How long before you return and can take pictures of your lawn? Also, where in Los Angeles are you? I would not use Marathon east of the 410 freeway. St Augustine would be much preferred.

I would also not install a sprinkler on a 300 square foot lawn. Assuming it's a rectangle, I would use a good oscillator sprinkler (about $25) instead.

I would also not overseed with winter rye, especially with a damaged turf underneath. There might be a lot of your damaged lawn that will recover with proper watering. DO NOT REMOVE IT.

I am not very impressed with your current mower guy. He's mowing the grass far too short and giving you bad advice. St Augustine should always be mowed at the highest setting on the mower deck. Your guy is being lazy and cutting it low simply to demonstrate how good a job he's doing by removing sacks and sacks of grass. That's the opposite of good lawn care. Furthermore winter rye has a serious problem in the spring in that it doesn't want to go away and allow the St Augustine to awaken normally. The lawn should awaken in late March at the latest, but the rye will delay it possibly until May. That is not good for the St Augustine. Also (seems like this is a long list of things I don't like about him) he wants to use stinky steer manure. What he should be using is organic fertilizer. Why? He'll need about 400 pounds of steer manure for your small yard but only 6 pounds of organic fertilizer to get the same fertilizer value. When you're paying by the hour, that makes a big difference. He's giving you the most expensive options every step of the way. Both of them are. You could hire a high school kid and get better service.

What would I do? I would get a sprinkler like this one

at either HD or Lowe's (if they still have them on the shelves). It's made of metal. They make a look-alike that is all plastic. My plastic look-alike broke fast. Take a little time and learn how to adjust it to cover your entire grassy area. Then find some cat food or tuna cans and place them around the yard. Time how long it takes to fill all the cans. That will become your watering time from now on. That's 1 inch of water, and it seems like a loooooooong time to water and may even seem like wasting water. It takes my sprinkler 8 hours to fill the cans. But here's the trick: you only water when the grass needs it. I'm going to assume you live in the part of LA where the summer temps get into the 80s. If you were deep watering every time, you would only need to water once every 2 weeks ONCE the grass was adjusted to the deep and infrequent watering schedule. That means the grass has to have developed deep roots which can take the deep water cycling.

So once you have done deep watering once, give it a few days to see if you get new green sprouts of St Augustine in the areas where the chinch bugs were. Also I might call foul on the chinch bugs diagnosis. Did that damage happen where the driveway concrete meets the sidewalk concrete? Because chinch bug damage almost always starts at the corner where two hot slabs of concrete meet. If the damage started in the middle, then your landscaper was (once again) milking you to pay for an insecticide application. Also chinch bugs are easy enough to see if you know how.

What else would I do? I would consider buying my own lawn mower and hiring a neighbor boy or girl to mow it once a week. That way you can be assured it will be mowed at the proper height every time. Mowing St Aug too short encourages weeds and it just looks short. Here is a picture of our cat lying in the grass (not on the grass).

dchall_san_antonio, Thank You! Thank You! WOW! Based on the wealth of information that you have shared with me, I really have my work cut out for me. SMILE! Since I’m not as young as I use to be and I am not able to work in the yard like I use to, I really have to rely on the landscapers that are in my neighborhood/willing to come to my neighborhood for most of my lawn & yard help needs.

For the most part, my landscaper only cuts my lawn, trims my lawn, uses his leaf blower, and is gone in a flash! From about start to finish, he is done in about 12 minutes. I also forgot to mention that I have a parkway, that is about 4' x 20', that he cuts and edges as well. However, I do not have a lawn in my backyard. Unfortunately, in my neighborhood, most of the landscapers “seem” to be very flaky and unreliable. The younger ones (about 25 to 45 in age) seem to want 3 to 4 times as much for the same work done by the landscapers that are 50+ years old (yet I’m only talking about the extras . . . like weeding, trimming hedges, cleaning the weeds out of the cracks in the yard and driveway, but not just the basic lawn cutting and edging). However I’m not sure what that big difference in price is about, when I look at the ages of the landscapers. Yet in my neighborhood, I have a mixture of personality types that are Mr. Know It All, arrogant, and temperamental . . . these guys are the worse to deal with! The landscaper that told me that I don’t have to dig up the dead grass, was a very nice 50+ year old landscaper that I hired last week to “only” clean out my flowerbeds (in my front and back yards), and he trimmed a lot of my hedges in my front and back yards. He did an outstanding job in a timely manner for only $100, whereas the quotes I received from 2 other landscapers (who were about 25 to 30 years of age), they both wanted between $600 - $800 to do the exact same job as the older landscaper! Yet in all honesty, the work that I wanted done (flowerbed cleaning and hedge trimming) was light duty and should have not costs over $150 at the very most. Plus what I needed done, should not take anyone longer than 4 hours to complete. So the landscaper that did the work, was totally done in about 3 ½ hours, and he did an outstanding and very satisfactory job. Since he was at my house, I asked him for his advice on how I should fix my lawn, and he said that I “should not” dig up the dead grass, etc.

Yet the bottom line is, it SUCKS to get old. When I was younger, I used to be able to take care of my entire lawn and yard by myself without any help. Now that I’m old, I feel like I’m at the mercy of any landscaper that is willing to give me the time of day. I don’t think that I’m a cheapskate, but getting a quote for $600 - $800 to do some simple yard work, is just ludicrous!

In the next several weeks, I will try to try all of your recommendations. Most of all, thank you so very kindly for taking the time to read my post and look at those photos to share an abundance of advice with me.

What brand or type of organic fertilizer do you recommend for a St. Augustine lawn? When is a good time to put it down and how often?

I won’t be back home until sometime next month (November), since I’m spending time with my family out of town, while trying to stay in and be safe due to COVID-19. Since COVID-19, I only go to my house once a month, to check on my house and get my mail. My house is about 3 miles east of the 405 (San Diego Freeway) or about 3 miles west of the 110 (Harbor Freeway) or about mid way between both the 405 and 110 freeways, in Los Angeles.

I do have an oscillating sprinkler that I have used on my lawn for over 25 years. Currently while I’m out of town, one of my family members water’s the lawn about once a week. However since we had some very hot days during the summer, my lawn did not get enough water to handle those very hot days. :-(

Thanks a MILLION, for your help! :-)

dchall_san_antonio, thank you so very, very much for your followup help. I greatly appreciate it.

Congratulations on getting your body back in shape. It is always great to discover that with a little exercise, our body is really not in as bad of shape that we think it is. “To your health!” :-)

I plan to definitely keep my St. Augustine grass. I really love the idea of what my landscaper wants to do to a certain extent, but that is way too expensive and much more than I can afford at this time. At the end of the day, I just want my lawn to look good/nice . . . but my lawn does not have to be the best looking lawn on my block. :-)

Hmmm . . . I never thought about using corn meal and rabbit feed. That would be a change and I’m open to giving it a try, but I do have a lot of feral cats and a few squirrels in my neighborhood, so I’m wondering would they start eating on the organic fertilizer. SMILE! Yet for sure, I will plan to give your recommendations a try.

Thanks a MILLION for your help!!! :-)

Almost everyone asks if our organic approach, using grain type fertilizers, will attract deer, birds, (fill in your critter here). It doesn't seem to with the possible exception of birds. I'm not sure if there are more birds or whether its just that we're looking at the lawn and seeing the normal daily wildlife. We have a neighbor who throws out 50 pounds of corn for the deer every day. Well, the geese have finally discovered the cache of corn and visit often. But when I put out cornmeal I never see more deer in the yard. The deer in my yard are after the low hanging fruit on the pear tree, not the grass.

I should tell you something about alfalfa pellets. They are compressed alfalfa flakes. After you apply you should dampen them (not soak them). About 12 hours after they get damp they grow into green "worms" comprised of the loosened flakes that sit on top of the grass. Those need to be in the soil to work. What I do is drag my hose across the yard, and that knocks the loose alfalfa off the top and down through the turf to the soil. Fun!

Hello dchall_san_antonio. Thank you so very, very much for your continued help. I greatly appreciate it.

I’m hoping by this time next year, I’ll have one of the nicer lawns on my block.

Thanks again, for everything. :-)

Thank you both for a very interesting conversation.

Once you get the watering dialed in, growing St Augustine is very low hassle. I posted a pic of our cat in the grass up above. Here's what we started with in the back.

The previous owner left me with that. The people across the street ran our water district and smirked when I told them I was going to have a full St Augustine yard. They said I would incur penalties for using too much water. That never happened. You can't see it but there was a thin line of St Augustine growing up against the house under the 3 windows and along the porch to the right. I started with a soaker hose in those spots and let the St Augustine do its thing. I encouraged it by only watering and feeding the real grass and not watering or feeding the rest of the prairie grasses that were there. It took 6 years to fill the entire back yard, and three of those were drought years (including the first year and this year). Here's the rough equivalent view today. The St Augustine has not quite crept out to the street in this spot, but it has in the front.

dchall_san_antonio, thank you once again for your continued support and help. Your “after” photo looks amazing! You definitely have a Green Thumb, and know what you are doing!

Thanks so very, very much. :-)

Stop it! @dchall_san_antonio that's all from watering and organic fert? No plugging or sodding at all!?! I'm beyond convinced.

One piece of St Augustine sends runners 10 to 15 feet in all directions every year. Of course runners are not a dense sod. The next year those first runners will fill in to become dense plus send new runners 10 to 15 feet further. It seems to spread faster and better in the shade, but once it is fully established in the shade, it has no trouble expanding into the full sun.

Hello San Antonio. It is amazing to see how your lawn turns out from very little of St. Augustine. My backyard has that similar situation where there is about 15 sq ft of St. Augustine that has been growing beautifully under both of my citrus trees but has no success of growing outward. Many time it has turn brown and I am not sure of what reason. The rest of the 1000 sq footage are filled with weeds and bermuda. The bermuda are mostly on the edge of the opposite side of the St. Augustline. I am thinking of pulling out those weeds and reseed my lawn with bermuda or something else if you could please recommend. I live in Covina, CA off the 10 fwy. I will get some pictures on the weekend and will post them here. My lawn has a shady spot (300 sq ft) but i think it has at least 6 hours of direct sun. Thank you for taking the time to read my post.

@Megatron Can you detail your cultural habits? Irrigation, mowing height and frequency, and fertilization?

Megatron, be sure you are mowing at your mower's highest setting. The probable reason the grass is not growing away from the trees is the soil is too dry. You should be watering deeply (1 inch all at one time) and infrequently (once a month or 3 weeks this time of year). Don't fertilize until Memorial Day and don't use herbicide until mid April. When the weather warms into summer, gradually increase the frequency of watering until you are watering deeply once a week.

I lived on the other side of the hill at Cal Poly for 5 years and my wife lived in El Monte, so I'm pretty familiar with the area.

Good evening Chis and San Antonio. I set my mower to the middle tab on both front and back wheels on my mower (Husquarna 7021p- 5 tab adjustment) I cannot tell what height it is. I am watering the lawn with a hose (I read of your post on watering schedule, so I will do that once I have my sprinkler spray head fixed). The lawn is really in bad shape and has a lot of weeds and some bermuda grass I think. Soil has not been fertilized or conditioned and I have been putting used coffee ground on my lawn last year.

I am planning on putting bermuda seeds and I can only find the common bermuda seeds in hardware store. I have read about hybrid bermuda seeds like “blackjack” and ”princess”. But they are sold out online. And I am not sure if it is suitable for my area. I wonder if you can suggest me on what option I have of the kind of seeds I can use or just let that patch of St Augustine grass and the patch of bermuda grass near the concrete to grow. I know my soil will need some stuff on it after those weeds are pulled out (any suggestions). I read your post about not to use a tiller, but what about a hand fork? Sorry I am new to lawn care. I just don’t know where to start and what equipment, tools, weed killer, seeds, topsoil, fertilizer and seed cover to use. I will be attaching some pictures of my lawn later today. Again, thank you for taking the time to read my post. Please let me know if I should start a new post. I apologize to the starter of this post that I hijacked your post.

But has at least 6 hours of sun

Ideally you should start a new topic.

I believe you did not get a normal amount of rain this winter. Have you been watering? I ask because I see some nut grass in the pictures, and nutgrass prefers really wet roots. Once you start watering deeply and infrequently, the nutgrass should go away/dormant without doing anything else.

Raise your mower all the way to the top. The top is around 4 inches, but it it is 6 inches, so much the better. Look up above in this thread to the picture of my back yard with the cat in it. See how the cat is nestled down into the grass. In fact, since this is your back yard, you don't have to mow it at all. St Augustine will grow up to 32 inches tall. It's not a lot of fun to play in, but the point is the grass will do very well even when left alone.

In mid April spray the yard with this product from Walmart. Atrazine is the important ingredient.

This herbicide will wipe out everything except the St Augustine and bermuda. Spray on a day with little wind, walk backwards when you spray, and walk into the wind so any wind carries the spray away from you. This is a leaf misting spray, not a soil drench. You don't have to spray longer where the weeds are. It takes about 3 weeks before you realize all the weeds are dead and gone. If you are watering deeply and infrequently, both grasses should thrive. Ultimately the St Augustine will march through the bermuda and choke it out, because the tall St Augustine provides too much shade onto the common bermuda. This will take a few years or you can buy new St Augustine sod to speed up the process. You should not ever need to reseed into bermuda. If you have bermuda and it's not doing well, you're doing something wrong and even new seed will struggle. Besides, for you in Covina the best time to put down bermuda seed is in late June and July. If you put seed down now it won't germinate until late June or July when the soil is hot enough.

Two more things: First, spray your yard with baby shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. If your yard is 1,000 square feet, put 3 ounces into the bottle of a hose end sprayer, fill the bottle with water, set the adjuster on any spray flow, and spray it all out evenly until it is gone. You can use any clear shampoo - it doesn't have to be baby shampoo. Whatever Dollar Tree has and you like the fragrance is fine. Second, call these feed stores to see if they have corn meal, soybean meal, or alfalfa pellets (ask for rabbit chow). Get prices for a 50 pound bag. Any one of these materials will do, so pick any one you like and spread it at a rate of 15 to 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Corn meal will be the cheapest at under $10. If they quote you $20 or $30, they're talking about corn gluten meal, not ordinary cornmeal. CGM works, too, but it costs more. All these are organic fertilizers. I think I mentioned to wait until late May to fertilize. If you use an organic, you can do it NOW (two weeks ago). Your soil looks gray and not healthy. If you want to get a soil test, send it to Logan Labs in Ohio. I know UCR and UCD do soil testing in California, but Logan Labs performs more tests on the soil for less money than the universities do. Get the $25 test. Let us know and we'll tell you where to send the results for a free reading telling you all about the soil.

As a side note, it looks like someone has topdressed your yard too many times with too much soil. The soil level looks about 1.5 inches too high. It should be down closer to the edge of the concrete. If you ever chose to renovate, you should be removing soil and not bringing in more.

Thank you for the information San Antonio. In the meantime, should I start using the garden fork and to pull out some of the weeds? I will get the herbicide you have suggested to use it in April. My lawn used to have a lot of earwigs and I have seen grubs. What would be best to use? I am trying not to use chemicals because there are my citrus trees in the corner. I am very thankful for all your inputs.

By the way, is the shampoo to loosen up the soil?

Don't bother forking up the weeds. They will die and wilt away completely in April/May.

As for insects, once you start using organic fertilizer, it is surprising how the insect populations become a non-problem. When the soil microbes and beneficial insects are fed from the organic fertilizer, the predatory insect pests come under natural control. Insecticide is probably the worst product you can use, so only use it if you see the actual pests in sufficient numbers to be causing you problems.

Yes, shampoo will loosen the soil. It is the beneficial fungi that loosen it, but the shampoo facilitates the environment for those fungi.

I appreciate you taking the time again to answer my post. Have a great weekend.