It sounds like you are getting information from all over the place. The big hint was applying gypsum. Unless you know from a soil test that your soil is acidic, then you should not be thinking of adding gypsum. Generally Texas soils are already too alkaline. Why do you want to aerate? Do you think the soil is compacted? Does it feel hard when you walk on it? Does it feel soft(er) when it is wet from rain or irrigation? If the soil feels hard when dry and softer when wet, that is perfect. If it feels hard when wet, then you could aerate it and that might help. If you do go ahead and aerate, then it sounds like you have done your homework. Aerate a lot more than you think you should. While you are at it, if you have high spots that you would like to lower and low spots you would like to raise, then hit the high spots harder and sweep the cores into the low spots to melt back into the surface. Generally you should keep the St Aug tall but if it is 4 inches high, that makes sweeping cores more difficult. A really good alternative to core aerating is to spray liquid soap on the lawn. I hang out in other forums (which Gardenweb does not allow links to, for understandable reasons). In one of those forums they have developed a tonic (shades of Jerry Baker) that really does help soften your lawn. I tried it last year and it worked great for me. In fact it is still working for me. The idea is to break the surface tension in the irrigation water and allow it to soak down farther into the soil. Then that moisture down low holds the moisture content up higher for a longer time. The explanation drags on much longer but the bottom line is the soil is a lot softer. Okay, the mix is just soap. Their tonic is a mix of aloe vera juice and a special soap, but they make that stuff by the 5-gallon pot. I just sprayed generic baby shampoo through my hose end sprayer. Adjust the spray so the stuff coming out looks slightly foamy. Then spray. Following the spray you can irrigate. If you do this right before a rain, then you don't have to irrigate. Repeat in 2 weeks and again 2 weeks after that. That's all there is to it. I believe the soapy spray will save you the expense and hassle of the core aerator. The key to choking out bermuda is to make the St Aug as dense as possible. For that to happen it needs water once a week in the heat of summer, tall mowing (highest setting), and fertilizer. I use organic fertilizer (corn meal specifically) so I don't have to worry about when I fertilize. With synthetic chemical ferts, you should not fertilize after Memorial Day. In Houston even Memorial Day is pushing it for the heat. If you decide to really go for it and want to make it as dense as possible, you can apply any organic fertilizer at a rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet every month. 10 pounds is the lowest amount that makes any sense. If you really wanted to make an impression, go to 30 pounds per 1,000 every month, but that is almost asking for lawn mower problems. Pushing a lawn mower through very dense St Aug can be a chore. If you want to apply compost, the application rate is 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. NO MORE! Even that can smother your grass if you don't sweep it in with a push broom. Any grass that remains buried after you finish with the sweeping will not return, so get all those blades up and all the compost under the grass blades. Compost is the most expensive thing you can apply to a lawn. While it is good, I think it is over hyped. I would MUCH prefer to spend that money on organic fertilizer rather than compost. The bang for the buck is about 100x better with fertilizer. You did very well in giving enough info. Thanks for doing your homework.

You could certainly do it the way you describe. Kill, roto and lay new sod. The next couple of months are usually rainy, so it's a good time. Once it's prepped the sod goes down quickly. However with the prolonged droughts and traditional dry seasons, and with all the water restrictions becoming permanent throughout Florida, it might be time for people to rethink St. Augustine as the primary lawn plant. It does need quite a bit of water and fertilizer all year, and as you've seen needs pesticides to control chinch bugs, grubs, fungus, etc. HOA's at this point really only know St. Augustine, since it's what looks best when in good condition, and it's what's been used for a long time. There has been a lot of discussion lately about more environmentally friendly ground covers, reducing the areas of higher maintenance lawn. Hope it goes well and easily, whatever you choose.

Great picture! Thanks. I see tufts of dark green spots. Do you have a dog? Or are these the spots that have not yet been affected by the brown patch??? If you have a dog and have those tufts, then that indicates you are seriously behind on your fertilizer. It would indicate that the urine from the dog is providing more fertilizer than you are. I'm not surprised you water that much. You said you had short little roots. What will happen eventually, once you get the disease under control and get some microbes working for you, your roots will grow much deeper and will be able to get moisture from deeper in the soil/sand. Hopefully you'll be able to back off on the watering some, but not now. I haven't seen anything that would make me change the frequent corn meal application suggestion. I guess I would tend toward monthly applications until your sand starts to turn dark brown. I use white sand as fill in my yard. Eventually it will turn very dark with organic matter. Here's a link to the Texas Plant and Soil Lab. Tell them you are organic and they will help you out. These folks have performed miracles in agriculture. The reason they can perform miracles where others have failed is they use the same chemicals for testing that the plants use in the soil. They don't use hydrochloric acid to dissolve everything and see what's left. They use carbonic acid like that found in the soil. The result is that when they tell you what soil minerals are available to your plants, they can back up their recommendations with analysis of the plants themselves to show what minerals are being taken in. You can't do that with hydrochloric acid testing, and that is why I'm so negative on university soil testing. Universities know how to do the tests like TPSL does, but they choose not to. Even if you demand carbonic testing, they have to $$$pecial order the materials and refresh themselves (i.e. learn) on how to do the tests. And then they have no database using carbonic acid, so they cannot interpret the results. Furthermore, they are still going to suggest you add chemicals to your garden because they are, by and large, unaware of what organic fertilizers are. Whereas the TPSL routinely does carbonic acid testing so they order their chemicals in bulk to get the cost break, they know how to do the tests, they know how to interpret the tests, they provide more testing than the universities do, and they will give you recommendations in line with an organic program. If I recall they charge $35 which is a few dollars more than the universities. Here is a link that might be useful: Texas Plant and Soil Lab

The problem with beneficial nematodes is that the are very sensitive to chemicals and dry weather. Hope that you have been organic for a while otherwise the nematodes won't work. Keep the lawn as wet as possible while they do their work. Praying Mantis may work also to kill some bugs. I have had two properties with lots of moles. First time I tried to kill them. This time I let them live and once they ate up all the grubs they moved to another spot. They used to be in my front yard. Now they are all in the back yard. Had to add a little grass where the moles tunneled, but they ate more pests than they ruined grass. Don't give up and go back to TruGreen. TruGreen does short-term cures but looking at my neighbors who use TruGreen, the magic of the chemicals doesn't last and they're so bad for you and your neighbors. The TruGreen employees are not well-trained. Today I watched one spray grub and weed killer on my neighbors' lawn with only gloves and no mask or protective clothing. His cotton pants were soaked to the knees with chemicals. This is the guy who tells you his chemicals are safe. Doesn't that tell you something? I've been working on improving the soil on my lawn for years. Natural fertilizer, some lime and my lawn is green and lush as could be. I get complemented on my lawn by all who walk by, but if you get up close, I have lots of weeds, but they are green and when I mow them, they look like lush grass. The weeds and natural grasses are native so the thrive better in the local climate. I think the better lawn care is to improve the soil get as close to native grass as you can, without heavy fertilizer use, but with compost perhaps a little added topsoil each year. TruGreen overfertilizes so the grass roots stay short and when you have dry weather or a drought the grass all dies. Personally, I wish people would worry more about their health than their lawns. My backyard is now half wildflowers and wild grasses which require no care and If I choose to mow them, they would look like a lawn too. Good luck with your lawn, but I hope you can worry about more important things than bugs and dead patches. It isn't the end of the world. Leukemia and lung disease and chemical sensitivity from lawn chemical exposure could be the end of the world.