Welcome to the forum. You have been reading some very old posts. Bestlawn has been missing from the forum for about five years. In any case, we miss her and I will let her know that the heavens parted and you have seen the light. Please name the town you live in in SoCal. I grew up in Riverside, went to school in Pomona, worked in Downey and Hawthorne, and had relatives in Los Angeles (the real Los Angeles), Stanton, Palm Desert, and Indio. Sometimes I can help with details that most people would not be aware of. I would wait a few weeks for the soil to dry out before making judgements about the soil. One thing you might do is to apply a thin layer of compost. Let's see, if you have 400 square feet then 1/2 yard of compost is all you need. Normally I would say that mowing the grass that short might result in seeing the yellowish blades, but that grass is a dwarf variety and should not show yellow. How do you know you had a grub problem and which insecticide did you use?

My new HP with vista slowed down and would freeze up after I loaded on Zone Alarm...I totally removed all signs of Norton..still slow...I would have to power off just to shut down computer or get to a new program. I was loosing icons..and programs...and then they would mysteriously return...only to disappear again...whole computer became very unstable.. Third call to the Costco Techs(luckily that's where I bought this computer)had me do a system restore with them on the phone holding my hand...this restore took be back to supposed "out of the box" factory condition... But I swear this "out of the box" was somehow different from when I first turned on the machine...I am wondering if this was a returned computer that someone had previously "dinked" with....anyway I very slowly and very methodically added back my bookmarks, favorites and email addresses using Windows email not outlook...and reinstalled router, printer, mouse, and external HD software. I logged each thing I did to this machine and each time checked speed...internet was good and holding...I downloaded and installed AVG freebie ..got rid of Norton trial that came with the HP...absolutely no more Zone Alarm..although it was great with my XP machine...then I loaded on program software like Office, Quicken, Quickbooks, and Turbo Tax. Cross my fingers...everything seems to be running ok..and as fast as my XP computer.

I never even connected things till Aspen's message, but Tristan is allergic to milk too. He gets eczema when I drank milk so I stopped drinking it and his eczema is so much better. He did stop spitting up while I was still drinking milk, but maybe if I had stopped dairy products sooner it might have helped him stop spitting up earlier. Jayme - I've had to cut out all dairy too and I miss it as well! I don't mind the taste of the vanilla soy milk or rice milk though - some brands aren't too bad. I also had something called "veggie slices" which tastes enough like that fake sliced American cheese that it helps when I want cheese. They aren't the world's greatest, but not bad. Pam

Barry I'm so glad you bumped this back up. Not sure how I missed it (repeatedly), but I disagree with much of what has been said. I don't mean to confuse you, but differing opinions usually do, so sorry in advance. St Aug should be very easy to grow in Houston. It will plow over under around and through any other grassy plants you might get including bermuda. All you have to do is mow it at the mower's highest setting every week or two. Currently it looks like you're mowing at the lowest setting. St Aug never needs to be mowed at anything lower than the highest setting. Some riding mowers will go up to 6 inches and some only go to 2-3 inches. If you're mowing at the mower's high setting now, you need a different mower. St Aug can grow up to 32 inches high and look fantastic (if you like the flowing wheat look). The taller it is the deeper the root system it gets and the (MUCH) better drought resistance you get. There is the occasional weed that will get into a thin spot, but usually you can spot spray those out with atrazine. How many thousand square feet do you have to mow? This looks below average for a new lawn, but when the lawn is so big, anything can happen. The big problem is mowing too low, but it does look like the sod went in with some bit of fungal disease. The 3rd to last picture shows some fungal lesions. I have been using ordinary corn meal to take care of fungal disease in St Aug for the past 13 years. It works for me every time. The application rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. I get it at the local feed store. It takes 3 weeks to see an improvement, but since you've already applied a chemical fungicide, corn meal won't work. Chinch bugs? You absolutely cannot see them from a photo. However, you can wipe your hand across the surface then they will flick up in the air. Put a piece of paper down and see if you can flick them up on it. There are some good YouTube videos showing how to do that. They hit the hottest part of the soil first, so that's usually next to asphalt or concrete. Then almost never begin in the middle of the yard unless you have watering issues. The first place to check would be in your last photo. And just because you might have one insect pest does not automatically make you a candidate for the full catalog of insects. And don't apply insecticide because you see bugs. Insects are not only normal, they're required for healthy soil and turf. You do have watering issues. I assume for such a large lot you have a system in the ground. It needs to be tuned up, because it is missing spots. Place some tuna or cat food cans around in the dry spots and in the green spots. Then time how long it takes to fill the cans. Some high flow systems can fill them in 20 minutes, so keep an eye on them. But some of your cans are going to be pretty dry for a long time. Eventually you want them all to fill at about the same time. Then use the time it takes to fill them as your new watering time for every zone. That's 1 inch of water. The idea is to apply a full inch all at one time. Then wait until the grass is ready for the next drink. Generally speaking when the temps are in the 90s, water once per week. With temps in the 80s water once every 2 weeks, temps in the 70s water every 3 weeks, and once a month the rest of the year. This also promotes deep roots. You don't have clay soil. You might not have perfect soil, but clay is not the issue. Usually the problem is a salt imbalance that causes soil to act like clay. Even sand can act like clay. If you really want to know all about your soil, send a sample to Logan Labs (not TAMU). For $25 they will send you a detailed report. Post that report here and morpheuspa will read it for you telling you what you need to apply, where to find it, how much, when, and how. That's another $200 value for free. Fertilize in May, late September, and again in late November. Don't try to jump the gun in the spring. If you want info on organic lawn care, let me know. I think you should, but not everyone agrees. If you go to a full chemical program, then I would suggest at least once a year to use an organic fertilizer (ordinary corn meal, again) to keep your soil biology happy. So in the long run, taking care of St Aug is easy. You water it depending on the temperature, mow at the highest setting, and fertilize 3x per year. If you do these simple things, you should never need herbicide, insecticide, or fungicide. If you see weeds in the early spring, don't use a weed-n-feed. Use a herbicide with atrazine. Read the label 2x and follow the directions carefully. Photo tip: Take garden pictures on a cloudy day to minimize contrast between bright and shadow.