# BakerGreenLawnMaker St Aug 2019 Journal



## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

It's been almost a year since I joined the forum and I've received great advice on my lawn from many of you and I can't thank you guys enough. I often say I didn't choose this St Augustine lawn, it chose me. We moved in this house a little over three years ago, and the lawn and lot were extremely neglected over the years. I've had a love hate relationship with St. Augustine, she's shown her defiance, I've stood strong and have been patient with her slow growth and maturity.

Last season is when I pushed the limits with the SA in regards to scalping the lawn. Every review I read online, as well as a few of you strongly discouraged scalping the lawn, but I went against the counsel and I scalped it down to near dirt. It took a few weeks to recover from the stress, but once it did... it grew, and grew into a beautiful luscious SA. Along with scalping, I applied prodiamine, a start fert, milorganite, and post emergents when needed. Last season I maintained a HOC at 2" and it looked amazing. Seeing and reading the many posts on here about reel mowers, I did research and found the TruCut brand, considering they were originally made for St. Augustine, I bought a used one this offseason and can't wait to put it to good use this year. I'm excited about this lawn season and can't wait to track the progress. Let the season begin!


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

February 9th: Applied Prodiamine 0-0-7


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Soil analysis is in. This is my first time looking at soil test results, I think all I need is Lime, could someone look at these results to confirm?


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*3/23/2019*

mowed SA HOC 1"
Applied Lime at 5#/1,000 sq/ft 
Applied GreenTRX at 7#/1,000 sq/ft


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*Before Mow*


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*After mow, application of Lime, and GreenTRX*


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*4/6/2019*

Applied liquid Image at a rate of 9oz per 1, 000 sq/ft

*4/12/2019*

Applied a starter fert 18-25-14 at 3lbs per 1,000 sq/ft

Lawn in its current state: *4/13/2019*


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

BakerGreenLawnMaker said:


> *4/6/2019*
> 
> Applied liquid Image at a rate of 9oz per 1, 000 sq/ft
> 
> ...


Coming in well. What kind of fungicides do you have planned for the year?


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

@CenlaLowell, I plan on using F-Stop by Fertilome. I've had great success in the past using it.


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## raymond (May 4, 2018)

@BakerGreenLawnMaker - Your home looks beautiful and the lawn is coming together nice. I'm jealous of how flat your yard is!!! Living on a hill can has it's advantages, like in my situations i dont have any puddling and my grading away from the house is good, but boy do i hate having a sloped yard. Keep it up


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

@raymond, thanks for the kind words. You definitely have the advantage because your yard slopes away from your house, I on the other hand have a small slope towards my house, which after this mornings down pour comes poodles at the front of my house. Lol!! I'll be keeping up with the progress of your journal. Good luck man!


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

That's looking good! What HOC are you going for this year with the TruCut?


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

@tcorbitt20, I'll be maintaining a HOC of 2". Last season I tested the St Aug at that height using my rotary mower and it looked dang good. I cut with the TruCut last Wednesday, but it was still a bit dormant. I'm ready for it to fully green up so I can see the results.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*4/17/2019*

Mowed St Augustine with my TruCut at 2 1/4". I mowed with it two weeks ago, but it wasn't green just yet. I'm really excited about the quality of cut that you can only get with a reel mower. My SA has never looked this good!!


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Looks really nice....


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Thanks @ctrav


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

TruGreen, thanks for reaching out, but I got this.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*4/20/19*

*Mowed 2 1/4" using TruCut Reel*


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Man this is beautiful. I cut at 2 1/2 and mine looks nothing like this. Got to be the reel cut that makes this effect. How do you get the stripes in? Always thought St Augustine couldn't stripe.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

I know trees are somewhat taboo for having trees in the lawn (kinda sorta) but @BakerGreenLawnMaker your setting looks fabulous...


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

CenlaLowell said:


> Man this is beautiful. I cut at 2 1/2 and mine looks nothing like this. Got to be the reel cut that makes this effect. How do you get the stripes in? Always thought St Augustine couldn't stripe.


Yeah, I'm not sure what type of St Augustine I have, if I had to guess I'd say it's been here for 30-40yrs, given the age of the house. I read somewhere awhile back that the older varieties of SA could tolerate being mowed at 2" so last year I tested that theory out using my rotary and it looked pretty good. The reel does give an even cut and the stripes are from the front roller on the reel. I will say the stripes only last 2, may be 3 days, but by that point I'm out mowing again. Haha!


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> I know trees are somewhat taboo for having trees in the lawn (kinda sorta) but @BakerGreenLawnMaker your setting looks fabulous...


Thanks! I really appreciate that.


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## Sbcgenii (May 13, 2018)

Must be a magician to make St aug look good. Nicely done sir.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Sbcgenii said:


> Must be a magician to make St aug look good. Nicely done sir.


 :lol: :lol: Thanks!


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*5/4/2019*

Reel mowed SA HOC 2.25"

Applied F-Stop for fungus and disease prevention (Fertilome product)

Applied insecticide for control of ant and chinch bugs


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

I had two trees removed from the front lawn. One, a White Oak was extremely diseased and the other a Southern Magnolia was leaning towards our house. I didn't want to chance it this year. Last year we were fortunate that from both hurricanes that neither one fell.

*Before*


*After*

The trees guys did an excellent job, they had both trees down in one day, and left minimal damage to the lawn.


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

You certainly hired the right people for the job as they did an excellent job of removing without tearing up your lawn. Which is awesome btw...


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> You certainly hired the right people for the job as they did an excellent job of removing without tearing up your lawn. Which is awesome btw...


It sure is awesome! Initially when the owner came by to take a look at the trees I asked if he could climb as opposed to having the boom truck on the lawn, but it was way too expensive. He assured me that the truck and his crew would do everything they could to minimize damage. That's exactly what they did. Matter of fact, my neighbor that lives in front of me asked who I hired for the tree work because last year his tree guy completely tore his yard to pieces assuring him that he wouldn't.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*5/8/2019*

Applied GreenTRX at 4lbs per 1000 sq/ft


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*5/11/2019*

Mowed lawn with TruCut C27 maintaining 2 1/4" HOC


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

It's been a few weeks since I updated. Work has been insane, we had a weeks vacation and plus no rain for 24 days.

*6/6/2019*


Put out a 20-0-3 with dimension



*6/8/2019*


Mowed SA at 2.25 HOC with TruCut Single Doubles


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## ctrav (Aug 18, 2018)

Still looks awesome...


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

ctrav said:


> Still looks awesome...


Thanks! Work in progress.


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## quattljl (Aug 8, 2018)

BakerGreenLawnMaker said:


> It sure is awesome! Initially when the owner came by to take a look at the trees I asked if he could climb as opposed to having the boom truck on the lawn, but it was way too expensive. He assured me that the truck and his crew would do everything they could to minimize damage. That's exactly what they did. Matter of fact, my neighbor that lives in front of me asked who I hired for the tree work because last year his tree guy completely tore his yard to pieces assuring him that he wouldn't.


Who did you have do the tree removal? I've had a couple of really dangerous trees removed from my yard but would like a couple more taken down as time/money allows. Always looking for good companyies to work with.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

quattljl said:


> BakerGreenLawnMaker said:
> 
> 
> > It sure is awesome! Initially when the owner came by to take a look at the trees I asked if he could climb as opposed to having the boom truck on the lawn, but it was way too expensive. He assured me that the truck and his crew would do everything they could to minimize damage. That's exactly what they did. Matter of fact, my neighbor that lives in front of me asked who I hired for the tree work because last year his tree guy completely tore his yard to pieces assuring him that he wouldn't.
> ...


John Mitchell Arbor Care. Do a google search, his contact info is there.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Posting in my lawn journal in anticipation for 2020 growing season. I took on a big project last year in my backyard, went from a weedy SA to a Royal Zoysia. I'll have two separate lawn journals this year, this one, and BakerGreenLawnMaker Royal Zoysia. Best of luck guys!


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## HdulaySC (Dec 26, 2018)

I just relocated to Jacksonville Florida with St.augustine at the new house. Did you do any dethatching and aeration?


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

HdulaySC said:


> I just relocated to Jacksonville Florida with St.augustine at the new house. Did you do any dethatching and aeration?


I aerated last June, I'll probably aerate again this year. I wouldn't recommend dethatching SA, SA has runners that run along the top of the soil, if you dethatch you could run the risk of destroying the lawn.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Applied Dylox insecticide to kill the grub problem I have. Seems to be working. Found this guy in my driveway this afternoon.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Got any pictures of your back yard? I'd like to see how the zoysia looks. Front always looks good


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*4/7/20*

Mowed SA down to 1.5" HOC applied Fertilome fert 15-0-4 weed and feed at 4.5#/1000

Current state of lawn on 4/8/20 dealing with about (6) dead patches due to grub infestation applied Dylox a few weeks back to knock them out.


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## tcorbitt20 (Aug 31, 2018)

Love the dogwood and azaleas


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

tcorbitt20 said:


> Love the dogwood and azaleas


Thanks @tcorbitt20 the dogwoods usually bloom for a few weeks and just the start of this week the flowers have started falling off. I wish they were full bloom all summer.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*4/10/20*

I've been battling with grubs/Chinch bugs and or take all patch that destroyed 7 to 8 large areas of the SA. Today I top dressed the areas with Peat Moss. Towards the end of May I'll plug these areas with pieces plugs of SA from other healthy parts of the lawn.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

*4/12/20*

Getting some much needed rain on this Easter Sunday.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

https://thelawnforum.com/BakerGreenLawnMakerStAug2019Journal


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## Grass Clippins (Apr 30, 2018)

@BakerGreenLawnMaker Looking Good. You may want to consider adding your Journal links to your signature line.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Grass Clippins said:


> @BakerGreenLawnMaker Looking Good. You may want to consider adding your Journal links to your signature line.


Done! Thanks @Grass Clippins


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Mowed SA at a HOC of 2".


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

So this year my SA has suffered tremendously, I have dealt with grubs, chinch bugs and a fungus. The impacts have wiped out about 50% of my front lawn, I can transplant the bare spots with the healthy areas of the SA, but I fear it will be a waste of time.

To better articulate the damage, the areas that are completely bare now, the soil beneath isn't tough or compacted like the other sections of the lawn. The soil is very soft, I could almost put my fist through the soil in the dead areas, I dug around those spots and found grubs, rolle polles, is what I call them, so I treated my lawn with Dylox to knockout the infestation.

I know SA is a slow growing grass, I've witnessed it's slow growth these past four years. If I had to guess I would say it will take at least two and half years for these spots to fully recover and fill in. With that said, does anyone have any recommendations before I make a hasty decision?


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## AFBiker2011 (Jun 3, 2020)

What did you decide, for the bare spots of SA?


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