Hmmm. Lots of questions. It is normal for the grass to slow down this time of year. It's also fairly normal for it to begin having browning, but I do think you have brown patch (fungal) issues, which will cause the browning and slow growth as well. The big brown circle you describe is one of it's most obvious clues, especially if it starts to green up again starting in the middle and working outward, causing a donut look. Google brown patch with st. augustine and you will find lots of information with suggestions for control. Don't panic, it won't kill the grass, just make it kind of ugly at times. I don't have grasshoppers so I don't know if they attack St.A. The ragged tips could be a dull mower blade, and could be from mowing while the grass is wet.
In winter, I don't water my St.A much - maybe just a couple of times if it's been really dry. Or if there's a nasty cold spell expected I'll water before as that helps protect the roots. (You should also water all your plants before a cold spell if there hasn't been much rain).
I think you could stop your biweekly watering now.
Hope this helps. I'd really research the brown patch and formulate a plan for control for next year.

Neil Sperry's web site as a pretty good FAQ for St. Augustine. Dittos debndal on all points.
J.D.

My backyard St. Augustine is also ragged looking right now. Do you have a mulberry tree nearby? The webworms seem to be responsible for my raggedy lawn.

Once you've replaced the brown patch, you might want to spread some corn meal in the area to keep the fungus at bay.

I'm going to jinx myself by typing this, but I think we've finally figured out that the key to keeping our St. Augustine looking good is pretty simple: keep it watered and keep it fed. The mulching mower, a few bags of molasses and a thin layer of compost once or twice a year seem to take care of the feeding. And I'm reducing the lawn size gradually so I don't have as much to water. Beneficial nematodes gobble up the soil critters who might eat your lawn.

The amount of water and when you apply are two things I would look at and tweak if needed.

1. Water early in the morning and not evening. This allows the grass time to dry before sunset and helps keep fungal problems down.
2. How much water to apply, is not known unless you measure it. (15 minutes at what rate?) I suggest getting a few shallow cans Tuna (dolphin-free:) and put them out close to sprinkler head, mid- way and close to next sprinkler head. Use this to calibrate the flow of water across the areas to about 1 to 1.25 inches with each watering. Once to twice a week during the hot part of the year and by now you should be closer to once every other week but it will depend on the soil underneath your sod. 6 inches or more of decent soil is preferred. If less than you may need to add less water to each water cycle but more frequently.

3. Add compost spring and fall as you can and decide if you are going to chemically or organically feed your lawn. Mulch mowing (sharpen blade a few times each season) should provide 15 to 25% of your nitrogen needs and help add organic matter to the soil over time.

4. The lawn forum has a few guys from Texas that are quite helpful and a few ornery folks but ask there once in a while if we aren't able to help.

Hope this adds a little to your learning curve and as always... Happy Growing David

By any chance, is it Raleigh st augustine? It has a reputation for poor brown patch tolerance.

What I would do is spread a thin (1/3")later of compost followed by corn meal at the rate of 20lbs per 1000 sqft on the entire lawn (get it from animal feed store, much cheaper; just don't tell them what it's for), water them in and hope they recover in time for spring green up. You'll have to hand spread corn meal.

While compost is expensive, you only have to do it once. That's it. Just apply soybean meal every 3 months with rotary spreader at the rate of 20lbs per 1000 sqft. It probably will help to spray molasses after you've put down soybean meal. I use ortho dial sprayer set at 2oz. I buy unsulfured molasses from walmart because i know it is unsulfured not sulfured. I mix apple cider vinegar (50-50) in the container of ortho dial (full container) and just spray on the lawn.

Mow high like 4 inches during the summer to dramatically reduce watering frequency (i go 10-14 days before I have to water heavily)

Your watering method is all wrong, I'm sorry to say. 15 minute each time won't cut it. It basically promote shallow root growth. You have to figure out how long to water about 1 inch worth of water. Use the tuna cans all over the lawn to find out. Check every 15 minutes till they are full. What watering deeply and very infrequently do is to force them to grow roots deep into the soil to search for moisture. That's how they can go a long time before needing water because it's a lot cooler and moist at that depth. It also cuts down weeds. Weed seeds want frequent watering. Mowing at 4 inches also prevent sunlight on the ground preventing seeds to germinate. Mowing at 4 inches keep the ground a lot cooler and moist even during 100*F weather. Organic program helps a lot (better than chemical program). Just observe the lawn. If the grass starts to wilt (50% of lawn), water deeply. Repeat. It could be weeks before that happens. It could be 5 days. It all depends on weather. Just pay attention to the lawn. It will dramatically cut down watering that way.

Usually, you don't need to water during the winter since you get enough rain but if should you go a few weeks without a significant rain with no rain in forecast, water deeply. Typically you shouldn't need to water till summer unless it's drier than usual in the fall-winter-spring.

Lou midlothian or others...will Lou's corn meal/molasses/vinegar treatment work on all grasses? Such as buffalograss and Shadow Turf (a zoysia mix)??

And is it corn meal or corn gluten meal....or does it make any difference?

Thanks,
Sandy

Sandy,

corn meal is your organic fungicide but not the way you think it works. It feeds beneficial trichodermia fungi that will overwhelm the bad fungi like brown patch. Regularly use of corn meal will prevent although soybean meal may be sufficient to keep up trichodermia fungi population. They just really like corn meal and just explodes in population growth.

It should work on any grass that is prone to those types of fungus attacks.

Molasses/Vinegar mix is just to feed the microbes in the soil. It helps suck up excess nitrate (a form of nitrogen) in the soil that weeds thrives on so it has some weed control, i suppose. It is just to improve the soil. Vinegar is used to thin out molasses so it can be sucked up easily with Ortho dial sprayer. Molasses is pretty thick. I think it is useful for someone who is starting out in organic program to speed things up a bit. Probably won't work as good after 3-5 years since the soil is much improved (nutrient cycling) as long as chemical of any kind is not used including heribicide, pesticide, fingicide, anything with -cide and synthetic fertilizer as well due to salts that kill soil biology to a degree.

Yes, it is corn meal, not corn gluten meal. Two different products.

Corn gluten meal has a lot of protein in it that makes it a great fertilizer. however, the price is too high. Soybean meal is a better choice for money wise.

Lou...thanks for the info. I've always managed to have a very nice looking lawn (IMHO) everywhere we've lived with whatever grass was in the region...bermuda, centipede, St. Augustine, fescue. But this buffalograss is giving me fits! I've tried to adjust my approach and follow a landscaper's advice of "benign neglect," but I still haven't achieved the results I'd like. I'm still learning how this grass would like to be treated.

I had been thinking of dried molasses, not the gooey jar stuff, so now the vinegar makes perfect sense.

Sandy