I used to live off of Aviation Blvd in Hawthorne. Wish I knew then what I know now. I would have bought every house on the block. My fertilizer recommendation would be ordinary corn meal bought at a feed store, but I realize you are more synthetic oriented. If you were thinking of a chemical fertilizer, I can't help you with names. You can probably use anything that does not say "Weed and feed" but does say "Safe for St Augustine." Weed and feed is a general no-no around here (you didn't ask so I won't get into it). Just buy a St Aug-safe granular fertilizer and you should be okay. If you are interested in an easy, effective, and inexpensive organic program, go to the Organic Gardening forum, find the FAQ, and look for the one on Organic Lawn Care. If you keep the turf irrigated (no more than once a week, but deeply each time) and mowed at your mower's highest setting, your St Augustine will crowd out almost all the grasses and weeds. It will have trouble with clovers, dichondra, dollar weed, oxalis, and some other broadleafed weeds. Those will have to be spot sprayed or hand pulled as soon as you see them. If you pick a spray, be sure it is safe for St Aug. St Augustine should grow and fill a 10 food diameter area each season. A few strategically placed flats of sod should cover a lawn in one season. Most growth is in the spring where it gets summer heat, but 3 miles from the Pacific is pretty mild. You may get growth all summer.

jimmygiii I used to try to time my watering with the wilting of the blades. I was using a rotary impact type sprinkler like all the magazines told me I was supposed to use. Unfortunately those things leave a lot of lawn unwatered. I spend one day watering and the rest of the week trying to catch up with the wilty spots that didn't get watered. Last year I went back to the oscillating type sprinkler. I've had every sprinkler at least twice and the oscillator at least four times. Now I have two of them and love them for my yard. I don't get enough wind down under the tree canopy to blow the water around so it works great for me. But as to wilting, I don't wait that long anymore. Everyone should adjust their watering by something and I prefer to anticipate the wilting and water a little early. When I waited for the grass to wilt, it never developed the density I was looking for. Now it does. 2.75" is a little short for the best appearance and least overall maintenance in my opinion. I mow at my rotary's highest setting and I'm seeing a lot more lawns mowed up high. If the grass is not dense, mowing high allows it to fall over so there is that to consider. If your density is good then mowing higher allows deeper root development, longer water retention in the soil (less evaporation), and less chance of weeds. I get my quiet serenity, such as it is, from an electric mower. I can't quite have a comfortable conversation with it running, but I can at least know if someone wants to talk without shouting.

Without seeing the picture I'll tell you now it's a fungal disease caused by too much watering. 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. With St Augustine I think you can go cold turkey in changing from frequent shallow watering to deep and infrequent. When you test your sprinklers to determine the time to put out 1 inch, that will be the first deep watering. Then see if the grass will go a full week without the blades folding together. If they fold together in 4 days or less, then water it deeply again right away. Fixing the watering is the most important thing you can do with your lawn. For some reason everyone in Florida and California think you have to water daily. Not true - in fact it's counter productive. You'll need a chemical fungicide to fix what you have. The organic fix won't work on this disease.

This is a dchall question I think, hopefully he sees it. If you abandon chemical, I would recommend Headway G. It is supposed to take care of almost all fungus, and has to active ingredients to help prevent resistance. There is one fungus I read about a long time ago (UF website I think) that can be confused with gray leaf spot and there is no fungicide for it. Treatment was to use a fertilizer with a specific ratio range - higher in potassium maybe, can't remember. If you use a fungicide your organic lawn may be back to square one since it will kill all those beneficial microbes... Those weeks of rain you mention were the wettest since I moved to FL (JAX area) again a few years ago. No surprise we have fungus issues.