yellow patches in St. Augustine

kiss_garden

16 years ago

Can anybody tell me what is causing the yellow patches in my St. Augustine grass, and what can I do for it?

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Comments (3)

heelsfan
16 years ago
Where are you located? How often/much do you water? How often do you fertilize? Have you had a soil test done? What type of soil do you have?

There are lots of things that can cause yellowing of grasses. More info is needed from you for a shot at diagnosis. Got any pictures you could post?
ice77angel
16 years ago
Did you happen to use Weed-Be-Gone recently?
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Hmmmm... I was going to say you weren't watering enough. Three intervals of three minutes isn't very much. And in 100 degree temps, I'd say what little bit of water that's being applied is evaporating very quickly. But after after backing off you're finding the worst areas are still "WET" and in poor-draining, heavily-shaded spots, you've probably overwatered those areas. I'd continue to keep watering as you currently are. Good job waiting until you see signs of wilting. But I'd also only hand-water those areas that are showing signs of wilting. Hold off on the poor-draining, well-shaded areas until they start to wilt. The good news is that if your patches of brown aren't too large, the St. A will fill it in rather quickly once you get your watering dialed in. (I had a 10' diameter bare patch where the kids' pool was last year that filled in in about 8 weeks this spring.)
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Can you get on your knees and take a picture of the grass at the fringe of the green/brown? Take the picture from about 3 inches away on a cloudy day or in the shade. I'm looking for different signs of disease. There are some that can be cured with ordinary corn meal and some require a chemical approach. Need to see the pic. From this altitude it looks more like the corn meal one, but I'd like to see down inside. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.
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ronalawn82
16 years ago
kiss garden, you are to be complimented on identifying a problem while you might still be able to solve it.
1) If this condition occured soon after you (or someone else) did something to the lawn, or a particular environmental (hail?) condition occured - there might be your answer.
2) For insects, do a soap flush around the EDGES of the yellowing patches. Make sure that you include both good and bad. Identify the species and estimate the quantity to determine if control is necessary.
3) If these check out OK, seek out disease. Look for colored spots on individual leaves; pull on a tuft of grass and if it feels slimy, pulls out easily and there are lots of dead leaves, these are all indications that a disease is present. Is the ground more wet or dry than in the healthy areas?
4) If nothing thus far, it may be a deficiency. An overall yellowing of all the leaf tissue indicates a shortage of "greening" nutrients - nitrogen and iron are the commonest. If veins are green but the tissues in between are not, if tissues are green but veins are not, if there is a green triangle near the base of the leaf etc. etc.
Each and all of these mean something. Get hold of a good KEY to the identification of pests, diseases and environmental conditions and do the "CSI Plants". You will have a great deal of fun and maybe write your own TV series.
Texas A&M published a comprehensive key some years ago and someday I must try to obtain a copy of it.

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yellow patches in St. Augustine

Comments (3)

heelsfan

ice77angel

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ronalawn82

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