I should add that I live just outside of Houston. I have an 8 zone system utilizing a Rachio controller set to utilize the flex schedule. This side of the yard is predominantly in shade as the front of my home faces NE. I do fertilize using turf builder, but haven't laid anything down since the beginning of summer.

Shade kills--shade + drought is a recipe for bare spots. Sod is a buck 25 a square.

I think I see some nutsedge in that bare spot... It looks compacted & if wet enough for nutsedge, will need to dry for a long time. Is there a water leak under that spot?

There isn't, but that side has a history of problematic draining. Plus, it was raining shortly before that picture, so it's not very representative. That whole side used to be dead as we had standing water due to the builders not grading the side yard correctly. We scraped everything down to bare dirt, installed an underground drainage system that ties in our spouts and it's actually been able to grow grass. We definitely have nuts edge scattered around now. More weeds are coming through since the grass died off from the controller failure.

Maybe you just need some soil biology back? Mycorhizical fungus supplements, organic humus, compost & other stuff might wake it up, but sod is still what I think I'd do with this rain coming to Houston

Yeah, all the spots that I managed to kill with the multiple weeks without water may be better off being replaced. I need to get a soil sample out as well so I know how to better feed my yard rather than just laying down turf builder all the time.

I feel strongly that Turf builder is not going to fix that... What's your plan?

Plan right now is to sample first and get those results. Once I get those in, I'll post back here to get recommendations on fertilizer and then lay some new sod most likely. Not sure if it will be worth it being so close to winter.

Sod may be hard to find by the time you get that test back, so I'd pick up a few squares & put them down first, then use the turfbuilder or whatever fall fertilizer you like while you wait for the results of the test. That way the sod has time to root before winter. The soil test won't have any magic formulas or anything, so no point in waiting on that. Just my 2 cents.

Agreed. We can correct the soil with or without sod, so you might as well add it when you can get it and when the weather is good enough to get it rooted.

Remind me that you have new sod if you start a new thread with your soil test--I'll want to know that and gentle down some applications a little bit.

Sounds good. I'm going to take a photo of my back yard as well to knock it all out at once.

Here are some selections from the back yard. What once was a lush, green yard has been replaced with the following, all thanks to a controller failure.

Oh, dear. Fortunately, well-treated St. Aug will spread, so those can fix themselves if you feed and return to watering correctly.

Should I rake those areas that are brown and matted to encourage growth? After raking, should I apply fertilizer then?

Awesome, thank you. Now to find a bag. I've been so used to relying on the orange store for my needs. May be time to branch out.

Synthetics will be available at The Orange Place. Any fertilizer like Vigoro or Lesco, with numbers that look like 29-0-4 or whatever (a high first number, low everything else) are perfect.

You can use an organic like Milorganite if you want, no problems. In this case, I'd apply it at 20 pounds per thousand square feet, or somewhat above bag rate.

I can't tell you how much I've been impressed with Microlife multi purpose but I got some sta-green at Lowe's that worked great. It had iron in it too for about $15 a bag. I got the Microlife at the ace hardware at 529 & barker cypress, sta green at Lowe's on 290 & fry

How did I miss a blatantly St Augustine topic?

I'm thinking the soil is water logged. My St Augustine in San Antonio and in the Hill Country goes 3 weeks without water standing on its head. What is your watering schedule? How often do you water and for how long? Do you know how long it takes your sprinklers to apply an inch of water?

Did you or someone leave some toys, garden trimmings, branches, leaves, or anything in that spot on the side yard? St Augustine is very intolerant of being cut off from air flow. One night of being covered can start the fungal disease process that leads to spots just like what you're seeing. Once that starts it doesn't matter how much or little you water, but I'm still interested in your watering. Oh and start calling around to feed stores to find corn meal in 50-pound bags. Corn meal is going to get your grass back into shape on the side and will help in the back.

My St Aug spreads as much in the spring as in the fall. Key to spreading is to arrange for the air temp to be in the 70s.

I'll try to answer all of those questions as best as I can. Right now, my watering schedule varies. I have a Rachio controller and I'm utilizing their flex schedule (see HERE). Timing and frequency is widely varied based on my inputs. I don't know how long it takes to water one inch, and I've been meaning to do that. I need to get myself a tuna can and do the measurement.

Regarding the toys, that is a no. I even limit the amount of traffic on that side of the yard. For the corn meal, should I do that in conjunction with the nitrogen?

That flex schedule is all well and good, but if it is watering more than once a week it's wrong. It sounds like it is completely out of your control. Watering longer and less often is the general idea, but if it is watering every other day instead of every day, that's going to kill your St Aug. I would put out some cans and check every day to see if they have water in them. Then mark your calendar to see when they have water in them again. This time of year in Houston once a week would be absolute max. I would tend toward once every 10 days to 2 weeks.