Oh jeeez, Jim .... I dunno, LOL! Just steal him like I probably did - go ahead, help yourself! Right click on him and then click 'save image' Then you can load it at an image host site (Photobucket is easy enough for me) and use him when you see fit.

Botanbill, while I appreciate, sincerely, your input, if you live on sugar sand dunes and he/she doesn't, things could be different. It sounds like you and the OP might be relative neighbors, but I've been here a loooong time. FL is one of those places where you can't assume anything about the soil in different parts of the state. Tampa is one of those places where if you guess, you're probably wrong. While I expect sand, there are a bazillion lakes and ponds around there. Those don't form on pure sand, so there's a strong possibility he/she has something else. jmandawg, Do you get puddles when it rains? Do you still water even if you get rain? That does seem like an excessive watering frequency. If you can get your grass roots retrained to grow deeper in the soil, I strongly suspect you can restrict your watering to once a week or even less often. But if you're on sugar sand, then botanicalbill is going to have more to say about it. When I backfilled my back yard I used what amounts to sugar sand. It's 8 inches deep at the deepest, which I realize your soil is probably 80 feet deep, but still - it's sand for the entire grass root zone. That sand grows the best grass I have. After 12 years of organics the sand is black when you look at it, but when you put it in a jar of water, all the white sand sinks immediately to the bottom and all the black organic stuff floats to the top. That grass gets watered once every other week unless it rains. So far this year it's only been watered by me twice. We got some heavy rains and it really hasn't needed more. jmandawg again, generally the world gets by watering deeply and infrequently. Generally that means watering one inch of water, all at one time, and doing it once a week when temps are in the 90s. Other factors to consider are soil type, soil depth, grass type, grass height (yours should be mowed at the mower's highest setting), shade, clouds, wind, humidity, organic content of the soil, and some others. After taking all this into consideration, there are only a few places where the general advice would differ. One of those places is the area from Green River, Utah south to the Mexican border and west to Indio, CA and east to Junction, TX. That area is different because the soil is often gravelly. The sand is coarse and really does not hold any water. If Florida is another location where the general guidance does not apply, I have not heard about it. But I am certainly willing to listen to actual experience of people who have tried to grow deep roots and still required frequent watering. I'm still interested in the soil conditions for jmandawg.

First contact your local office of the Clemson USDA Cooperative Extension Service and the can help identify that and can also help you get a good, reliable soil test which might do as much to control this as anything else. Many "weeds" grow in soils that are not good soils for turf grass and turf grass most often needs a good, healthy soil or it will not grow well. At the same time dig in with these simple soil tests, Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer you soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. to learn more about the soil you have and what yo need to do to make that soil into something that will grow a good, healthy turf. Here is a link that might be useful: Clemson CES

Sandy soil? Looks like the st Augustine is short on nitrogen in some areas, but also some other grass/weed mixed in there with it.