Can you add Bahai grass seeds to St. Augustine Lawns?
newbiegardner
15 years ago
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Comments (15)
manature
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agofagopher
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Converting St. Augustine Grass into a Veggie Garden
Comments (9)NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT TILLING UNDER ! You have to pick every shred of roots that you can find in the soil. If I were you, here is how I would do it: 1- till it very very shallow first, to get most of the roots loosened.The reason you do it shallow is because you don't want to bury and hide the roots. 2 - with rake and hand pick any piece of root()big and small)that you can find. 3- till second time, normal depth. 4- Again, pick any piec of root you can find. This time you will have less roots. The Those grasses have tough roots, like cats with seven lives. After doing all that go ahead and all the compost and topsoile, manure.. you want and till one more time. Even with being so deligient, you may find some grass growing in your garden later, which you have to eraticate them soon as you see them....See MoreSt. Augustine Grass care
Comments (4)Here's what I did with mine at the old house... Mow at minimum 3 inches high. Maybe 4" during the summer. Fertilize on March 1st, June 1st and September 1st. Water deeply (1 inch is 600 gallons per 1000 sqft) but you got a big yard so hope for rainfall instead of dry summer. I go as far as possible before having to water. When they are severely wilting but still green, it's time to water or they die by a bit. The longer you go, the more they die back. That's about it. No widespread weeds because st aug was too thick for weeds to take over plus who cares about weeds? Just mow it and it looks fine. My parents had a big lawn so we just mowed. No raking. Just mulch mowed everything. Never was into watering lawn (garden/plant bed only). For the bare patch, rye grass is often grown during the winter. They fizzle out when it gets very hot. If your st aug have a thick purple reddish stolon, that's Floratam. Pretty tough cultivar for drought tolerance. If you don't have that, I suggest that you plug them in if you can find them. Maybe Lowe's or Home Depot or some of nursery stores have them??? Avoid Raleigh cultivar at all cost. Oh yeah, Floratam spreads out faster than any cultivars. Sapphire is the only one that can match that kind of speed but not sure about drought tolerance. It seemed pretty good for me. I don't know if it's available in Florida but you can get them at lawn plugs website. Here is a link that might be useful: Lawn Plugs...See MoreSt. Augustine lawn help
Comments (10)I'm doing an experiment with unmowed St Augustine. Originally I did not think the grass would get taller than 10 inches, but it is easily 36 inches in one spot under a tree. Here is a picture I took last year. The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate the benefits that lou mentioned above. I stopped mowing in October of 2011. The location is George West, TX on the edge of the Texas desert. Temps are above 95 from mid May through mid October with humidity running 40-50% most of the time. Since then I have only watered the grass when and where it was calling out to me for water. At no time have I watered more frequently than once per week. There is one spot under a tree on the east side of the house where I have not watered at all since 10/2011. In fact that is where the dog picture was taken. At the time it was about 30 inches high right there. Also since then I have not fertilized and used no insecticide or herbicide. As you can see there is no weed pressure at all - and I am surrounded by fields of King Ranch bluestem. There are places in the yard with plenty of bluestem, bermuda, and other weeds, but those areas are not part of this experiment. So the point of mentioning this is that taller St Aug will resist all the problems you might have with anything else. I always suggest people weld their mower at the highest position to prevent your well-meaning brother in lawn from doing you a favor and scalping your lawn back down "to where it should be." Tall St Aug (4 inches, not 40) is very lush looking and will solve your problems. Another issue you should watch for is drought stress near the sidewalk. Sidewalks take up sunlight all day and remain warm much longer that the soil under the grass. The soil near the sidewalk will get warmer during the day and remain warm until the next day. This tends to drive off the moisture through evaporation near the sidewalk and dry out the grass. The solution is to water more deeply, not more often. Generally I agree that your only problem is the grass roots are not up to speed yet. Give it another month and take another picture to compare. You should see improvement. Set your mower high, water deeply and infrequently, and fertilize and you will have a lawn like your neighbor. I prefer organic fertilizer because I am lazy and don't like to measure, but you can use chemical and get good results, too....See MoreWeeds in St Augustine grass
Comments (4)karenfharr, perhaps the easiest issue to address is the 'bahia'. It is not a good idea for the reason you mentioned and the fact that it seeds very frequently. In the summer, bahia lawns are mowed more often to remove seed heads rather than to cut the grass blades. Those seed heads in patches on your front lawn will not look pretty. The easiest way to check on the mowing height is to have the operator set a short length of 2x4 lumber (provide a piece) edgeways, between the mower blade and the driveway; it should be an effortless fit. Note the settings on the mower and insist that (s)he reset (if necessary) the cutting height when he mows your property. If you cannot be there, use the top of a sprinkler head as reference and try to measure the grass height in the morning and again in the afternoon after it has been mowed. After a while you will be able to look at your lawn after it has been mowed and tell if it was done at the correct height. It will make for good relationships in the future if you let the OWNER know of any concerns you may have on the very day of service. The local extension office should have some advice on how to choose a lawn service. I gather that the tough weeds are crabgrass and nutsedge. Each requires specific chemicals and meticulous application techniques. Insist on having the CPO come out and provide you with a plan and time expectation BEFORE you sign anything. Be prepared for a fairly lengthy battle - at least one year. Adopt "caveat emptor" as your mantra whenever you have to deal with either service....See Morejonnys
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoauntiejan
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agogoldenpond
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agonativemel
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoauntiejan
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agolaura1
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoannafl
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agonewbiegardner
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agocastorp
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agomanature
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agogardengrl
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agonativemel
15 years agolast modified: 9 years ago
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