Is my St. Augustine dead or dormant?
Ariel Rodriguez
last year
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Ariel Rodriguez
7 months agoAriel Rodriguez
7 months agoRelated Discussions
Thick, dead grass - St. Augustine or Bermuda?
Comments (3)If the surface of your yard has a good profile that drains water away from all the buildings and is pretty level (no holes), then DO NOT TILL IT. Tilling will ruin the drainage and make holes in the future as the soil settles unevenly. How far away from the beach are you? Orange county is a big place. I have seen Kentucky bluegrass growing a few miles from the beach and it looks great all winter long. KBG would suffer more the farther inland you get. If you are east of Interstate 5 down to Irvine I would not try KBG. The eastern parts of Mission Viejo would be too warm for KBG but western parts are probably fine, even though it is east of I-5. Bermuda would grow anywhere in OC as would St Augustine. You don't have to sod your entire lawn with St Augustine if you are willing to wait. If you are not willing to wait, then St Aug sod is great for an instant lawn. As Lou said above, it is a coarse bladed grass. Bermuda and KBG are fine bladed grasses. Bermuda can be much more of a pain to make really nice simply because it looks shaggy unless you mow it several times a week. It is also very invasive and tenacious. St Aug and KBG are both less invasive and much less tenacious than bermuda. And they do not need nearly as much mowing. You are asking very basic questions so I'll give you the 1-2-3 guide to growing great turf. It is really just this easy. Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an hour in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. Mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. Bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses are the most dense when mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. Dense grass shades out weeds and uses less water when tall. Dense grass feeds the deep roots you're developing in 1 above. Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 4 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above....See MoreDormant Crabgrass in St. Augustine
Comments (2)I have no way of proving crabgrass doesn't die in the winter, but in Fl where I'm watching it, I don't buy that theory, and I watch my neighbors lawn closely LOL It's easy to spot old crabgrass, just pull it up new plant doesn't have a root system. a old plant will take a shovel to uproot....See MoreMy St Augustine grass is mostly dead
Comments (16)It looks like it's about 2 weeks behind compared to other years but my 'Sapphire' st augustine is coming back with force now that it's warm. I guess it's not quite cold susceptible as I had thought, maybe a bit more cold hardy than Floratam. Still, I had a lot of winter kill that I had to remove. Still much better than Raleigh (very susceptible to fungal disease) and Palmetto (prone to SAD virus). Looks like maybe Palmetto got wiped out by hard freezes due to being weakened by virus??? Sapphire seem to be strongly resistant to fungal disease and SADV....See MoreCompletely dead St. Augustine lawn
Comments (2)Steve, If you have a grub issue the grass should pull up from the soil very easily, almost like pulling up carpet. Grubs are active from about june thru october, so it could very likley be that. I would pull up a 1ft by 1ft section and dig around to see if you find any grubs....See Moredchall_san_antonio
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