Help Recover St Augustine

9 years ago

I had my yard sodded with St Augustine (Floratam) last Spring. It was lovely all year and this Spring I decided to start with a fertilizer regimine and figured I couldn't go wrong using a Scott's App on my phone (I'm sure you can see where this is going).
Everything went fine this year except for the occasional bit of fungus (grey leaf spot) in the front (full sun, slight slope). I kept the fungus at bay for a while but never fully beat it. All of a sudden it just blew up on the little strip between the sidewalk and street and that entire section is just about gone. I hit it a few more times and just now think I have it under control.
My theory:
I always followed the directions on the bag with the fertilizer BUT I didn't pay very close attention to overlaps with the spreader and that little strip is too narrow for the two passes I was making.
I also was watering twice a week because that's what I was allowed to do.
Furthermore I modified my mower to mow at 5" because taller was supposed to be better for the grass.
In it's prime this grass was so thick I couldn't push the mower through it.

At this point the fungus has stopped but I have a large percentage of the grass that is very shallow rooted. I finally dropped the mower height to about 3.5" which is supposed to get more airflow to prevent the fungus. Of course the shallow rooted grass doesn't like this new height setting but it's hanging in there at this point.

I know some of it is going to need replacing but I want to wait until probably spring before doing so. In the meantime I'm trying to figure out what to do to help recover what I can. I know the cause of the shallow rooted grass but I don't know how to fix it without killing it. I thought about aerating but before I spend the rental fee on the machine I want to make sure it'll actually do something. Perhaps it'll allow me to water more frequently without the run off so more water gets down into the soil.

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Comments (3)

dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Are you getting runoff? That's sort of a zinger there at the end.

Getting rid of fungus in St Aug in the south in the summer is strictly an organic process. If you used chemical solutions, you likely killed the grass with that. Otherwise I was going to suggest that you did not actually have a fungal problem but you had a chinch bug problem. Do you have any grass left in your median strip? Can you post a picture?

The organic approach to killing fungus works all year. That would be using cornmeal at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you have already used a chemical fungicide, then corn meal won't work. Corn meal starts a biological process which absolutely requires healthy disease and healthy soil microbes.

I have to get back to work, but I can post a link to a good chinch bug video. If you had them and still have green grass left, then you still have them. They are kind of hard to get rid of without poisoning the soil somewhat.
dchall_san_antonio
9 years ago
Here is the link to the chinch bug video. Chinch bugs love the median strips because the soil is hotter there.
Related Professionals
Windham Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Carson Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Clark Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Damascus Landscape Contractors · Davis Landscape Contractors · Fair Oaks Landscape Contractors · Lorain Landscape Contractors · Newnan Landscape Contractors · North Lauderdale Landscape Contractors · Oak Forest Landscape Contractors · Saint John Landscape Contractors · South Hackensack Landscape Contractors · West Palm Beach Landscape Contractors · Palos Hills Landscape Contractors · Selma Landscape Contractors
jamesr14
Original Author
9 years ago
I had a reputable lawn care co give me a fungal diagnosis and said I had chinch bugs at one point but that they were not found at the time he inspected. I looked for myself and maybe saw one chinch bug after checking several places...certainly nothing like what was shown in the video you posted. In the beginning what I had looked like every picture of grey leaf spot or dollar spot that I've ever seen. Maybe chinch bugs came in and hit it at some point or maybe the products I used damaged the grass. If it's the latter that's a little disheartening.
My comment about runoff was an assumption due to the slight slope and the fact that the grass at the bottom of the slope was the first to show signs of being shallow rooted including one small area that's just slightly lower than the rest.

EDIT - yes there is still some green grass in the median. There's even a sprig or two popping up from the middle of the brown.

EDIT 2 - Just doing my due diligence I'm reading many reports that corn meal doesn't do anything for fungus and that it's a myth??? That being said I've read just as many that say it works.

This post was edited by jamesr14 on Mon, Sep 15, 14 at 18:42