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schwaa

St. Augustine problems

schwaa
13 years ago

If you want to skip the story, just look at the last picture. I need help finding an organic way to control these! Thanks!


Well, I just bought my first house a couple months ago and it turns out the giant headache was included. The lawn was in horrid condition. Prior to buying the house, the well pump was broken and the owners had given up on watering the nice St. Augustine lawn. They also stopped their tru-green service. Ever wonder how a St. Augustine lawn looks when you stop watering it in florida(before the rain comes) and stop using pesticides? Its not pretty. Some of the lawn was salvageable with watering(the well was fixed when I moved in). Bringing the lawn back was a daunting task and I had no idea where to start. I have since found Garden Web and the Oragnic Lawn Care forum. I have started on once section of my lawn, a small corner under the old oak tree.

Per suggestions found in this forum, I have top dressed the area with a little less than 1/2" compost, put down 10lb/1,000ft soybean meal, continued watering once a week around 5am, and I continue to mow high.

Within the past month, the rain has really picked up. There was three day stretch in which every night around 8pm it rained 1"+. All this water didnt help out my lawn. It quickly developed grey leaf spot that spread to my entire nice green corner section.

I have since attacked it with the recommended dose of Actinovate, still awaiting results.

There are more probelms. There is a section of this corner that has developed some odd charecteristics. It all started out as a small 1'x1' patch of turf that looked like it had thatch problems. It has since grown into a monster. Here is a close up.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/765/img8500i.jpg

The patch of this is now about 6'x8' and its not pretty.

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/2524/img8502c.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1016/img8503b.jpg

I was about to ignore it and assume it was "end stage grey leaf spot" as the fungus was pretty extensive. That was until I got down on my hands and knees and took a closer look

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/3544/img8499g.jpg

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/6828/img8510x.jpg

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4924/img8504f.jpg

It sems something has been muching on my soft green blades. And honestly, what little critter wouldnt want to?

So now that the leaf spot will soon be under control (pending Actinovate effectiveness and use of corn meal 10-20lb/1,000ft) How do I figure out who's visiting the all you can eat buffet?

I couldnt find any suspects, other than a couple of these guys(spittlebug)

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/3489/img8506i.jpg

So now I ask for everyones help! Where do I start? How do I figure out who has their hand (or multiple hands) in the cookie jar?

Update: Well, I went out to take a larger picture so everyone could see the shape/area involved. Something didnt add up so I put in some more 'hands and knees' time. Guess who I found? Take a look below

Http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/1251/img8513.jpg

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/3402/img8512.jpg

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/7220/img85123.jpg

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