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barten_gw

Can my St. Augustine come back?

17 years ago

I moved into this place in October. The previous owner had done a bad job of watering the lawn (St. Augustine) and there were/are some grey patches here and there. A large section of the lawn was under the shade/roots of two large trees I removed in October and was mostly dirt.

In another posting you can see that I've gone the organic route and I've just put down molasses, soy, organic fertilizer (kelp, chicken manure), compost tea, etc. I've just started watering (will do the heavy drenching once a week).

Now, the area that had been underneath the trees is covered in some weeds (they started last fall), tiny ones, almost like moss/clover.

Anyway, I wasn't worried at all because I've been living under the assumption that the St. Augstine will, soon, start to grow and fill out the empty spaces and take over the weeds. I'm in no rush, 2-3 years.

BUT today I had a gardener over and she said I had little shot, that the St. Augustine was not going to win.

I'm thinking about hiring a lawn consultant type but I'm just worried about them being mmm economically conflicted.

Any thoughts?

Comments (9)

  • 17 years ago

    Re sod the area with SA are my two-cents worth.

  • 17 years ago

    Do you say that because it will speed it up or because my chances are low without doing the re-sod?

  • 17 years ago

    Pictures would help. If the runners(stolons) are brown, they are dead. If you live in southern half of Texas, get Floratam. Fast grower. Will fill in fast when properly maintained. Mine does pretty good up in Dallas area although they are not sold up here because of "poor" cold tolerance (most likely due to poor maintenance by homeowners). Turf expert from A&M turf research place in Dallas has Floratam for many years and survived low single digit temperature at his house.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Floratam st augustine

  • 17 years ago

    Here are some pics:

    In this one you can see that there _is_ some green grass. That amount is growing everyday...lots of weeds...some places are better than others.

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  • 17 years ago

    You have dead grass. Brown stolons means dead unfortunately. Where are you located exactly? Maybe I can help you find Floratam st augustine pieces to plant in random spots and let them fill in.

    It would have to be warm and moist for dead grass to break down. Molasses will speed up decay.

    I may be tempted to use synthetic fertilizer instead to speed up growth. Lesco 15-5-10 from Home Depot would be fine for now and worry about organic later.

  • 17 years ago

    Thanks for the help. I live in Dallas, lawn faces the south so full Texas sun. If I put down pieces of sod, how much do you think I need to put down? I have 10,000 sq feet of front lawn so....

    I assume when you put it down you can cut into 6x6 pieces and make them flush with the rest and at some point they all meet?
    Man what a mess :)

  • 17 years ago

    Bummer. You live too far up north. The farthest north I'm aware is in Conroe that I picked up to plant at my mom's in Houston. I don't really know what else to recommend except order them online from lawnplug website. Sapphire and Floratam fill in VERY fast compared to Palmetto and Raleigh. I used to have Palmetto in the backyard but it got a virus and started dying off. Raleigh seems to be prone to fungal disease as I've observed my neighbors' Raleigh lawn. I have Sapphire in my front yard and so far, I haven't seen any problems after 2 years. Floratam that I got by accident filled in rapidly after Palmetto have died off.

    I would just plug in every 5 feet because they Sapphire and Floratam fill in rapidly. 10,000 sqft... wow. That's more than my size lot. Can't imagine trying to water that much for that size with the drought...

  • 17 years ago

    I found this place just 30 minutes from me: TurfGrass America.
    The lady there said that this would work best for our area:
    http://www.turfgrassamerica.com/iProduct.aspx?ProdID=126
    St. Augustine Del Mar , description at the bottom of this note.

    It says vigorous, I'll have to find out what that means exactly. $170 for a pallet...which if it can do every 5 feet would be enough I think. I'm on a 2 year schedule so I know it'll eventually get there.

    Yes, it is a big lawn and I am worried about the water. I'm considering either rainwater collection and/or reverse osmosis from a nearby creek!

    St. Augustine
    DelMar®
    Stenotaphrum secundatum
    DelMar® St. Sugustine
    DelMar® St. Augustine is a vigorous, dark emerald green, medium-coarse textured lawn grass. It is one of the most cold tolerant varieties of St. Augustine making it a great choice in colder climates such as Dallas/Ft. Worth, and has very good shade tolerance. It also grows well in full sun. DelMar® turns golden brown in its dormancy. DelMar® tests at the top of National testing in overall quality among St. Augustines. DelMar® is the highest ranking cold tolerant, St. Augustine Decline Disease Free St. Augustine grass available.
    DelMar® St. Augustine is a vigorous, dark emerald green, medium-coarse textured lawn grass. It is one of the most cold tolerant varieties of St. Augustine making it a great choice in colder climates such as Dallas/Ft. Worth, and has very good shade tolerance. It also grows well in full sun. DelMar® turns golden brown in its dormancy. DelMar® tests at the top of National testing in overall quality among St. Augustines. DelMar® is the highest ranking cold tolerant, St. Augustine Decline Disease Free St. Augustine grass available.
    Area: 1, 2, 3, & 4
    Intended Use: Residential & Commercial
    Availability: Sod
    Mowing Height: 3" Optimum

  • 17 years ago

    Trust me. Delmar is VERY slow spreading variety so not very good as plug type.