# Three Wiggle's St. Aug Lawn Journey



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

We purchased our first home in Houston, TX back in July 2019. The Saint Augustine was in pretty bad shape, overrun with clover and crabgrass and numerous dead spots. I re-sodded some of the dead patches with varying degrees of success.

I immediately got hooked on Allyn Hane's videos and podcasts and attempted to play catch-up. I applied GrubEx far too late in the season for any real effects. Then i threw down Milorganite. I tried a random herbicide with limited success.

After the soil test I tried to get a little smarter with regards to my applications. I used the recommended 24-0-4 fert in the spring and threw down lime once. I also purchased the Bio Stimulant pack from Yard Mastery in the spring. I applied Humic 12 on May 30th, RGS on June 4th, Micro Green and Air 8 on June 17th, Milorganite on July 6th, and another round of Humic 12 on August 30th.

The back yard and front yard portion with a tree have done exceedingly well. There's very few weeds remaining and the grass looks very healthy. My front yard portion with no tree has struggled with numerous weeds and dead spots. I scalped the worst spots on June 8th and laid down fresh sod on June 9th.

I currently use Image Southern Lawn Weed Killer Concentrate for my regular spot spraying. I also used the Yard Mastery .172% Dithiopyr Pre-Emergent Herbicide with Fertilizer 0-0-7 throughout the winter as my pre-emergent.

*Goal Projects:*

get front right yard to be weed free and healthy

spot leveling of random low spots

expand back yard deck

*Images:*
Soil Test
Yard progress
Front Yard re-sod
Yard Map
Yard Starting Point (front & back)
Yard yellow spot


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

ThreeWiggle said:


> I currently use Image Southern Lawn Weed Killer Concentrate for my regular spot spraying.


What is your mix rate? I've been doing 4oz per gallon. Saw you were having trouble with chamberbitter. I use a non-ionic surfactant with Image when I spray.

Check out https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=22753 for more info on chamberbitter.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

@ionicatoms thanks for the info! I'm using the same mix rate. Do you have a preferred surfactant? I've never mixed that in with any of my sprays.

When I get out in the yard this week I'll take a closer look at my chamberbitter to see if last week's more targeted sprays had any effect.

This is another weed I've started noticing. Probably my second most common weed in the yard currently. Any thoughts on changing my approach here?


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

some updates from a quick mow last Friday, 9/4/2020. Planning to apply some bio stimulants this week and spread milorganite. The backyard continues to perform the best, with my front section sans tree still being the laggard. The new sod I planted this summer is doing okay but hasn't really integrated with the rest of the lawn.


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

I don't have a lot of experience with herbicides yet; the only surfactant I've used is the Southern Ag product; I would avoid dish washing soap as it can harm your grass. Pete uses OII-YS "The Natural Adjuvant".

I don't immediately recognize that weed. You should probably post it in the weed identification thread. It looks like a pretty robust spurge to me.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

Experiments this weekend:
- added surfactant to Image herbicide. seeing some success with more consistent application
- used DiseaseEx and Bio Advanced Fungicide to repair some brown spots
- milorganite fert application
- 002 microgreen bio stimulant to give some deep green pop

We're supposed to get a decent amount of rain this week so we'll see how that cocktail works.


----------



## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

That weed is spurge. My whole neighborhood has it. I have been hand picking until it cools off and I'm going to apply blindside to kill that, nutsedge and try to control some VA buttonweed. Your herbicide says not to apply when temps are over 90 so you should be good this weekend.

Yard Mastery soil test is just a rebranded version of mysoiltest which has fallen under a lot of scrutiny in this forum due to their testing methods not being public knowledge.

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=16135&p=322928#p322928

I would get with Waypoint, specifically their Memphis Tennessee branch and send them a soil sample for a SW1 test @ $26.50. Once they receive the result it usually only takes 2 days to get the results back.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

@mjh648 thanks for the input on the soil test. I had no idea something so straightforward could be so controversial!

Is there a preferred time of year to take measurements? It might be nice to tackle that this fall as i'm selecting a pre-emergent plan.


----------



## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

@ThreeWiggle what do they say. the best time to plant a tree is 5 years ago the next best time is today.

If you don't do it before your fall feeding (I'm planning on end of Oct for me) then get it done before your spring feeding. IF you do it this week you will have plenty of time to figure it out before then.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

mjh648 said:


> Yard Mastery soil test is just a rebranded version of mysoiltest which has fallen under a lot of scrutiny in this forum due to their testing methods not being public knowledge.
> 
> https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=16135&p=322928#p322928
> 
> I would get with Waypoint, specifically their Memphis Tennessee branch and send them a soil sample for a SW1 test @ $26.50. Once they receive the result it usually only takes 2 days to get the results back.


I took your advice and sent front and back yard samples to Waypoint. The results are below. I am very interested to solicit recommendations from the forum.


----------



## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

SWEET. PH is good so no lime recommended.

Back yard they are asking for 5-0-5 NPK per year and front yard is 5-1-5 so you depending on what brand you prefer you will need to find out a creative way to get that ratio added into your yard. Microlife has a 20-0-5 and you could supplement potassium by itself to bring it up to the nitrogen levels. That's not organic so don't put down in high temps. Nitrophos has an 11-0-4 you could use too but same concept as the 20-0-5 with it not being 100% organic.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

https://www.microlifefertilizer.com/product/microlife-hybrid-20-0-5-organic-biological-fertilizer/

https://www.nitro-phos.com/products.html

just confirming i'm looking at the right products. Is this what you're referencing?


----------



## mjh648 (Sep 1, 2020)

Yep. Just throwing out some Houston brands you could use. Or go with big box store brands whatever you want to do.

I had to go 5-1-5 also and mapped out my fertilizers for the year to get that ratio.

I went with Microlife 6-2-4, (2) apps of Nitrophos superturf 19-4-10, Nitrophos Sweet Green 11-0-4 and Microlife Brown Patch 5-1-3.

With the fertilizers I chose I got my #/K (K is 1000SF) for each at 5-0.95-2.68. P was so close I didn't do anything else but the K needed 2.32#/K more to get to the 5-1-5 Waypoint recommended.

From there I knew I wanted to put more humates down on my lawn to try to soften it up so I went with 2 applications of Microlife 0-0-4 humates which added 0.8#/K so subtracting that from 2.32 I only needed 1.52#/K of Potassium.

To get there I went with sulfate of potash 0-0-50 from Southern Ag. Applied 1#/K (which is 2# of the actual product since the potassium is 50% by volume) in the fall which left me with 0.52#/K I need to apply in the spring.

Might have gone a little overboard but this was the only way I knew how to map it out. For the 5-0-5 test you could do the Microlife 20-0-5 and Sweet Green 11-0-4 and just supplement the rest of the Potassium using the Sulfate of Potash 0-0-50.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

I was able to track down the Sweet Green 11-0-4 and apply this weekend. I also applied my first 007 Prodiamine this weekend as temps dropped. Watered in with RGS and 002 micro green bio stimulants because, why not? Also discovered that one of the contractors I had out last week had shut off my sprinklers while testing zones. No wonder the yard was looking a little parched. I also grabbed the nitro phos 19-4-10 fert, but have not applied it.

The addition of surfactant to my Image herbicide seems to be paying dividends. I'm not noticing nearly as many weeds.

The blitzkreig of rat bait boxes also started bearing fruit.

Pictures to follow.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

There wasn't much to share through the winter. I stayed on top of the 007 prodiamine treatments and that's paid dividends. Really no crabgrass issues to speak of this season.

We refreshed all of our landscaping the week before the massive freeze that hit Texas in February. Miraculously we only lost a handful of plants and stunted the growth on some others. The backyard St. Aug still has some damage that I've tried filling in with plugs but it's slow going. Tackling some spot leveling areas as well.

I recently re-sodded half of my front yard. It never grew in as thick and was overrun with bermuda (even after using roundup gel). I think I just got a bad batch of sod last time I attempted to fix it. This go around is growing in nicely.

The grass between my sidewalk and street has really struggled this summer. I may give up on it and re-sod next spring. Had a busted sprinkler head that may be a part of the issue here. TBD.

*Herbicide* - currently using sedgehammer and Celsius. Really not having many broad issues. Waiting for new grass to get more established prior to treating. Only noticing small clumps of spurge at this point. Have done two blanket sprays and really only need to spot spray at this point. Will celsius kill crabgrass? I've got one problem area still.

*Fertilizer* - after the soil test I rotated between Micro Life and Nitro Phos with good results. I also rotate the liquid Bio Stims LCN sells. They really help with color. Right now I'm back to using milorganite for basic feeds.

*Insecticide* - cocktail of Bifen, Tekko Pro and ExciteR. This has a great lasting result on mosquitoes and we really don't have any sod webworm or other noticeable moth-type flying bugs chewing up the grass. Also do a spring treatment with Scott's GrubEx. Is there an annual max on any of those chemicals? I'm using the mosquito sniper system to spray them so the yard isn't getting a ton of liquid directly applied.

*Fungicide* - previously rotated DiseaseEx and Bayer Advanced. I'm noticing more brown spots in my backyard that aren't responding to this treatment. Actively seeking out fungicide recommendations.

*Landscaping* - looking for fall color recommendations to replace the dianthus. It looks too much like a weed right now. Really like the pentas and mexican heather in our beds. Just need the foxtail ferns to keep growing back after the freeze nearly killed them. Occasionally the Peggy Martin roses growing on the apartment will have leaves turn yellow and shed. What rose food does everyone like on here?

Additional Projects - working on making an electronic lawn maintenance calendar with proper seasonal reminders. I know most of the application times should be soil temp and season driven, but I think something rudimentary like this will serve me well.


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

2023 resolutions include updating this and tracking my progress. In 2022 we did a major overhaul of the backyard, installing Belgard hardscaping. Would happily recommend my Houston contractor. They did a great job. I’m posting pictures two-ish weeks removed from the Christmas freeze that smoked most of our plants. I haven’t trimmed anything back yet for fear of a late winter freeze.
Yard goals for 2023 include, more consistent deep green color in the yard, pruning beds consistently and planting good spring color. Adding a new dining table and an outdoor tv are also on the list. 
Herbicide of Celsius and sedgehammer continue to deliver results. Looking to try the much ballyhooed Bermuda remover as well. 
Anti-fungals I’m using eagle and image instead of disease ex and bayer products. 
2022 fert program was largely milorganite and I’m still using 007 prodiamine for pre-emergent


----------



## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Backyard hardscape looks fantastic!


----------



## ThreeWiggle (Sep 1, 2020)

ionicatoms said:


> Backyard hardscape looks fantastic!


Thanks! It cut my mow time down too, but what little grass I have left back there really needs to pop. 

I wanted to document now at its worst state. Even the great Feb 2021 freeze didn't kill our plants this thoroughly.


----------

