# St Augustine - looking for additional tips



## acegator (May 31, 2018)

Hello all  I am looking for some additional tips specifically for ST Augustine Lawns. I neglected a centipede lawn for four years and paid dearly for it this spring with large patches of fungus and grub infestation.

New St Augustine Sod - May 4th
Traditional St Augustine from Woerner Turf

Since then I have performed the following:

- Watered properly with irritation at 3am with three zones 
- Threw down some Milo
- Treated for fungus with Heritage G last week - starting to get grey leaf spot
- Treated for fungus with Eagle 20ew last week
- Through down Merit for grubs yesterday
- Mowing at 4" in the back although 3 5/8th looks way better for the front. 
- Applied the RGS the LCN was pimping.. along with the micro green etc..

I have area's of the lawn that look absolutely stunning but I have other's that are lagging with very little vertical growth and look extremely flat and depressed. Many of these spots were yellowing but since the heritgage/eagle combination have come back although very slowly. I get many of my tips from the LCN but I realize there is a huge difference with his sandy Florida soil an my tilled up clay/topsoil/river sand I was able to amend in April. I guess my question is what else can I be doing?

Items on my mind:
- Throwing down some corn meal? Long term all of these fungicides cannot be healthy 
- Purchasing some River Sand (not silt) can I start leveling the spots that i missed? Is this healthy on new St Aug?
- Some have mentioned peat moss but in my experience our gumbo soil just turns to mush with peat..

I would really like to know what other's are doing to keep their St Augustine healthy


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

What's up @acegator! Looking forward to see how your St. Aug deals with the fungicide apps. I've got a gray leaf spot problem too. Putting down Chlorothalonil this weekend. Is the cornmeal just an organic alternative to help with disease? Do you think that the 3am watering schedule may be the cause of the disease? That seems a little early when sunrise is around 6am.

Edit: typo


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

You can throw down cornmeal, although I wouldn't waste the time right now. Organic lawncare isn't really important when you're laying down Class 3 fungicides. Just monitor your grass to see if it kicks the disease (it will look worse before it improves though so keep that in mind).

The LCN is obviously a good resource, but there are much more targeted resources applicable to you, including Randy Lemonn (very helpful website), a comprehensive gardening book with a ton of lawncare resources put out by the River Oaks Gardening Club of Houston, and the lawncare books put out by Dr. Howard Garrett aka The Dirt Doctor.

Do not apply sand until the grass roots are established. You don't want to smother it right now.

Do not apply peat moss for the exact reason you said.

DO apply an Iron supplement. I would suggest a hose-spray iron supplement like Ironite. Because you are watering so much, the iron is going to leach out of the grass at a rapid rate. I can tell because I see slight discoloration. It's a sort of hidden secret to remedy this you apply iron.

I would also apply a soil activator like Medina. Do this twice a week for at least a month or two.

And finally, you're doing it right so don't overthink it. And whatever you do, don't just do shit for the sake of doing it. You're already working hard on your sod project and I understand the desire to just sit at the computer and try to think up other shit to make it grow faster and get established, but it takes time brother and you've got to nurture it like a child because St. Augustine is the most finicky grass I've ever dealt with.


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## Ecks from Tex (Apr 26, 2018)

Also, if you get your disease under control, go to ACE or somewhere and get yourself a little more tame fungicide. I use both of the fungicides you mentioned and like them a lot, in particular Eagle 20, but if you have healthy sod you don't want to be putting that stuff down if you can help it. Get something like Fertilome Systemic Fungicide II from ACE and apply that as a preventative. If the grass gets sick, then go back to the nuclear option.


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## acegator (May 31, 2018)

You hit the nail on the head here LOL. Since my oldest two kids moved out I have a lot more time to dream up new lawn projects and it passes the time (wife thinks I am crazy now) - I hit it with the cheaper bayer/scotts fungicide and although I noticed some improvement I just broke down and went all nuclear with the heritage/eagle and boy that stuff just works wonders.

I do believe you are right about adding Iron.. as a test i applied the microgreen stuff off the LCN website which has 3% iron in it and I noticed a significant green up. I will get a soil test but at this point unless I wait another month they will see topsoil, river sand, clay all jumbled and mixed up not sure a soil test would be beneficial at this point.

Thanks for the great tips ! 



Ecks from Tex said:


> You can throw down cornmeal, although I wouldn't waste the time right now. Organic lawncare isn't really important when you're laying down Class 3 fungicides. Just monitor your grass to see if it kicks the disease (it will look worse before it improves though so keep that in mind).
> 
> The LCN is obviously a good resource, but there are much more targeted resources applicable to you, including Randy Lemonn (very helpful website), a comprehensive gardening book with a ton of lawncare resources put out by the River Oaks Gardening Club of Houston, and the lawncare books put out by Dr. Howard Garrett aka The Dirt Doctor.
> 
> ...


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## acegator (May 31, 2018)

I have three zones I run for 30 minutes .. wife takes her shower @5am and my son takes his at 6am (no water pressure)

Here's an area I hit with the heritage/eagle.. I am hoping gets a little better as it spread like wildfire.

@Ecks from Tex you are 100% correct.. St Augustine is finicky ..



Stellar P said:


> What's up @acegator! Looking forward to see how your St. Aug deals with the fungicide apps. I've got a gray leaf spot problem too. Putting down Chlorothalonil this weekend. Is the cornmeal just an organic alternative to help with disease? Do you think that the 3am watering schedule may be the cause of the disease? That seems a little early when sunrise is around 6am.
> 
> Edit: typo


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Oh my God leveling is the hardest thing I ever done in the yard so prepare yourself.


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## acegator (May 31, 2018)

I saw your pic of sand. Looks like a ton of work 

Curious if that is St Augustine you are about to level?



CenlaLowell said:


> Oh my God leveling is the hardest thing I ever done in the yard so prepare yourself.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

acegator said:


> I saw your pic of sand. Looks like a ton of work
> 
> Curious if that is St Augustine you are about to level?
> 
> ...


Yes, it's St Augustine and I started today. The backyard is leveled so I only have the front a side to do, but it's still a task


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## acegator (May 31, 2018)

I am not sure I have the patience for St Augustine.. it's seems like a wimpy finicky grass. I cannot recall my Grandmother's lush St Augustine lawn in North Louisiana having any issues growing up like I have. I did not flood in 2016 but my lawn was under water for two solid days.. since then my lawn has never been the same.

I know you stated it will get worse before it gets better and boy has it gotten worse.. now the entire lawn is striped yellow. The next steps I will take are:

- Raising cutting blade from 3 5/8 to 4" as 3 5/8 seems to stress the grass. 
- Sharpened blades again (brand new toro mower)
- Hit the mower with Lysol sprayed/washed good. - I even purchased a new push before this project as I did not want this to carry over. 
- changed irrigation time's to 6:15 am once a week we had a good downpour yesterday so this will vary. 
- I can hit it with the Eagle again for gray leaf spot in a week or so per instructions..

If this doesn't work I will kill off the back yard first and start laying down Bermuda as the back lawn gets full sun all day and watch my wife go crazy lol..



Ecks from Tex said:


> Also, if you get your disease under control, go to ACE or somewhere and get yourself a little more tame fungicide. I use both of the fungicides you mentioned and like them a lot, in particular Eagle 20, but if you have healthy sod you don't want to be putting that stuff down if you can help it. Get something like Fertilome Systemic Fungicide II from ACE and apply that as a preventative. If the grass gets sick, then go back to the nuclear option.


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