Best St. Augustine for DFW

18 years ago

I recently discovered one of my children is highly allergic to Bermudagrass. We have a large yard full of very nice hybrid bermuda, and since we started forcing shoes and socks outside, the eczema has cleared up on the legs.

I have therefore decided to switch to St. Augustine, and I was wondering what kind does best here in DFW. I was going to use a kiddie pool to accomplish this - we fill it up, let the kids play several days, then move it and replace bare spot with St. Augustine sod. The house is new so the trees are still small, but eventually there will be some shady live oaks (in 20 years). Any advice?

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Comments (8)

mashtunyock
18 years ago
Stinkbone,
I'm evaluating the same subject, as I'd like to replace my Bermuda with St. Augustine. Raleigh is by far the most common variety around here, and reportedly has good resistance to the SAD virus. Palmetto is an interesting choice, as it supposedly does better in shade and can tolerate colder temperatures, but is more susceptible to the SAD virus...

I've got several trees, so I'm seriously considering Palmetto (I've got a handful of plugs in the back yard that are doing great - bought them at Calloways) but I guess I have to determine what is most likely - Raleigh being killed by a particularly cold winter, or Palmetto dying off from SAD... I'm leaning towards going with Raleigh, as it seems to do OK in the DFW area (I guess we haven't had a "serious" cold snap since '83).
skoot_cat
18 years ago
I would go with Floratam hands down. Its the most drought tolerant of all S.A. varieties and does well in shade.

Unfortunately I don't think your kiddy pool idea is going to work. Tell you honestly, I know its not going to work. Bermuda is one of the toughest home lawns out there. If you are trying to rid your Bermuda entirely, you will have to hit it several(at least 3x) with Round-Up-Pro in order to kill it. 3x may not even be enough.
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jimmygiii
18 years ago
To kill the Bermuda, let it grow to 3" tall, spray with roundup, wait 4 days, cut it to the ground, spray with roundup again.
stinkbone
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks everyone so far. I will tell you that my neighbor's St. Augustine is already invading my front yard, and my experience is that St. Augustine will easily take over bermuda if given enough water and grown tall. My plan was digging out the bermuda sod entirely under the pool, and replacing it with the St. A. I see an ad for a local nursey that has 2 2/3 foot pieces of Raleigh for 99 cents each, so I will only need a few pieces at a time. I do prefer the feel of the tiffway on my feet, but mowing so often (4 days) and so low (1") really stinks. My mower also will leave circles in the bermuda - can't wait to get rid of it.
skoot_cat
18 years ago
Even if you stick with your plan you will still have some Bermuda mixed in with your St.Augustine. Trust me Im living proof.

Last year I re-sodded my front yard with S.A.(click my user name for more info) I used a sod cutter and cut out the existing Bermuda,Bahia and weeds, Spread compost 2" thick, then laid S.A. sod. Besides the 2" of compost, the sod had another 2" of soil/muck. So there was a total 4" of soil in between the turf and subsoil. Plus, I mow at 4.25" year round. And guess what? The Bermuda still made it through, and continues survive. I'd say my lawn is approximately 90% S.A. mixed with 10% Bermuda.

I Irrigate my S.A. once a week with 1" of water an I'm currently mowing every 4 days. In winter I water bi-weekly and mow about once a month.

If you don't mind having some Bermuda mixed in with the S.A. then your plan will work just fine.
jjfrisco
18 years ago
I have a stupid question. Before you start spraying and digging and spending money on St. Augustine, have you checked to see if your son/daughter is allergic to St. Augustine?

I also think that you will probably never get rid of the bermuda, but hope for a 95% St. Augustine lawn with some bermuda mixed in. Shoes and socks outside may just be a fact of life.

Good luck with the grass and kiddo.
texas_weed
18 years ago
Skoot, Floratam is not good choice in DFW. Winter will kill it eventually as DFW does get some freezing weather in winter.

Now with that said the bad news. The chances are you will never kill off the Bermuda in DFW.
lou_spicewood_tx
18 years ago
I dunno. I have Floratam if that's what I have and it seems to do fine and it faced 14*F weather a couple years ago with little damage and it spreads very fast so recovery would be pretty quick. I think it is entirely based on the 1980s when it was super cold with all kinds of records that killed high percentage of Floratam however you can make them tougher by providing 3-1-2 fertilizer type in the fall and I use alfalfa pellets that happens to be 3-1-2 range. The chances we'll see that kind of weather is small in the near immediate future unless we go back to Small Ice Age so try and plug some floratam, palmetto, and sapphire and see how that go. Floratam and Sappphire by far the most agressive spreader so they make great great great plugs that you can just plant 10 feet apart and they will fill in before year is over.

Bermuda will be never get completely get rid of. I have some so I just live with it and life goes on.