Dying St. Augustine lawn in east L.A. area
My mom lives in a suburb ~ 30 min east of downtown L.A., and had St. Aug sod laid down (front and back yards) three years ago. First year, no problems. Year Two, while the grass was green and alive, it wasn't thriving (the lawn guy follows instructions to mow as short as possible) -- blades were short and tough -- not a lot of new, tender growth. I don't believe the lawn was ever fertilized, but a regular watering schedule was maintained (as is possible during a drought).
Last July, when I last visited, I noticed patchy dead areas -- still no apparent new growth. I fertilized both yards with a balanced fertilizer (probably Scott's).
During the current visit, I noticed the dead areas are making their way across the entire back lawn. The front is much greener, but I can tell 'something' is starting to spread there, too.
Backyard:
And here's a close up of the blades:
I live in Houston and have had a thriving St. Aug lawn for decades. I just don't know where/how to begin diagnosing this. It's very odd that within the obviously dead patches, there are islands of bright green, healthy tufts of growth. The Houston area is seeing very extensive sod webworm damage, but this doesn't seem the same (unless it's so far gone).
I'd appreciate any help diagnosing this. The lawn guy only mows and will fertilize if we plop a bag of fertilizer out as a 'signal' to apply. If this is a pest problem, it'll be beyond him to apply anything. I can manage one treatment before I leave, but repeat applications are out of the question. I don't know what the bug 'timetable' is for Southern California; i.e., what to look out for this time of year.
Thanks in advance!
Comments (7)
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St. Augustine lawn help
Comments (10)I'm doing an experiment with unmowed St Augustine. Originally I did not think the grass would get taller than 10 inches, but it is easily 36 inches in one spot under a tree. Here is a picture I took last year. The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate the benefits that lou mentioned above. I stopped mowing in October of 2011. The location is George West, TX on the edge of the Texas desert. Temps are above 95 from mid May through mid October with humidity running 40-50% most of the time. Since then I have only watered the grass when and where it was calling out to me for water. At no time have I watered more frequently than once per week. There is one spot under a tree on the east side of the house where I have not watered at all since 10/2011. In fact that is where the dog picture was taken. At the time it was about 30 inches high right there. Also since then I have not fertilized and used no insecticide or herbicide. As you can see there is no weed pressure at all - and I am surrounded by fields of King Ranch bluestem. There are places in the yard with plenty of bluestem, bermuda, and other weeds, but those areas are not part of this experiment. So the point of mentioning this is that taller St Aug will resist all the problems you might have with anything else. I always suggest people weld their mower at the highest position to prevent your well-meaning brother in lawn from doing you a favor and scalping your lawn back down "to where it should be." Tall St Aug (4 inches, not 40) is very lush looking and will solve your problems. Another issue you should watch for is drought stress near the sidewalk. Sidewalks take up sunlight all day and remain warm much longer that the soil under the grass. The soil near the sidewalk will get warmer during the day and remain warm until the next day. This tends to drive off the moisture through evaporation near the sidewalk and dry out the grass. The solution is to water more deeply, not more often. Generally I agree that your only problem is the grass roots are not up to speed yet. Give it another month and take another picture to compare. You should see improvement. Set your mower high, water deeply and infrequently, and fertilize and you will have a lawn like your neighbor. I prefer organic fertilizer because I am lazy and don't like to measure, but you can use chemical and get good results, too....See MoreSt. Augustine Growth Issues (8 month old lawn)
Comments (6)If you're a long time reader you must have read my treatise on watering a million times. Yet, you're watering wrong. Is there another way I can write that to make it more convincing? Here's a picture of morph's yard in eastern PA. You've probably seen this one, too, but maybe since this is your topic you'll listen. The main difference between his yard (in July) and the neighbors' yards is that he waters deeply once a week. Of course your yard in Niceville has a different soil, but the climate is surprisingly similar. Your humidity is higher, so you might need to water slightly less often than morph. You should be mowing at the mower's highest setting. Taller grass grows deeper roots and gets nutrients from deeper in the soil. I would hit it with organic fertilizer once a month over the summer. I like corn meal or alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow), but others like soybean meal and Milorganite. Oh and St Augustine only spreads when the temps are in the 70s and low 80s, so you may have missed the window. It'll be back in the fall. But you can green it up by fixing the water and the organic fertilizer....See MoreHelp...why is my St Augustine dying?
Comments (1)Where are you in Central Texas? The town would be best, but basically are you east or west of I-35? North or south of I-20? It's impossible to say from those pictures, but thanks for trying. The best way to take garden pictures is on a cloudy day or in the shade without a flash. Otherwise the contrast between sunlight reflections off the foliage and the dark shadows is too much. Also if you suspect a disease, then get down on your knees and take a picture from 3 inches away in an area where the grass is going from green to some other color. We need to look at the spots on the blades. You should have been deep watering about once per month for the past month and every 2-3 weeks prior to that. If you were watering once a week or more frequently, then a disease is very likely. The following is the skinny on watering a lawn. Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall....See MoreNew Floratam St Augustine Sod Dying - Fungus?
Comments (12)Looks like it to me. Here is a link to some more information, which you might have already found. I would assume the grass came with the disease which got much worse with the rain. Take a note and don't buy grass from that supplier again. Being an organic kind of guy, I would be hitting the grass with ordinary corn meal at 15 pounds per 1,000 square feet every 3-4 weeks for the rest of the summer. This is INSTEAD of using a fungicide. As discussed in the link above, this is a soil borne disease. These problems are caused by an imbalance of beneficial versus pathogenic microbes - essentially an unhealthy soil. The fastest way to restore the soil to health is to use organic fertilizer, NOT fungicide. Corn meal has the additional benefit of heavily populating the soil with a predatory, but beneficial fungus called Trichoderma (try koh DER mah). Not all fungi cause disease. If you cannot find ordinary corn meal at your local feed stores (call first), then cracked corn will work. If you cannot find either one, then look for a grocery store catering to the Hispanic market. They will have 25-pound bags of corn flour. They will also have 25-pound bags of tortilla ready-mix which has baking soda and baking powder in it. The bags are almost identical, but you want the plain corn flour. Ask for help if you cannot tell them apart. If you have any doubts about the effectiveness of organic fertilizer, please ask. I think you ran into an unfortunate weather situation - unlucky timing. The grass could have been afflicted before you bought it, but that's hard to prove. It may have a guarantee or you might get a discount on buying again from the same supplier....See Morejaviwa
7 years agolast modified: 7 years ago
dchall_san_antonio
7 years agoOkay then good news about the top dressing. It could be so old that it was never graded properly the first time. Or it could be optical illusions. My inlaws in El Monte had a perfectly flat lawn where the soil met the concrete at the driveway and sidewalk with no bulges, so in that respect it was perfect. They didn't water, so it was a mess, but...
Yes, dig for grubs just for your own edification. You might find as much as a few per square feet. That's fine up to a dozen per square feet. If you find it squishy with hundreds of grubs, then you should have treated it in July. Treating now is like closing the door after the horses are out. They have stopped feeding for this year.
Hot? Okay here's the watering schedule broken down by temperatures.
Watering: Deep and infrequent is the mantra for watering. This is for all turf grass all over the place. Deep means 1 inch all at one time. Put some cat food or tuna cans around the yard, and time how long it takes your sprinkler(s) to fill all the cans. Memorize that time. That will be the time you water from now on. My hose, sprinkler and water pressure takes 8 full hours to fill the cans. Your time will likely be less. I like gentle watering. As for watering frequency, that depends on the daytime air temperature. With temps in the 90s, deep water once per week. With temps in the 80s, deep water once every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, deep water once every 3 weeks. With temps below 70, deep water once a month. Note that you have to keep up with quickly changing temps in the spring and fall. This deep and infrequent schedule works in Phoenix and in Vermont, so it should work for you. The reason for deep and infrequent is to grow deeper, more drought resistant roots and to allow the soil to dry completely at the surface for several days before watering again. If it rains, reset your calendar to account for the rainfall.
If once every 5 days works in Phoenix at 115 degrees, then 2x per week would never be right for the San Gabriel Valley. It is likely, too, that 1/2 hour is not enough to get an inch. Here's another tip: spray the yard with any clear shampoo at a rate of 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet followed by 1/2 into to 1 inch of irrigation or rain. That will help the soil absorb the water much deeper.
j4 is a non-believer in corn meal. I don't know if he's tried it, but it has worked for me every year for the past 14. I have never let my lawn get as bad as your mother's is.
It does look dead. I have recovered a dead lawn, but it was from the outside in and required serious patience. Mine was in the Texas (almost) desert and caused by a broken sprinkler system before I moved in. St Aug only spreads when temps are in the 70s, so fixing it in the heat took a little longer than I had hoped. I fixed it with deep and infrequent watering. You might be surprised to see new grass popping up in the middle of the dead. Or not.
Just because everyone is mowing short in the area, that won't make mowing short the right thing to do. St Aug will absolutely thrive at 32 inches tall. Here's a picture of my dog walking through my semidesert St Aug. You can see her tail and ears.
That grass was never fertilized (or mowed) in the 2.5 years I lived there. When the grass grows up tall it grows deeper roots which can get moisture and nutrients from much deeper in the soil. These roots were in uncharted territory picking up nutrients from way deep down. As it turns out you don't have to water nearly as frequently when the grass is up tall like that. I had one spot that grew up to 32 inches quickly. I never watered that area in 30 months through a full year of drought and then some rains. This hyperinfrequent watering was the point of growing the grass that tall.
javiwa thanked dchall_san_antoniojaviwa
7 years ago
reeljake