St Augustine in very rough shape...runners going bald

17 years ago

I'm hopeing someone can tell us what is happening to our St Augustine (Palmetto) yard...and what we can do to help it recover, if it will recover.

I would like to upload pictures but don't see how to so I'll try to discribe the damage.

We have a HUGE area where ALL the blades of grass have gone and are left with just the runners. Most of the runners are still green but in some areas they are brown and appear dead. It's mostly one big huge area but there are a couple of smaller seperate ones that are starting to go bald now, and I think the big one is growing bigger. Is this from having had Brown Patch and/or Grey Leaf Spot infections? The Grey Leaf Spot effected ALL of the yard when we had it late in the fall, and the Brown Patch was locallized patches...the current damage isn't the entire yard, but is a large portion of it.

We installed the sod in late October 2006.

Featured Answer

lou_spicewood_tx

17 years ago

Switch to organic program. Start out with finished compost at the rate of 1 cubic yard per 1000 sqft. You can do this by dumping in various spots with wheelbarrow and use leaf blower to make it disappear into surrounding area. Next, apply 20 lbs of corn meal per 1000 sqft. You can find them cheap at animal feed store. Don't tell them what it's for. They will just give you funny look. Corn meal will fix fungal problems. Water them in. Wait 2-3 weeks for it to work. If you can afford it, get soybean meal and apply at the rate of 15 lbs per 1000 sqft to encourage more growth to fill in bald area. Do it every 3 months.

Mow at 3 inches minumum. 4 inches during hottest part of summer to conserve water.

Water very deeply and infrequently when needed. The best way to tell by the look of the lawn. If it looks like 50% is wilted, it's time to water. Use tuna cans in various spots to find out how long it takes to fill up. It should take one hour, no less. Slow soaking is the best. You might have to water more often in the beginning. I can go about 2 weeks between watering now during dry and hot spell.

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Comments (6)

skoot_cat
17 years ago
I completely agree with lou.
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casey8b_savannah
Original Author
17 years ago
Thanks for replying. So will the corn or soy meal actually prevent the fungal diseases? Or is it just a treatment for existing infections?

Is this baldness we have now caused by the (long gone) Brown Patch and Grey Leaf Spot we had? Or is it something new attacking the grass? The Grey Leaf Spot happened just at the beginning of the dormant season (St Aug is never completely dormant here but slows way way down). But as I said the Leaf Spot was everywhere and right now only 50% or so of the yard is bald.

And yes, we have always mowed it high and other then when it was first installed kept watering to a minimum. Very high humidity is a factor contributing to our fungal problems, as well as shade and water retaining soil.
lou_spicewood_tx
17 years ago
Corn meal is both cure and prevention as long as there is right set of organisms in the soil such as trichoderma fungi which attacks harmful fungi. That's where compost comes in. Soybean meal which is also fungi food but has higher amount of protein translating into more nitrogen to encourage more growth to fill in bare spots. Soybean meal *may* support trichodermia fungi but not like corn meal.

High humidity never really bothered my mom's lawn in Houston so no big deal as long as soil biology is properly working, it shouldn't be an issue.
dchall_san_antonio
17 years ago
It is hard to know exactly why your lawn is doing that, but with corn meal it really doesn't matter. It is both cure and prevention for nearly all turf fungal diseases. It also happens to be a fertilizer so you won't have to fertilize at all if you use corn meal every 60 days.

I get ORDINARY corn meal in 50-pound bags at the feed store. This year I paid $7.85. That's up a dollar from last year.
tonyn1855
17 years ago
I am having the same problems with my St. Aug. I now have large bare spots. What is the best option? I used a weed and seed a month ago - it killed some weeds and helped with some areas, but the bare spots are an embarrassment. Am I going to have to lay sod? Thanks.