That is just the issue, down here in South Florida, none of the feed stores have corn meal or corn gluten meal. Only whole corn or cracked corn. Should I just go back to the Lesco every 6 weeks?

I was thinking the same thing. You can't get rid of bermudagrass without killing the St. Augustine. The good news is the St. Augustine stolons grow a half inch a day in the summer. So killing the yard and starting over wouldn't take long. You say the front yard is nearly perfect so in the perfect areas use some of your yard as a nursery and plug the back. The front will recover quickly and the back will soon be looking as good as the front. The key is using the top labeled amount which could range from 3 to 5 ounces per gallon. Then to use it as soon as you can then in about 2 weeks. You should have pretty much wiped out the back lawn. I would then cut the grass as low as possible then plug all you can. Keep it well moist and then wait. I would think by the end of next year you should have a solid back yard. Good luck.

Seedmama is right. If your winter temps routinely drop into the single digits, the St. Augustine might suffer winterkill. However, some people do grow it in northeastern OK and with a good degree of success too. Of all the named selections of St. Augustine, "Palmetto" is the most cold-hardy. In optimal conditions, it can survive temperatures down to zero degrees. Dawn

Hi everyone, Adam here, a newbie to these forums, well I've been lurking awhile and this my first post. Hoping someone could answer a few concerns I have. I'll admit I don't know much about turfgrass or gardening but my wife and I bought a house about a year and half ago that had a beautiful St.Augustine lawn, not sure what variation. Anyways last years drought coupled with me messing up by putting weed and feed and fungicided on my lawn (been over a year since) destroyed about half of my front lawn. There is still good St.Augustine everywhere there was shade, so basically the slopes where there is full sun and side yard is dead. I just had a new irrigation system installed, and I'm determined to get my lawn back to looking how it was when we bought it. I've done a lot of research and have pretty much decided Floratam St.Augustine is what I'll go with. FYI I live in the San Antonio - Medical Center Area) I guess some questions I have are...... 1) How and where can I get a soil test? 2) Can anyone recommend a good company that installs sod? Are any sod producers favorable over another I've mostly seen King Ranch and Milbergers? 3) A big question I have as I am in the process of getting bids is what is the best method for extracting old sod and putting new sod in. I've read so many different things, not sure what is best but would be nice to have some info when deciding on a contractor. 4) Being that I have still have good grass in the shady areas and back yard where I have live oak canopies, is resodding even necessary? I've heard from some that I could get some really good quality compost and just top dress and my grass may come back on its own. 5) If I do resod, can I just resod the dead areas or will that look strange as I doubt I have Floratam now. Just curious how mixing different variations of St. Augustine works and what it would look like. I'm willing to fork out the money to completely resod my front lawn if necessary, just curious if people here that know much more than me think I should as I feel overwhelmed and confused honestly. The first bid I got was for $2000 7 pallets of sod to redo entire front. Ok sorry to ramble and for the long post, thanks to everyone for any info for those who have already provided very valuable info in my months of lurking here. It is appreciated.