Can I grow zoysia in Western Kentucky in shade? How much shade can I get by with without thinning issues? Sorry if this has been handled extensively, but I didn't see it on a review of posts.

I'm just learning the turf grass thing, so I'm no expert. However, I do have zoysia. There are parts of my yard that get morning sun but then are shaded by the house and the zoysia in that area seems to do fine. I believe that some of the newer types/cultivars (not sure what you call them with grasses) do better in shade than the options that were available 10 or 20 years ago. I think it also depends on what kind of shade you are talking about. If it's partial shade or dappled shade under a tree, it may do fine. If you are talking about the north side of a house where it's in full/deep shade all day, it probably won't do very well. I'm sure that one of the warm-season grass gurus will be along shortly with their thoughts and advice. Welcome to the forum!

Zoysia in general only tolerates light to moderate shade.

The short answer is, you cannot grow any grass in the shade!

Zoysia is considered shade tolerant compared to Bermuda, but you really need a minimum of 4 hours of sunliht a day just for the Zoysia to survive, and I would say a minimum of 8 hours for it to thrive.

I agree with gtnike. I have Zoysia in my backyard, and the areas with more sun do better.

Here is a picture of a variety of zoysia called Shadow Turf.



The tree providing the shade is an English walnut. The house faces west. Across the street to the west is a big elm that shades the front from about 3pm on in the summer. Thus the lawn has morning shade from the house, mid day shade from the tree, and a few hours of direct sun in the early afternoon. The turf is very dense even in the area where it has not filled in yet. It was plugged at 1 foot intervals and allowed to spread together. Plugging was done 18 months before the picture. You can see the area on the north side of the tree is spreading together but not as fast as it did in the brighter areas.