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sgsupra36

Please help identify this type of grass

sgsupra36
10 years ago

I have this grass that has been taking over my lawn for the past two years. I just have no idea the type of grass it is. I would like to know so I can properly care for it. I absolutely love it. Thank you in advance!

Comments (5)

  • dchall_san_antonio
    10 years ago

    Looks like a variety of St Augustine. I've never seen it look curly like that, but otherwise it looks pretty good.

    Assuming it is SA, you cannot let it go dry. When SA goes completely dry, it dies rather than going dormant. The normal recommendation for most lawns is 1 inch per week applied all at one time. Put out some cat food or tuna cans and see how long it takes your sprinkler to fill them. That's your basic target for weekly watering in the summer heat. As the high temps drop back into the 80s, you can move to watering every 2 weeks. With temps in the 70s, move to once every 3 weeks.

    St Aug spreads twice a year. In the spring and fall it will shoot out about 5 feet. You can encourage that with proper watering.

    Mow it at your mower's highest setting unless you have a dwarf variety. I guess you don't know what you have. Maybe the curly look is the dwarf variety. I've never seen a dwarf SA but I know they are out there. If it is dwarf I would mow at 3 inches.

    If you use chemical fertilizers, you can fertilize in early May (hot areas like Florida and South Texas only) and again in late Sept (hot areas only) and again on Thanksgiving. I am 100% organic with fertilizing so I am going to twist your arm to make another application but this time with alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow sized). Apply them in late winter before the spring flush of new growth appears. Your soil will thank you for the meal.

    St Aug is so dense you should never need a preemergent herbicide. In fact you should never need anything but fertilizer. If you think you need something else, please write in here and describe what is going on.

  • sgsupra36
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the information! I greatly appreciate it! I do now it at about 3 inches. Looks fantastic. I'll check out organic fertilizer.
    Thank you again!

  • dchall_san_antonio
    10 years ago

    Here's a picture of alfalfa pellets at work. The lawn was zoysia. Alfalfa was applied in mid May and the picture taken in mid June.

    {{gwi:79339}}

    Note the improved density, color, and growth. This picture has sold a lot of alfalfa pellets. Get the 1/4-inch rabbit sized pellets. There is a difference in price but no difference in performance between generic alfalfa pellets and Purina Rabbit Chow. Call around to your local feed stores. It comes in 50-pound bags for $10 to $15.

  • sgsupra36
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Do I need to spread then water? Also can I apply now or wait like you said till late winter? That picture definitely has me wanting to try it out!

  • dchall_san_antonio
    10 years ago

    Yes that picture has sold a lot of alfalfa pellets. Even my own feed stores now know about using it on lawns.

    Spread the pellets and moisten them. You don't have to saturate the ground or even the pellets. Just moisten them and over the next few hours they will swell up. Then you can drag a hose across the lawn and the alfalfa flakes will fall down into the turf to the soil. Then they go to work. It takes a full 3 weeks to see the improvement - hence the delay after applying the pellets until the picture was taken.

    You can apply alfalfa, or any other organic grain type fertilizer, any day of the year or every day of the year. The normal application rate is 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet but you can go up to 60 pounds before getting into trouble. One thing about these organics: if you have not used organics in awhile, then you might want to start with 10 pounds per 1,000. Why? Because your soil does not have the necessary population of microbes to decompose the fertilizer. The result is an aroma of decomposing food. It isn't too bad but you will notice it. Use it once at the low rate first and the smell will be considerably minimized then and forever after.