roughly half to two-thirds less hand weeding afterward compared with untreated areas.
6Frontiers. Soil solarization as a non-chemical weed control method in tree nursery production systems of the Pacific Northwest, USA Those numbers come from work on mixed weed populations in nursery settings rather than zoysia specifically, but the principle holds: sustained soil temperatures above 110 to 130°F kill roots, rhizomes, and seeds in the top several inches of soil.
The tradeoff is time. Solarization typically needs four to eight weeks of coverage during the hottest part of summer to reach lethal temperatures deep enough to matter. In the Deep South or Southwest, this is realistic. In the upper transition zone, shorter summers and cooler nights reduce effectiveness, and you may need to extend the treatment or combine it with a pre-treatment of glyphosate to weaken the grass before covering.
Combining Methods for Stubborn Stands
The most effective removal programs use more than one approach. A practical sequence that works well for most homeowners looks like this:
- Spray first: Apply glyphosate to actively growing zoysia in late spring or early summer. Wait two to three weeks for the grass to die back completely.
- Cut and strip: Use a sod cutter or flat spade to remove the dead sod and as much root material as possible.
- Till and pick: Rototill the top few inches of soil, then rake out rhizome fragments by hand.
- Watch and re-treat: Water the bare area for two to three weeks and let any surviving rhizomes sprout. Hit the new growth with a second glyphosate application.
If you are converting the area to a new lawn, wait until you have seen no regrowth for at least three to four weeks before seeding or laying new sod. Rushing this step and planting too soon is the single most common reason people end up fighting zoysia all over again: a few unseen rhizomes sprout right alongside the new grass, and by the time you notice, they are tangled together.
For people who want to avoid herbicides entirely, swapping solarization in place of the glyphosate step can work, though you will lose most of a summer to the plastic. After removing the sheeting, till the soil, pick out debris, and monitor for regrowth before replanting.
When Zoysia Has Invaded a Cool-Season Lawn
One of the trickiest scenarios is when zoysia creeps into a lawn of Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, or perennial ryegrass. Because both the invading zoysia and the desirable grass are, well, grass, there is no selective herbicide that neatly kills one while sparing the other in a single step. Glyphosate does not discriminate, so spraying an invaded lawn kills everything.
The least destructive strategy for small patches is to dig out each zoysia clump by hand, getting several inches below and beyond the visible patch to capture the leading edge of the rhizomes. Reseed the bare spots with your cool-season mix immediately. For large-scale invasion, the more realistic option is to accept the nuclear approach: kill the entire area with glyphosate, remove the dead turf, and start over with fresh seed or sod of your preferred grass.
Some lawn care professionals use fluazifop or fenoxaprop to selectively weaken the zoysia within a cool-season lawn over multiple growing seasons. Because these graminicides injure zoysiagrass seedlings and reduce coverage, they can gradually shift the competitive balance back toward the cool-season species.
4Cambridge University Press. Safety of Herbicides on ‘zenith’ Zoysiagrass Seedlings This is a slow process that takes professional oversight, and results are inconsistent. It works best when the zoysia has not yet become the dominant species in the lawn.
Preventing Zoysia from Returning
After you have put in the work to remove zoysia, the last thing you want is to watch it creep back from a neighbor’s yard or from a fragment you missed. Prevention comes down to physical barriers and vigilance.
Installing a root barrier along the property line or bed edge is the most reliable long-term solution. A strip of heavy-duty plastic or metal edging buried at least six inches deep will block rhizomes from crossing underground. The stolons that travel along the surface are easier to manage with regular edging and trimming, but the rhizomes are the real threat because they travel out of sight.
Check the formerly infested area every couple of weeks during the growing season for the first full year after removal. Zoysia regrowth from a surviving rhizome piece looks like a small tuft of fine-bladed grass that is denser and slightly different in texture from most cool-season grasses. Catching these early, when they are still small enough to dig out completely, saves you from going through the full removal process again. A spot treatment of glyphosate on individual tufts is also effective at this stage, as long as you are careful to shield any desirable plants nearby.
What to Do with the Bare Soil Afterward
Once the zoysia is truly gone, you are left with bare, worked-over soil that is vulnerable to erosion and weed colonization. Moving quickly to establish new ground cover matters. If you are replanting lawn, amend the soil with compost, level it, and seed or sod within a week or two of your final till. Bare soil left for a month in warm weather will fill with crabgrass, foxtail, and whatever else is in the seed bank.
If you are converting the space to garden beds or landscaping rather than lawn, a thick layer of mulch (three to four inches of hardwood or pine bark) immediately after removal suppresses both weed seeds and any stray zoysia fragments near the surface. Landscape fabric underneath the mulch adds another layer of protection, though it is not strictly necessary if you are vigilant about monitoring.
Soil solarization before replanting, even a brief two-week session under clear plastic in hot weather, can reduce the seed bank of opportunistic weeds that would otherwise fill the gap. The research mentioned earlier showed solarization cutting follow-up hand weeding time roughly in half, which is a real labor savings when you are already exhausted from the zoysia removal itself.
6Frontiers. Soil solarization as a non-chemical weed control method in tree nursery production systems of the Pacific Northwest, USAZoysia Removal on Slopes and Near Hardscaping
Flat, open lawns are the easiest context for zoysia removal. Slopes, retaining walls, and areas bordering patios or driveways introduce complications. On slopes, sod cutting and tilling expose bare soil to erosion, especially if rain hits before you can re-establish cover. Applying an erosion-control blanket (a biodegradable jute or straw mat staked into the slope) after removal protects the soil while new seed germinates.
Near hardscaping, zoysia rhizomes often run underneath pavers, sidewalks, and driveways, emerging on the other side in cracks and expansion joints. Removing the visible grass from one side does not stop regrowth from rhizomes sheltered under concrete. In these areas, you may need to dig along the edge of the hardscaping and physically sever the rhizomes, or apply glyphosate to regrowth in the cracks repeatedly until the underground network exhausts its energy reserves. Patience wins here more than any single technique.
For zoysia growing up against a building foundation or between pavers, a propane torch or boiling water can knock back the above-ground growth without introducing herbicide near sensitive areas. Neither method reaches the rhizomes, so treat flame or boiling water as ongoing maintenance rather than a cure. You will need to scorch regrowth every few weeks through the growing season to gradually starve the root system.