Thick, dead grass - St. Augustine or Bermuda?

15 years ago

I bought a foreclosure in Orange County, CA that had been neglected completely for at least 6 months. I think the grass was St. Augustine or Bermudagrass, but now it's completely dead. Whatever it is, the trunks of the grass and the stolons are so thick that you can't see any dirt. After some rain we did get a lot of clovers and dandelions that I mowed down.

What do you think my best course of action is to get some good grass growing and what type of grass should I use? Do I need to remove all the dead grass or can I just run a tiller over the whole yard and then plant some seed?

Thanks!

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Comments (3)

lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Pictures would help but it's probably st augustine based on your description of stolons. Is the blade about 1/4-3/8 wide? Bermuda usually has 1/8" wide blades.

If the stolons are brown, they are dead. Replacing it with st augustine sod is costly. There is no st augustine seed...

You can grow bermuda from seeds but are there any large mature shade trees around? They won't do well with shade. They need at least 8 hours of direct sun to thrive. That's where St augustine comes in.

I wouldn't use tiller. It will cause problems down the road. Use power rake which is basically mini tiller. The purpose of this machine is to get rid of dead grass and loosing up top inch of soil. Much better than tiller.

If it hadn't rained for 6 months, st augustine will surely die. You may want to look into zoysia. Bermuda is too much work and invasive for my taste (every gardener's nightmare).
denverdude
15 years ago
View this is an opportunity to put in the grass you want and to get it looking uniform. Any weeds that are up before you seed or sod, you can kill with roundup. You now have a blank slate to work with. Have fun! Check out other threads on here about how to choose the best grass for you and your area.
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dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
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.
2. 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.
1. 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.
1. 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.

Thick, dead grass - St. Augustine or Bermuda?

Comments (3)

lou_spicewood_tx

denverdude

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