Installing St. Augustine sod in Los Angeles area in Sept/Oct?
Charlene
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
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Charlene
3 years agoRelated Discussions
Where to Buy Zoysia in Los Angeles?
Comments (2)Why do you want zoysia? Are you having lawn troubles and you think zoysia is the solution? Are there pets or children involved in this project? You have a golden opportunity that most people in the US don't have. Go visit both Huntington Library AND Descanso Gardens to see the grasses they use. Because you have shade, you should look especially at the St Augustine as well as the zoysia. There are only a few varieties of zoysia that can stand less than full sun all day. Zoysia is fine bladed while St Augustine is coarse. You have to be ready for that major difference. Zoysia should be mowed low while St Aug should be mowed at the mower's highest setting. They may not do that at your local garden destinations. When you mow it high, St Aug is much easier to live with than anything I've tried. In my San Antonio neighborhood there is always someone trying to make zoysia work. Usually they only last half of one season before they switch back to St Aug. So a search on "funkyamazon st augustine" both on this forum and on Google. She is a GW member and member of another lawn forum. She is also a neighbor of yours in Pasadena (near Cal Tech) who has turned her St Augustine lawn around during the last few month. Going into the summer she hated it and now she has torn out a new installation of Kentucky bluegrass in the back to replace it with St Aug. If nothing else she knows where to buy grass in your area....See MoreBest grass for Los Angeles?
Comments (91)Adrienne in Thousand Oaks: Regarding UC Verde Buffalo Grass, we installed it June 2021 so can attest to how it took watering twice a day to establish, then less frequently until we were watering twice a week with good results; I live in Thousand Oaks and were restricted to watering once a week for 15 minutes which was a good soak and it survived the limited watering last summer. When first planted as plugs we had a lot of weeds but it eventually filled in and is very thick. What we don't like is that is it dormant and brown in color from November to March; it has been slowly turning green in the last few weeks now that it is spring. It requires very little mowing, about once a month at most from spring to fall. The only way to buy it in Southern California is from FloraSource Ltd. They ship it as plugs in flats so it is labor intensive to have it installed; cost is twice that of sod....See MoreWhat grass for backyard with dogs in Los Angeles suburbs?
Comments (29)@norm1977, wow, I hadn’t expected a response or comment anymore at this late stage, but it’s always nice when someone checks in! On the whole, the lawn is holding up great. One of my dogs passed away in 2019, 😢 so it’s only taking abuse from one instead of two now, and there are definitely places along the edges where it has died because those are regular pee spots for my boy. But I expected that, and they’re not big areas. Right now a good portion of the lawn is dormant for winter, especially where it’s more exposed when there’s the occasional frost like we got last week. It is one of the best garden investments I made!...See MoreBest grass for Los Angeles ( South Bay Area)
Comments (9)If they rolled the sod down, you're good to go. If they did not roll the sod down, please go out and walk on every square inch of grass to ensure the bottom of the sod is touching the top of the soil. Roots will not grow through the air to reach the moist soil below. But now that I think about this, do NOT walk on the grass if the underlying soil is wet. For the first 2 weeks after sodding, water it very lightly (5 minutes?), just enough to moisten the soil below the sod, 2 times per day (for your area and temperatures). The soil underneath should always be firm and not mushy. If it becomes mushy, then back off on the time you're watering. After 2 weeks, try lifting some of the sod. It should be knit to the ground by then. Once the sod and soil are connected, you can back off on watering frequency and go up on the duration. St Aug is pretty durable, but it will let you know when it needs to be watered. Look for the blades to fold together. The color will change, too. If you see any wilting anywhere, water it immediately. It might pop back to life in the evening, but water it anyway. It should go a couple days between watering. Keep watering it longer each time and watch to see how long it goes before wilting. When it can go a full week with no watering, then it is time to time your sprinklers. Place some cat food or tuna cans around the yard and turn on the sprinklers. Time how long it takes to fill them all. That will be your new sprinkler timing from now on. One inch is considered to be deep watering. Many people, especially in CA and FL, will divide that up to water 1/7-inch once every day. That is dead wrong. Watering like that develops very shallow roots which cannot stand to miss a day of watering. Someday you will be on vacation and your sprinkler system will shut down or break an emitter, and your lawn will die. However, if the grass has deep roots from infrequent, deep watering, it can go for weeks without needing water. For example I have watered my lawn once this year. Mother Nature happens to be helping out. We got 2 inches of rain last week, so I don't anticipate needing to water again until some time in June. And our temps are in the high 80s and 90s. When the grass gets up to about 5 inches, you can mow with the mower on the highest setting. Don't mow wet grass or if the soil is soggy. You can use the alfalfa fertilizer any time you want....See MoreCharlene
3 years agoCharlene
3 years agosocalgal_gw Zone USDA 10b Sunset 24
3 years agoCharlene
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agodchall_san_antonio
3 years agodchall_san_antonio
3 years agorureadyinla
2 years agonancyjane_gardener
2 years ago
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CharleneOriginal Author