First time homeowner needs help with St. Augustine & grassy weeds

13 years ago

Hey everyone,

My husband and I just bought our first home. The previous owners did not take care of the lawn, so we are trying to save gutting the whole front and back yards and starting over. We are native Houstonians but have no experience with lawns.

Last summer we had a severe drought, and our small town put us on water restrictions, and the owners did not keep up with watering so 90% of the backyard died, and a lot of the front yard did, too. Couple that with an unexpectedly cold/freezing winter here in Houston, and Spring came around and the yard had a lot of weeds and dead grass.

I started spraying the front yard with weed killer beginning in April. I sprayed once more 4 weeks later in May. I waited 2 more weeks until Memorial Day, and I fertilized with 24-D. I've been watering it once a week in each zone for about 45-minutes to an hour. We've gotten some good rain the last two weeks so I haven't watered any. The bare spots are starting to fill in, but I have a few problems.

The first one being grassy weeds. What do I do with them? Can I kill them? The easements by the street in the front yard is only "weed grass" as I call it. A HUGE portion of the actual front yard is "weed grass" and it's intermingling with the St. Augustine. Walking the yard today I noticed a few patches of what looks like grass with white mold on it?? Save for about 10 square feet of St. Augustine in the backyard, it's complete "weed grass." Also, the St. Augustine in the front has started seeding. When should I cut it and how high?

I took some pictures, but it's SO hot and humid outside my camera fogged up so they aren't clear.

Thanks for the help!

What might this be?

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"Mold" patches with "weed grass" and St. Augustine

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"Weed grass" with St. Augustine

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Piece of the "weed grass"

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Another grassy weed

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The grassy weeds with St. Augustine

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Better close up of the weed grass and St. Augustine

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Grass seeding

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Comments (7)

ashweekins
Original Author
13 years ago
I forgot my other questions...

There are some red-tip bushes that are overgrown and I really don't like them. I also have an overgrown Crepe Myrtle that's about 3 years old and has never bloomed. Is it too late to prune these? Should I wait until next springn to pull up the bushes and prune the Crepe Myrtle?

Thanks!
dwrecktor
13 years ago
When you say 24-D, you must have meant 2-4-D, which is a broadleaf herbicide, not a fertilizer. From the pics, I see a couple of nutsedge (a weed) and a lot of Bermuda grass. You can get rid of the nutsedge w/ an herbicidde like Sledgehammer. Getting rid of the Bermuda though is gonna be tough. You could mow your St. Augstine at the highest setting and that will shade out and slow the spread of the Bermuda. I'm not aware of any herbicide that will kill Bermuda w/o killing everything else in your yard. If you could take a picture that showed a wider shot of the lawn, that might be more helpful to get a sense of what you're up against.
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texas_weed
13 years ago
What you are calling a grassy weed is Bermuda grass, and it will be impossible to eliminate it in SA grass.
ashweekins
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks everyone. It looks like I will have to pay someone to rip out the bermuda grass in the backyard and re-sod with St. Augustine. The same with the easements.

This drought really did a number on the lawn.]

I can take some wider shots and post them.
botanicalbill
13 years ago
Even if you rip out the bermuda grass, it will come back. It will be impossible to get rid of bermuda in St Aug unless you kill every thing. The whole process of that will take an entire growing season.
The 2,4-d you put down will kill the St Aug but not the bermuda. I have had success of killing nutsedge in high doses.
ashweekins
Original Author
13 years ago
So, to understand the process, I will have to kill the entire yard with a grass killer first. When I want to sod with St. Augustine, will the landscaper need to spread new top soil and then sod? Just trying to understand so we don't get screwed when we hire a landscaper. Should we just leave it be until next spring?
ltruett
13 years ago
Chances are you are going to end up with some bermuda grass in your lawn no matter what you do. You can do things such as cutting the grass high to favor the St Augustine but it is virtually impossible to not have bermuda grass mixed in somewhere.

You can get pieces of sod and cut them up and plant them in the existing yard and they will eventually fill in. Look at getting Floratam or even Sapphire as they both spread fairly fast.