I could start on the 'evil St. Augustine' soapbox, but frankly I'm tired of it.

You are a homeowner with a lawn problem. Return the chemicals to Home Depot and call in a reputable lawn service to fix your problem before you make it worse. Then spend some time searching the archives here for suggestions to replace your lawn with something else.

Fawnridge...thank you for your suggestions. As a first time home owner, i too probably think i am better off leaving it to the pros! I don't want to sound ignorant ( i have just moved to FL from NYC ..no grass there) but what is wrong with St Augustine? It seems that its the only grass that grows down here in Miami. I am not a huge fan of the way it feels and it does seem to have lots of problems but when i research other options for South Florida St Augustine always comes up as the best. If you know of any other lush green grass options i would love to know. As i said i am VERY new to the lawn thing having lived in a city my entire adult life.

If you search the archives you'll find all the answers. But to give you a short synopsis:

There is nothing more expensive to maintain in the landscape as St. Augustine grass. It needs too much water, too many chemicals, and far too much attention to really make it worthwhile. Trees, shrubs, ponds, rocks, patios, you name it, anything is a better alternative.

But please, take some time and search through the older threads. This one has been debated time and time again.

We get a little crazy about lawns on this forum. If you search through the old postings, you will see lawn discussions can get very heated. You will find as you live longer and longer in Florida that lawns take a tremendous amount of time, energy, money and chemicals. You will throw yourself and your wallet against them over and over and the bugs and weeds will keep fighting you. That said, there are people who just love them. I remember moving to Florida as a kid from Brooklyn and thinking all the green was incredible. Nothing like it in NY for sure.

I would take Fawnridge's advice and get a lawn service. But while you are doing that, look to see where you can plant some other things and reduce the size of your lawn. Keep some of your lawn. Lots of us do. This forum will give you incredible ideas about other alternatives. Growing plants that fit into our Florida climate is so much more rewarding. In South Florida you can grow some of the most incredible plants! The weather is just perfect for it.

Welcome to Florida and this forum. Good luck.

Ricky, easier said than done to get rid of it. The in-city neighborhoods make it mandatory to have the front yard with the grass of their choice and here it is the evil Augustine :-/
I am waiting daily for a threatening letter from them about the many grassy weeds that are replacing the Augustine in our front yard.
All afternoon I was out front on my hands and knees pulling that 'spongy' grass and adding Augustine plugs *sigh*

Those lawn chemical companies, do they all do the same good job, or can anyone recommend a certain company?
Any specific questions the home owner should ask of those lawn guys?
Is it enough to have them come for just like half a year? They are expensive, aren't they?

Evelyn

Unless the operator, and not just the company, is trained and certified by the state of Florida I wouldn't even consider them. But most of them lay down a heavy chemical attack to kill just about everything and then they pump in some powerful fertilzer that stresses the daylights out of the grass and makes it grow like it just came out of a sod farm.

Evelyn, I would check with the city and see if you can't reduce the size of your lawn by adding native shrubs and xeroscaping now that we're under water restrictions. Perhaps even put in Bahia grass instead.

i have a beautiful, low-maintenance st augustine. i use a lawn co. (tru green). they come once a quarter, charge me $35 each time. i tell them to use the absolute minimum of fertilizer and not to use herbicide or pesticide unless absolutely necessary. they are MORE than happy to comply with my request. definitely worth the money. i very rarely irrigate (even the last two very dry summers). sure, it looks like crap sometimes, but the first rainstorm returns it to its beautiful blue-greeness.

the key, in my experience, is to give it a fair amount of shade -- more than the lawn companies or brochures tell you. it reduces stress, and happy grass can deal with pests and weeds. what's more, my wife (who loves to mow -- go figure) mows it ONCE A MONTH in the wet and hot season. yeah, it looks shaggy by the time she mows it, and, yeah, i bought a super high hp mower... but no one in his or her right mind could call my yard high maintenance.

personally, i love augie, think it's beautiful, and that it has its place in a yard... but that's just it. a place. think of st augustine as one piece of the what should be the quilt of your yard. wherever i have full sun, i've replace my turf with mulch beds (full of native and non-native butterfly plants), native grasses, dietes vegata, pavers -- anything that requires no irrigation and little attention. who wants to work in full sun, anyway?

I have a St. Augustine lawn as well. I enjoy doing almost all of the yard work myself, but i learned quickly that you leave St. Augustine lawns to the pros - its just too much of a headache. If there is a problem with the lawn, i just call them and give them a "friendly" reminder and they are out in a couple of days to fix the problem - no extra charge.

when i was looking for a lawn chemical company i was going to use Trugreen, then i googled them. wow! i'm glad i did. lets put it this way, i'm glad i selected Scotts!!!

long story short - its worth the money to have them do it...

hope this helps!

Evelyn,

How old is your neighborhood? If you check out Florida Statute 720.3075, specifically subsection (4), you will see:

Homeowners' association documents, including declarations of covenants, articles of incorporation, or bylaws, entered after October 1, 2001, may not prohibit any property owner from implementing Xeriscape or Florida-friendly landscape, as defined in s. 373.185(1), on his or her land.

If you look at Florida Statute 373.185(1), specifically subsection (b), you will see:

"Xeriscape" or "Florida-friendly landscape" means quality landscapes that conserve water and protect the environment and are adaptable to local conditions and which are drought tolerant. The principles of Xeriscape include planning and design, appropriate choice of plants, soil analysis which may include the use of solid waste compost, efficient irrigation, practical use of turf, appropriate use of mulches, and proper maintenance.

It's all laid out in black and white. You don't have to keep that St. Augustine lawn if you're HOA documents were recorded after 10-01-01.

Avalon Park, our neighborhood is a bit older than 2001... Really, there is always two sides to everything. We moved into a controlled neighborhood for just that reason, since we got burnt pretty bad where we lived before with people doing whatever they wanted to do (what a trashy neighborhood that turned into!)
The strip between street and sidewalk is the easement and cannot be planted with stuff, I do understand the subdivision wants the uniform look at the streets. We already moved the fence out and forward to the sidewalk to the absolute allowed limit, and widened the flowerbeds at the front side. In the backyard is just a small grassy area with no problems.
I will contact trugreen and scotts and see what they have to say about the frontyard.

Thanks for all your help

Evelyn