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fcweissbach

New st Augustine sod in South Texas with bad patches

12 days ago

New sod squares are browning and receding and now feels like it's progressively getting worse. All the information online seems to suggest watering more, but I'm starting to feel like this is the problem instead of the solution (we've had a lot of rain the last few weeks). I discovered this forum and corn meal and will be trying that today as I think it may be fungus related.
I contacted Bexar County Master Gardener and received some literature on the species, but the general response was still "water and wait".
My yard has 2 distinct sides, both suffering with dead squares. On Monday I spread some peat moss on the stressed patches on one side. I will try a corn meal spread on the other today.
History-
Thursday will make 3 weeks for most of the new sod. There have been some reasons for stress, but I haven't found any indication that these are the issues.
- After a week I let my dogs urinate on the grass, which I would water in, but they choose a new spot every time and the main areas they pee has been doing well.
- I installed a couple paver landing pads, which meant some foot traffic on the grass, but the areas that were subjected to the worst of it are actually doing really well and areas that saw none seem to be doing the worst.
- I hired someone to install the first 6 pallets, who purchased from their own supplier, and all the poor patches are in these areas. I originally blamed just some bad parts of a pallet but now I feel like it's getting worse. I installed the last 2 pallets (Saturday will mark 3 weeks) from a different supplier and none of these areas are showing signs of stress. Caveat is that the original 6 pallets seemed to be more mature grass, with some having length and a darker green. The last 2 pallets seemed a younger; short and lighter green but has since assimilated.
Any advice appreciated, I'm kind of going crazy here

Comments (2)

  • 12 days ago







  • 13 hours ago
    last modified: 13 hours ago

    Just out of curiosity, where did you get the sod when you bought it?

    Otherwise it looks "acceptable". It's not a showplace, yet, but it's on its way. Even if those weak looking spots die completely, the surrounding grass will stretch out into it and fill the gaps. We rarely get this amount of rain spaced so perfectly. As long as your soil under the sod is not soggy/mushy, you should be good to go.

    However, that light green weed to the right in the 3rd picture is almost certainly horse herb. If it has tiny yellow flowers, that stuff will wipe out the St Augustine if not treated. The only way I've found to be successful is using a Spectracide product. I'm an organic kind of guy, but I do cross to the dark side to handle broad leaf weeds in the St Aug. This stuff...



    ...will kill it out, now and forever. At least it has worked like that for me in San Antonio, George West, and Bandera. One and done, and the weed does not return next year.

    Before you use it read the directions 3 times. Stretch out the hose so that you have to walk backwards toward the faucet. The idea is to minimize walking through any areas already sprayed. Don't spray on a windy day. Ideally spray with your back to the wind.


    Dog pee is absolutely nothing to worry about. If you happen to see yellow spots where the dog peed, scatter a heaping handful of table sugar on that spot. In 3 weeks it will have the tallest, greenest, and most dense grass. The pee overpowers the microbes with liquid nitrogen and kills some of the beneficial microbes. Adding sugar redirects the microbes into a reproduction mode, and the new population of microbes will deal with the excess nitrogen. That process takes 3 weeks.


    What part of the county are you in? I'm inside 410 near the airport.

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