one week old St. Augustine dying

6 years ago

Delivered last Thursday, laid last Friday. Had lots of rain so did not water. Ground/dirt appears to be wet. Sod delivered was yellow out the outsides and green on the insides of the squares.

Contacted the sod company and said to put Prophesy fungicide, which we did yesterday. They also asked if we had applied a fertilizer to the dirt before applying but we didn't know that had to be done so also applied Mighty Green 4-3-4 Organic fertilizer at the same time yesterday, based on their instructions.

Live in South Alabama, St. Augustine. Did they deliver a bad batch of grass or is this a fungicide due to excessive rain. Is there anything we can do to recover the dead grass?

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Comments (12)

cissy
Original Author
6 years ago
Sorry, uploaded 4 different images but only 3 showed up all the same, which was what it looked like the day after delivered. I'll try to upload images of what the grass looks like today.
trickyputt
6 years ago
Are you in Mobile or further inland?
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Sorry to disagree with you weed. That is fungal disease. How long did your grass sit on the pallet before you put it down. St Aug is very prone to disease when it does not get good air circulation. Here is a picture of iron chlorosis in otherwise healthy St Aug... Only the grass in the very center of the photo is affected and only barely affected. I happened to catch it right before the entire lawn turned yellow. I have a much better picture of St Aug chlorosis but on a different computer. Your instinct to spray with a fungicide was correct. I would not have used a spray because I have excellent experience using ordinary corn meal on St Augustine. If the spray does not work, you can still use corn meal but you will have to use a little compost first. Corn meal is a biological solution and your spray has upset the natural biology of the soil. Compost will restore that biology and then you can use corn meal. Yes, this is the corn meal you eat. As a comment on your previous die-offs: the first one was not due to a major freeze. I don't know what it was, but if St Aug survives almost every winter in Dallas, it is much more likely to survive absolutely EVERY winter in Florida. Second one was chinch bugs...or was it lack of water and mowing too low? Established St Aug must be watered at least monthly to remain alive. It needs to be watered weekly during the heat of summer to thrive. If you have sandy soil yours might need it more frequently. And most St Aug should be mowed at your mower's highest setting. Mow too low and you need to use more water...and you get weeds.
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If you could get your camera about 3 inches away from the grass instead of 30,000 feet, I could likely confirm a fungal disease. The best pictures of grass are taken in the shade or on a cloudy day to minimize contrast caused by the sun. If you get close you'll see tan spots surrounded by dark brown spots. That's the disease. I'm guessing you live in Texas and have received more than your average share of rain in the past few weeks. If it is a fungal disease it will get better about 3 weeks after an application of ordinary corn meal at the rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. You can get corn meal in 50-pound bags at your local feed store. If you cannot get it there look for a grocery store catering to the Hispanic community. Ask for (or find it yourself) corn flour. Don't get the premix used for making tortillas. It should come in 25 pound bags. I scatter it by hand. Flour tends to blow away, so you might want to use a drop spreader to apply it. And it tends to clog a drop spreader which is why I apply by hand. If it is a fungal disease and you live where the temps are in the mid to high 80s already, don't use anything but corn meal. If you live where it's cooler, you could use a chemical fungicide. I've never needed one, so I can't give you any hints. Corn meal has worked for my St Aug for the past 13 years. If you want to reapply after 3 weeks it won't hurt a thing. In fact if you want to reapply the next day it won't hurt anything either. This weekend is an excellent one, timingwise, to apply fertilizer anyway. Corn meal is a weak organic fertilizer. If you only use it on the affected spots, you'll have dark green grass there in a month. Corn meal works by attracting a predatory fungus as part of the decomposition. That fungus consumes the disease fungus and your grass will recover. If your lawn is in full sun, you might want to throw a couple pieces of Floratam St Aug sod down. It's a very fast growing variety that can actually outrun this particular disease. I see the disease in my Floratam, but it never seems to die out like yours is. I still hit it with corn meal because the spots are ugly.
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Those caterpillars might be part of the problem, but you definitely have a fungal disease. The corn meal can go down while it's raining or during a drought. Doesn't matter. As to whether it flows through a spreader, you probably already know the answer to that. No, not very well. Corn sucks up all the humidity in the air and starts to clump in the spreader. If you have an uneven soil surface that causes the spreader to bounce, that helps. I spread it by hand. I have a 2-pound coffee can that I fill. Then I "eyeball" about a 10x10 foot area and try to put the 2 pounds of corn meal evenly on that area. As to the caterpillars, the BT Worm Killer should kill them all in 24 hours. Nothing works faster. If there are more eggs waiting to come out, then you will have to repeat. I believe it would be impossible for you to spread the eggs and certainly impossible to do it as efficiently as the moths do it. They lay the eggs in the soil. I would not use another insecticide. That would be overkill, a waste of money, and an unnecessary contribution to pollution. But while you are at this, you should dig up 1 square foot of soil looking for grubs. If you see fewer than a dozen grubs, then cover it back up and leave it alone. If you see hundreds of grubs, then go back and do the granules for grubs. Have you sprayed shampoo on your lawn? Shampoo helps with water penetration in all types of soil. The application rate is 3 ounces per 1,000 square feet. Follow that up with 1/2 to 1 inch of rain or irrigation. In your case just spray it and let the rain take it down into the soil. You defs don't need more water for awhile. Deep and infrequent watering only works on established turf and only after the roots have grown deeper into the soil. New sod needs frequent watering to get the roots into the soil at first. This lawn will recover from all the above. Stick with it.
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cissy
Original Author
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Mobile. Weird that some squares are great, some are half good and others are totally bad looking.
dchall_san_antonio
6 years ago
Chances are good that this is a root rot and not another disease or a drying situation. It seems to be going around with new sod in your area and to the southeast. If you have already applied a fungicide, then just sit back and see how it works. Give it 3 weeks.

How are you watering the new sod when it isn't raining?
cissy
Original Author
6 years ago
"isn't raining" is very rare here but it didn't rain Wednesday and only a sprinkle yesterday.

Just applied another round of fungicide as I've now determined it's leaf spots. Can only hope it'll recover in 3 weeks.

After looking at video of sod the day after it was delivered, I have little doubt this was a bad batch of sod. It was yellow and fell apart as we picked it up off the pallet. We never should have accepted delivery and I questioned it enough to make a video but waste of time going back to the sod company 2 weeks later; will just buy from another supplier next time.
reeljake
6 years ago
You've named the brand of your fungicide & fertilizer, but do you know if you purchased a branded st. Aug sod? Is it palmetto or sapphire or Raleigh or any other named cultivar from a certified supplier? If not, your next order probably should be...
cissy
Original Author
6 years ago
It's called "classic". Supplier says it's the best St. Augustine on the market.
trickyputt
6 years ago
Some of those spots remind me of Septoria.
reeljake
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
From what I found on Google, classic is a fairly new variety but hasn't shown much improvement except in color. Apparently it has a really dark color, but same disease tolerance as the unimproved genetic varieties
cissy
Original Author
6 years ago
Thanks guys, decided I'm going to dig up a section of grass and take it to the supplier. They are the largest sod supplier in the area and have numerous sod farms in the South so they should know what the problem is.
dchall_san_antonio
6 years ago
If you ever stop spraying fungicide for a month or so, try using a little compost and ordinary ground corn. You can get corn meal at your local feed store. I used corn meal successfully for 14 years on leaf spot type disease in St Augustine. The application rate for compost is less than 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet. The app rate for corn meal is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you cannot find corn meal, you can use cracked corn or corn flour from a grocery store that caters to Hispanic cooking. It comes in 25 pound bags at the grocery store.
trickyputt
6 years ago
Dchall thank you for that, my back went into spasms just thinking about compost cubic yardage for my front yard.

one week old St. Augustine dying

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one week old St. Augustine dying

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