Replace bermuda lawn with St. Augustine grass
ra
12 years ago
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texas_weed
12 years agora
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Thick, dead grass - St. Augustine or Bermuda?
Comments (3)If the surface of your yard has a good profile that drains water away from all the buildings and is pretty level (no holes), then DO NOT TILL IT. Tilling will ruin the drainage and make holes in the future as the soil settles unevenly. How far away from the beach are you? Orange county is a big place. I have seen Kentucky bluegrass growing a few miles from the beach and it looks great all winter long. KBG would suffer more the farther inland you get. If you are east of Interstate 5 down to Irvine I would not try KBG. The eastern parts of Mission Viejo would be too warm for KBG but western parts are probably fine, even though it is east of I-5. Bermuda would grow anywhere in OC as would St Augustine. You don't have to sod your entire lawn with St Augustine if you are willing to wait. If you are not willing to wait, then St Aug sod is great for an instant lawn. As Lou said above, it is a coarse bladed grass. Bermuda and KBG are fine bladed grasses. Bermuda can be much more of a pain to make really nice simply because it looks shaggy unless you mow it several times a week. It is also very invasive and tenacious. St Aug and KBG are both less invasive and much less tenacious than bermuda. And they do not need nearly as much mowing. You are asking very basic questions so I'll give you the 1-2-3 guide to growing great turf. It is really just this easy. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above....See MoreReplacing Lawn w/ St Augustine - Annual Bluegrass Control
Comments (14)sarmst100, I am from the Dothan area...... Follow these steps to renovate your lawn. 1. Kill existing grass and weeds using a non-selective herbicide. The most effective products contain glyphosate. 2. Glyphosate is only effective on actively growing grass and weeds, so the area should be well-irrigated to encourage plant growth before applying the herbicide. 3. Allow the spray to dry for one day following application. Resume watering for 10 days. Spot spray areas or weeds that are still green. 4. When the existing vegetation is dead, mow the site to 1/2 inch and remove the debris by hand raking or using the bagging unit on your lawn mower. 5. If there is an existing thatch layer (a matted layer of organic matter on the soil surface) thicker than 1 inch, remove it from the lawn (a sod cutter makes thatch removal easier). 6. A thatch layer less than 1 inch is okay, but the soil must be exposed. Core cultivating(aerating)provides an excellent seed germination environment. Holes should be 1 to 3 inches deep and 2 inches apart in all directions. Â A power rake, set deep enough to expose the soil, can also be run over the lawn in two different directions. Remove loose debris by raking or using a bagging unit attached to your lawn mower. 7. Spread seed on exposed soil to allow for good seed to soil contact. 8. Seed at the labelÂs recommended rate with a drop spreader in two different directions. Follow with a light raking to work the seed into the soil. Adding topsoil or sand after seeding is NOT recommended. Newly seeded areas require different care than established lawns. Follow the recommendations below. Apply starter fertilizer at the rate recommended on the label 15-0-15. Irrigate the area should to maintain a consistently moist (but not saturated) soil. Check moisture levels in the underlying soil to prevent excessive irrigation,check to see if you have hard or soft ground, dont want to over water. Water about 1" to 1 1/2". Example: Set a empty tuna can out in the lawn(with is 1") Grass will germinate and grow more vigorously in aerification holes or slits made by the power rake. Begin mowing the lawn when it has grown to about 2 1/2 to 3 inches. Keep traffic, including children and pets, off of the lawn as much as possible, until the lawn has been mowed a few times and the new grass begins to mature. ----------------------------------------------------------- Zoysiagrass is extremely drought tolerant. Although it does turn straw colored under severe drought conditions.Zoysiagrasses are among the most wear tolerant turfgrasses. However, their slow rate of growth gives them very poor recuperative potential. Therefore, they perform satisfactorily on lawns, golf course fairways and baseball fields. It is not recommended where traffic is concentrated in certain areas. If the grass is completely worn in those areas, zoysiagrass is very slow to fill in the damaged areas. ---------------------------------------------------------- St. Augustine grass responds extremely well to being fertilized properly. Fertilize your grass right, and your St. Augustine will "knit" itself into a tight turf that naturally resists weeds. In addition, a fertilizer that contains iron will insure a maximum green color , i recommend using 15-0-15. Also be sure to cut back on your tree limbs to let the sun come in. If not the limbs are blocking the sun from coming in and the grass will die in that area. Thanks, -J & M Lawn Care / Landscaping- www.dothanlawncare.com Hope this helps... *Check out our website and drop us a line sometime*...See MoreSt. Augustine Grass vs. Bermuda
Comments (7)Best of luck. Is it just a patch or 2 or is this invading from the neighbors? If it is just a patch, you can roundup it. Once the bermuda is dead (usually takes a couple tries.) You can take plugs of st aug from another part of the yard to fill in the patch. If there is a never ending source of bermuda invasion - like a neighbors lawn, you are in trouble. The only way to stop bermuda in the longrun is by blocking out the sun....See MoreReplace bermuda with St Augustine sod
Comments (4)1. Remove the existing grass and till the yard Never till in preparation for a lawn. When you rototill the bottom of the tiller digs to different depths. When you level the top, that will give you different depths of fluffy soil. When that soil settles, it will settle to the profile of the non-level layer of untilled soil underneath. But yes, remove the current grass. Best way to do that is with several applications of roundUp at 1-week intervals. Water heavily in between to get as many weeds sprouted as possible. 2. spread nice quality top soil/compost mix Nope. Your current soil is the best soil there is. All you have to do to fix it is feed it with the alfalfa. Unless you have drainage issues you wish to fix, then adding or removing top soil should be forbidden. 3. apply alfalfa fertilizer Great idea. 4. Install st augustine sod. For the shady area in the picture, St Aug would be good. Can you get a mower in there? St Aug is mowed at the mower's highest setting. Bermuda (your back lawn???) is mowed at your mower's lowest setting. Don't get those two mixed up. The reason you have weeds is your turf is not dense enough to keep the weeds out. Bermuda in the shade will never be dense enough to keep weeds out. St Aug needs to be mowed very high to keep weeds out. Second reason (maybe) you have weeds is watering too frequently. The soil should dry out completely at the surface before watering again. In the winter that means once a month max. In the summer that might mean as much as once every 7 days unless you are having an unusual drought coupled with dry winds and weak/sandy soil with pounding sunlight (like Las Vegas). If your grass will not go that length of time without water, then you are not watering long enough when you do water....See Moregrassboro
12 years agofruitjarfla
12 years agora
12 years agotexas_weed
12 years ago
dchall_san_antonio
12 years agolou_spicewood_tx
12 years ago
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