How to care for Palmetto St. Augustine Lawn?

10 years ago

Hello All,

I have enjoyed using this forum to become educated on caring for the lawn of my newly purchased home in Richardson, TX, but have some questions regarding some of the advice.

First, I have begun to mulch mow my lawn at a 3". I'll be honest, it looks shaggy, with upturned stolons and seems like the vacuum of the mower is less effective at this height. I feel like 2.5 inches is the sweet spot for my lawn, but there is some bermuda that I would like to see choked out and of course many seem to advocate cutting at a high setting.

Is there a period of time that I should be expecting for the grass to adjust to the increased cutting height? Will it eventually have a smoother look to it? I have Palmetto St. Augustine and though some would say to mow at my mowers highest setting (4 inches on the Honda HRC216) it really seems like the blades of grass would just get blown over when attempting to cut them at the highest setting.

Also, do lawns cut 3 to 4inches high experience more fungus problems? Even, with cutting at 2.5" during the Spring, I had a bout of grey leaf spot.

The other area of concern is watering during the hot months here in the DFW area. I understand from researching that it is best to water once a week at 1" for water delivery (which is easy to abide by given our city's current water restrictions). The problem here is that we have the Blackland Prarie Clay soil and if I try to water too much at one time, it just runs off into the street. Currently, I have 8 watering stations that I water for 10 minutes each station 3 times over. I haven't actually tested how much water is being delivered to each zone, but I assume it is less than the 1" that is desired. Any strategy in getting the water down into the soil and avoid needless runoff?

I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that you might have and please let me know if I can elaborate or provide more information in determining a strategy that will work.

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Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio
10 years ago
The only way you can know about your sprinklers is to put out tuna or cat food cans and see how full they get as you water. It takes 8 hours to fill on my yard but only 20 minutes to fill on my neighbor's. Everyone has to do this if they want to know what it means to water 1 inch.

There are low flow sprinkler heads. A friend in Phoenix has soil similar to what you described and solved his problem with shampoo (see below) and the low flow heads. These heads are gear driven and send out a small stream of water on a rotator. Of course he waters a lot longer but the same amount of water hits the soil.

You definitely don't want runoff. That's just wasting the water. You can try applying 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet of any clear shampoo right before you water. I have used the generic baby shampoo from Wal-mart as well as Alberto Vo5. Both are pretty cheap solution to the water penetration issue. The soap will allow the water to penetrate deeper. Apply it once now, water normally next week, and repeat the shampoo in 2 weeks. Don't use dish soap. Shampoo is used for a reason.

When you see runoff, turn off the sprinklers immediately and let the moisture soak in for 20 to 30 minutes. Then try to get the rest of the inch of water into the soil.

Palmetto is semi-dwarf. 3 inches should be good. Yes, the grass will all come up to that height. That will really help with the bermuda control. St Augustine works by using its coarser blades to put more shade onto the bermuda grass until the bermuda is completely shaded out. One flaw in this plan is the Palmetto has finer blades (less shade) and it likes being shorter (like bermuda). I've had pretty good success taking my lawn back from bermuda, but I have common St Aug and Floratam.

Tall grass getting more fungus? Not that I've noticed. I have a second yard at a house in George West. It is a large yard with Floratam ranging from 12 inches high up to 32 inches and no signs of fungus that I've noticed. Here is a picture.

{{gwi:101131}}

That grass is about 18 inches high.
Alico268
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you, Dchall!

The shampoo strategy sounds like a great idea. I'm guessing it acts as a surfactant to break the water tension and dive deeper into the soil. Similar method to why we use foam in the fire department. I will definitely do some averaging with the tuna cans this week to find out what I'm putting down at each station.

I will have to keep my fingers crossed with the bermuda, I suppose. I opted for Palmetto because my backyard is so well shaded.

Thanks again for the great info!
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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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dchall_san_antonio
10 years ago
You are correct about the shampoo. Surfactant. You can by a similar product to shampoo for $70 per gallon at some nurseries. I prefer shampoo.

Yes keep your fingers crossed. My experience over growing St Aug over bermuda has been repeated 10 times at my house, so it works. The issue for you might be the lower height. If it looks like the bermuda is winning, try raising the mower up a little more for awhile and see how it works and looks.

How to care for Palmetto St. Augustine Lawn?

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dchall_san_antonio

Alico268
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How to care for Palmetto St. Augustine Lawn?

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