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Florida Gardening

Alternative to St. Augustine Grass?

15 years ago

Hey guys,

I've tried to eliminate a lot of my yard by planting native plants and creating a lot of mulched areas with cypress mulch that are self sustaining. I have also noticed that the areas which are typically shaded by my trees (at least during one part of the day or another), the grass is really healthy, and really strong.

In the areas that are exposed to direct sunlight the entire day, it's not doing as well, and the grass is dead in some spots.

I have St. Augustine as the primary grass. I'm wondering if there's anything else that's a little bit more drought tolerant and maybe less course than the St. Augustine?

Thanks!!!

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Comments (4)

fawnridge (Ricky)
14 years ago
Gosh, that's a tough one... how about... anything?

Seriously, plant shrubs, use more mulch, rocks with bromeliads, more trees, a pond, take your pick.
manature
14 years ago
Hi, Todd. I'm not a fan of ANY kind of lawn, usually, though I know in some communities, you have to maintain a certain amount of grass. If that isn't a problem where you live, why not keep on gradually eliminating the St. Augustine? If you don't want to plant more shrubs, how about low growing ground covers that are good for your zone? Start in the areas where the lawn already looks bad, and think of other solutions.

There are grasses that use less water than St. Augustine, including Bahia, which will still go brown without water, but which usually greens up again as soon as the rains come (rather than dying out completely). The downside to Bahia is a lot more mowing, as it sends up 2' tall seed stems constantly. And it's not as attractive to many people.

Overall, your life will be easier with less lawn areas. Hope that's an option for ya.

Marcia
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Dan, you know hot to hit a nerve. I'm going into soapbox mode, so if you've already read my reaction, you can skip this. Cornmeal is only a myth in the eyes of that nut in Oregon and the organiphobes at TAMU. I should keep a file of those posts on various forums who thank me for helping them. It has worked for me every year since 2002. I firmly believe that TAMU does not want people to believe it works. They flat refuse to give it a try. How can it work for so many of us and not work at their school? Having said that, I have plenty of reports of it not working, too. Looking at those more closely, they seem to come from people with cool season grasses like KBG and fescue. I have stopped suggesting corn meal for northern tier lawns and stick strictly to St Augustine. If you have the St Augustine fungal spot disease that looks like this......then cornmeal will work. It takes 3 full weeks to see new grass with no spots on it. The first time I tried it was on what I thought was dead grass. I had resodded the area twice, and the disease continued with each new sod. Corn meal was a last resort. Three weeks later the grass was all coming back. As for Chalker-Scott's denial that it works against black spot on roses, that is her myth, not mine. That's where I started with corn meal. It does not cure black spot if it has started, but if you pick off the tainted leaves and dust the soil with corn meal, the black spot stops and does not return. My roses looked horrible for 10 years before I tried the corn meal. Then for the next 15 years they looked great. Call it an anecdote if you like but anyone can try it for ten cents and without any possibility of harming anything. I don't see why the universities are so adamantly resistant to trying it. For those who see this fungus in Floratam, the Floratam will live through having the disease and not die out. That is Floratam in the picture. Other varieties are not so hardy and will look brown and dead. But if you want to get rid of the spots in Floratam, then you need the corn meal.
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Tom
last year
Todd, if you have St. Augustine grass you will need to treat it for chinch bugs. They can destroy your grass in a hurry. They multiply best during hot months, so they shouldn't be such a problem going forward. For now, you can get a liquid pesticide and spray around the areas affected. Long term there are many options, but if you need to have a lawn bahía is a better alternative, because it is more drought resistant and much more resistant to insects.
corkball (z9 FL)
last year
last modified: last year
Honestly, I feel so bad for folks in HOAs that need to maintain a monoculture grass. It is really hard to do in Florida. There are so many microconditions in a yard that create all kinds of issues (sun/shade, wet/well drained, competition, etc). I must have 1/2 dozen different grasses in my yard. The nice thing about Florida is all kinds of stuff will grow, so I just mow it all to grass height, and voila! A yard! I have all kinds of funky stuff - ground peanut, betony, bahia, beggartick, wild lilies, GOBS of wildflowers I can't identify, milkpea, etc. Yeah, if I dont stay on top of the mowing, it grows out unevenly, but otherwise, I always have a groundcover. Some spots even rotate winter/summer covers just based on what is there (chickweed becomes common in winter eg). Some of it is pretty, and some is even edible! Great deal! The only downside I see is sandburs.

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