Corn meal is effective as long as there is trichoderma fungi in the soil to chew on and grow (thats what compost is for to re-introduce benefical microbes into the soil at the rate of 1 cubic yard per 1000 sqft). It will take 3 weeks to fully work. There is an organic product that supposedly works fast called Actinovate. The only place i know of in houston is Wabash feed store off washington nearby Memorial park. In my opinion, organic program is much better... Any feed store will have corn meal, soybean meal, alfalfa pellets if you want organic fertilizer (soybean meal is best all around for the money and the ease of use with rotary spreader). Not all feed stores will have these though.

Also, since you have a new house, it's likely that you got inferior st augustine variety called Raleigh. Not too impressed with it as it's more prone to disease. Floratam or Sapphire would have been much better choice but the builders don't care unless you're willing to pay extra for it over cheapo Raleigh grass.

Lou:

Do you think that a molasses treatment might give the beneficial fungi the "kick into high gear" that Katherine is looking for, to speed things up? I've never used corn meal and molasses at the same time - have you and what were the results?

Katherine: don't do this unless Lou (or someone else with experience with it) says it's OK. Molasses can really help to improve the soil, which after a Builder is done is often more subsoil than topsoil...

Sure molasses will help at first. After a couple years, the soil would be much improved and you won't get much out of molasses. Just organic fertilizer alone will do it from there on to maintain what you have improved after 2,3 years.

Thanks for your posts... they helped to reinforce what I had planned in my head. We were using molasses to get rid of fire ants last year, but I didn't know you could get the granules. (I'm a total newbie at this).. so that's on my list too!

Gray leaf spot is a disease that happens in over fertilized lawns during hot weather. If that doesn't describe your situation, then you probably need at least a second opinion from someone perhaps more reputable than the first lawn company that diagnosed it.

This is winter. If your lawn has not been getting at least 1 inch of rain weekly, then it should look dormant. St Augustine can look green all year in the deep south but it takes a lot of water. Still, it really is not hot enough for gray leaf spot.

I usually wait to fertilize until Washington's Birthday but you could start now. Go ahead with the corn meal at 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. That should hold you until Memorial Day. Oh and start watering at least once every 2 weeks. Use a tuna or cat food can to time your sprinkler to see how long it takes to fill the can. That's your starting point for watering. If it takes an hour to fill the can(s), then water for one hour every other week.

http://www.soilfoodweb.com/03_about_us/approach_pgs/a_01_benefits.html

http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/soil_food_web.html

To get you started on learning how things really works in detail if you want to. Many people do not truly understand how organic program works. I still don't 100% but I understand some. I try to explain to neighbors, etc and they never could comprehend the concept of organic program. Some don't care about ruining soil biology so they just use chemicals. It's their choice, I guess. Some do it purely out of ignorance. They just don't know anything at all and they just go about their lives and just do it without really thinking about it.

Basically my simple program looks like this...

1) Mulch mow high (I never rake, bag clippings, etc)
2) water deeply and infrequently if needed.
3) feed the soil microbes something every few months.
4) Control pests with beneficial nematodes on the entire area. Spot kill with orange oil solution if it becomes a problem esp ants in the wrong spot.

That's about it.

and if all the previous still doesnt work spray it with a product called "banner maxx". follow label directions.

Banner MAXX has Propiconazole, whatever that is. Doesn't sound organic if that makes a difference.

quote "knock this stuff out FAST. I don't want to go the chemical route unless absolutely necessary."

banner will knock out grey leaf spot in about ten days although this time of year i find it odd your turf would be suffering from it. the organism that causes it is as natural in the environment as blackbirds or houseflies. optimal conditions for it to thrive and cause turf damage include warm weather, too much moisture, and too much nitrogen fertilizer.

proper cultural practices can do a lot to keep leaf spot and brown patch out of st. augustine turf. avoid overwatering and only water early mornings around breakfast time. st. aug doesnt need a lot of fert, a low nitrogen fert, organic is best, in light doses a few times over the summer is fine.

hard to guess but i'd say this past fall ive sprayed maybe 500 gallons of banner and other fungicides on st. augustine turf lawns and almost all of it could have been prevented if my customers had listened to my watering and fert advice in the first place. in your original post you requested a FAST remedy to your problem, maple syrup and voodoo will not give you fast results.

granted you are in a different zone than i am but you do say your lawn is dormant, if so then the grey leaf spot pathogen is dormant too. spring and fall are when you see this and when you do... its most often seen near "brown patch" disease too. almost every lawn ive treated with one has the other altho not 100 percent.

another thing you can do to help is to apply a 1/2 inch layer of peat moss to your turf. early spring and early fall. some garden centers may have the peat rollers for rent. easy to do. this raises the acidity of the root zone and discourages fungal growth. no matter, fungal diseases and 99999 percent of insect problems are impossible to accurately diagnose in dormant lawns. i would give serious doubt to anything to the contrary from a lawn company.

peat moss does nothing. Compost with corn meal is much better as they actually improve the soil, not peat moss. Trichderma fungi is what you want to grow to overwhelm the harmful fungi! Here's the picture of my lawn as it sits on top of limestone rubbles. High pH and I can't do a thing to lower pH anyway. Peat moss is vastly overrated.

{{gwi:79083}}

{{gwi:79084}}

{{gwi:79085}}

I've never used peat moss as it is virtually worthless when it comes to building soil fertility. I'd rather spend $$ on Actinovate as it works fast from someone who actually has used both corn meal and actinovate. The price is same anyway.

okay so you dont like peat moss. i guess neil sperry, mike sutton, and all of the other academic and horticultural research into the matter is as worthless as the peat moss eh? a pretty yard you do have, no argument there. i have several hundred i make a living taking care of and they're all pretty too. I have been in this industry in one form or another for 25 years so there may be more than one member of this website that knows a thing or two about how to take care of ornamentals and turfgrasses.

I do the opposite of what Neil Sperry says to do. He has a chemical mind set and I don't.

"This is winter. If your lawn has not been getting at least 1 inch of rain weekly, then it should look dormant. St Augustine can look green all year in the deep south but it takes a lot of water."

Houston gets a lot more rain than San Antonio and doesn't get as cold during winter. I NEVER water the yard and have the greenest yard in the neighborhood and stays green year round. I just cut the grass high and follow an organic program. Once the soil improves you can probably get by with what nature gives you other than maybe during those times during the summer when you don't get rain for 3-4 weeks. I think 1 inch of water a week during the winter is excessive.

Yard last Feb.

{{gwi:79086}}

Thanks for all the advice... sorry I haven't responded, we had a family emergency here.
Thanks ltruett: yes, you are right about the climate here. I also said the lawn "Looks" dormant. I'm not sure it is, that's just how bad our grass looks. If you look at Lou's post above, the pic of his building site shows a strip of grass down by the date stamp. THAT is what our yard looks like. The soil underneath looks very much like his build site too. I talked to an organic lawn service today...They came out and looked at the yard and they are going to give me an estimate on service for treatment as well as maintenance like mowing and weeding. (we have about 55000 square feet of sod to cover)..I should be talking to them tomorrow. Otherwise I will probably go with the compost/cornmeal and see how it goes. It has been so warm here lately I feel like I need to get this completely eradicated before it gets too warm and wet (which I figure gives me about 6 weeks)...
by the way ltruett, your yard looks beautiful.. but you do have a lot more shade than we do. Most of our yard is in full sun. (more like Lou's) Still, if we can get close to what either of you have, I'll be happy. :)

Is it 55,000 or 5,500 square feet?

One thing to caution about using organic methods. You have to be somewhat patient. The worse the condition the longer it will take. As far as being dormant, most grass in the area will be in some state of semi dormancy. Not completely brown but not completely green either. That is fairly normal. Now as far as gray leaf spot, in Houston you are going to get it no matter what. It is just too humid and wet not to get it. All you can do is make the yard as healthy as possible so it can take care of itself with it does arise. Of more concern would be brown patch and take all patch. I have brown patch at the moment. Part of my lawn (most of it) is infected with SAD so it is weakened making it more susceptible to diseases. I have put out cornmeal and it seems to be helping. Really I just need the SAD resistant varieties to fill in the area in spring.

The trees do help shade the yard conserving moisture but at the same time they are huge and are competing with the grass for the moisture that is there.

David: Why are you posting as your parent?

David: Why are you posting as your parent?
Funny!

Earlier I asked Lou why he was posting as himself with a different screen name. Turns out it was his brother.

Yup, I am Lou's brother.

To clarify a point I made earlier, when I said I never water, that doesn't mean the grass will look perfect all the time. If it doesn't rain for a few weeks during the summer, the grass will start to wilt. So if you want it to look really good all the time, you will have to water deeply during those periods. I just don't feel like using that much water. Once it does rain, the grass bounces back and you can't tell the difference between those who have been watering and mine. Now if it did go a month or more without rain during the summer, I would be inclined to water so the grass doesn't die (St Augustine will die while bermuda will go dormant). Houston usually is lucky enough not to go that long without rain though.

My mistake David, I apologize, but I knew I seen that home before LOL!

oops! You're right, 5500 square feet. My 0 finger got a little happy.