# St Augustine Sod getting worse



## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

Hello, I'm new to the forums and this seems to be exactly what I need. Between the quarantine and working from home I've been committed to getting my yard up to speed this year.
I live in Tampa Bay FL. I laid sod on 3/24. It looked great for first 2 weeks, I was watering it an hour every morning at 4am.
on 4/10 I cut back watering to 4x a week, every other day but still for about an hour each time. Over the last week, the grass has become much worse. I don't know if it's fungus, or improper watering amounts. I have a few things of Tupperware in the yard now, so I can measure much water they get with the sprinklers.


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Over watering considering that the US is Early Spring temps.

May cut back to 2 times a week in the morning only. Then when the summer temps hit go back to 3 days in the morning only.

Buffalo hates to be watered in the evening. Some reason more susceptible to root rot and fungus.

I Think its down to soil condition underneath.

A hose-on water wetter with seaweed once a week at half strength before you water. Also likes a high "N", no "P" average "K". But lower the "N" and increase the "P" a little as it gets into the mid summer temps


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

I left out Tupperware this AM and it's definitely uneven coverage, which I think is why its worse at the corner I took the picture. How much water should I get the lawn per week?

I plan to get a soil test soon, What would you recommend I do at this point. I'm thinking of raking off the dead spots and spraying a fungicide. any recommendations on brand/type? Or on any next alternative step. thank you,


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

How many inches of water, per one hour watering session, do you think the brown areas were getting? If the healthy area was getting more water than the unhealthy area, then I wouldn't jump right to fungus treatment.


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

I measured this morning, and the unhealthy area was getting 1.5+ per session. How much water would you recommend?


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

Wow... Good news is you can probably save money on water. 1.5 inches is probably all you need in a week.

While you are waiting for your soil test, do your own jar test (just Google soil jar test). That will help figure out a watering schedule.

Try to pull out some of the grass. Does it pull out easily? Take some pictures of the grass you pull out, really close up pictures. Try to knock off the dirt so you can tell if the stolons, etc. look black because of fungus not just dirt. Maybe with some good pics someone on here with more experience can help identify.


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

Great advice thank you. Attached are two pictures. I just pulled these out.


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Too wet


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## TSGarp007 (May 22, 2018)

@Buffalolawny, think he should just water less and see, or does he need some fungicide?


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## grassland (Mar 7, 2019)

I usually put down a fungicide 7-10 days after installing sod. The two enemies of new sod are dehydration and fungus. With water and heat, you get fungus, which can quickly destroy new sod. Azoxystrobin works well. If you really want to know if you are watering enough is to lightly pull up on the corner of piece and see if the dirt is wet (but it may be tacked down at this point). Don't go by the watering times unless you have been inspecting the dirt and verified that the sod is nice and wet.

Once you are unable to pull up a corner, then you will know that the roots have tacked down. You can put down some fert once the grass recovers. Find something with phos in it to promote root growth. Don't use any weed n feed; the atrazine might stress it.

Although it is a little early for chinch bugs, consider insect damage as you go along (as an addition). Heat and very dry weather has been blasting tampa bay since the end of Feb and that is the perfect for insects to do some damage. I've seen some chinch bugs, but the mole crickets are booming.

The storms tomorrow should bring some beneficial rain. The lawn will bounce back as long as you keep any fungus at bay.


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

grass is tacked down. was hoping Id get a break from rain since based on my research I've been watering the yard too much. Im treating it for caterpillars right now. after that if it doesn't look much better by next Thursday I'll most likely use some fungicide.


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

So here is the 2 week update. Over last 2 weeks I've cut back watering, aiming for 1/2 inch 2x a week. I've sprayed BT caterpillar spray every 5 days, This Tuesday will be 2 weeks.

https://imgur.com/a/61vPmS9

It doesn't look like im seeing any improvement. It's heavily thatched, should I try to rake some of this up? I stilled haven't used fungicide, I was hoping getting rid of the caterpillars would help it thrive. Would that be my next step? I also notice some of my plugs which were thriving 2 weeks ago, are now deteriorating. It's seems like first 30 days the new sod / plugs have been thriving.Once it hits 30 day mark they start to deteriorate.. Thanks for the help


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## ktgrok (May 25, 2019)

Did you actually see caterpillars? If so, are they gone? Spinosad will work better than BT. 
And yes, use a fungicide - most sod layers say to put one down within 7 days of laying sod.


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

never saw any but the grass is definitely chewed on.


I uploaded one of original photos. I'll definitely pick up some fungicide, see if that helps. Is Scotts DiseaseEx Lawn Fungicide decent?


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Your actually not too far from where i am in Central Florida.

You have 2 issues i see, possibly 3:

I. Heat stress


A. Notice that some (not all) of the blades are folding and shielding themselves. Their roots are not yet deep enough to find water on their own.

B. This part of your lawn is going to need at least 1.5 inches of water starting today as the temps are approaching 85 degrees. Fungus is going to have to be controlled with fungicide every 2 weeks to 1 month depending on what the label says. If it gets bad, put down a layer of Peat Moss. Its better to have your grass die from fungus than from heat. You want to be watering every other day at this point. Start out with 30 min per zone and go from there. Put out Tuna cans or rain guages to see how much water is being put out every 30 min.

C. The areas of your grass that are in shade can still go with .5 inches of watering every 3 days. So you'd water on M, Th, Su, W, Sa, and so on.

D. In the areas struggling with heat do 3 minutes of watering 2x/day (for static sprinklers) and 6 minutes for (rotational sprinklers). 12 noon, and 3pm are good times on hot days. I've recently learned this tip myself and it seems to help a lot.

E. Hydretain (granular) works really well for hotspots. Granted, it doesn't last as long as they say it does, but it still works. Peat moss is okay for this as well. I've heard BioChar works good for this as well but have not tried it myself.

F. Try to get the sprinklers setup so that when you do spritz of 3min during the day it will only be on the hot spots.

G. When the leaf blades begin to fold like a book, the grass is stressed and needs water. 

II. Take-all-root



A. It hasn't taken full effect in those pictures, but its well on its way. Notice how the roots are looking fairly singed. Almost as thought they were burned with a lighter. The stolons which are the long runners that run across the ground wont be able to hold out for much longer. The Cleary 3336F product at the heaviest rate did a great job for me this year. But keep in mind you do not want to use the same product more that 2 times in a row. Azoxystrobin is also a fairly good bet.

B. You'll water to start the watering at 3am or 4am and end by 6am or 7am at the latest. If you didn't have a fungus issue, then i'd say between 1am and 3am.

C. Some products you put on the ground will want you to water it in with say 1/2 inch of water, but wait until your watering night to put the product on the lawn that evening.

E. Consider either spiked aeration (since it newly laid sod) instead of core aeration, and/or liquid aeration which all will help to break up the soil and allow oxygen in.

D. Cut with a sharp blade to avoid tearing the tips of the leaves (which will cause stress on the turf). Try to mow 2x/week at the highest setting the mower will go.

E. Also you'll most likely want to stay away from herbicides for now until the fungus is under control, in which you can then go from using the curative rates to using the lesser preventative rates. 

II. Bugs



A. Am fairly sure Trichloforon (found in "Bayer 24hr" grub killer) will take care of everything.

B. About 2 weeks later consider an application of Imidacloprid (found in "Bayer Complete insect control")


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

thank you for such a thorough assessment. So I should keep an eye on grass, and the areas that it starts to fold, those areas need more water? makes sense. 
Unfortunately my sprinkler system can only set one time, and then you set what days. It won't able to automatically hit it for a couple of minutes during the hottest part of the day.. but on days that are over 80 I can manually turn it on for few minutes during the day.

I recently purchased Scotts disease ex, It says to do that every 14-28 days. How many times do you typically have to treat the grass for TARR?

When you say Trichloforon will "take care of everything", what are you referring to? taking care of any bugs that are eating the grass? or is there a specific problem you see, that that product would solve.

Thank you,


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Correct, taking care of any bugs that are eating the grass. Maybe there are a couple that are missing that i am unaware of but this kills the majority of grass eating organisms. 
"An insecticide, trichlorfon is used on golf course turf, home lawns, non-food contact areas of food and meat processing plants, ornamental shrubs and plants, and ornamental and bait fish ponds to control insects such as lepidopteran larvae (caterpillars), white grubs, mole crickets, cattle lice, sod webworms, leaf" .. https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-057901_23-Oct-09.pdf

Treating for take all root is usually during the rainy season (May - Oct). Brown patch (Jan - June) approx.

Exactly once the temps are above 80 degrees, pay attention to the "hot spots". The areas under trees should be fine and not need the extra daytime watering, but the "hot spots" will especially if they do not have fully developed roots. But then again it could be 80 and above on a very cloudy day in which case you may not need to water it. The leaves are going to fold 1st in those hots spots. I also depends on how much you are watering. Right now we are kind of riding a fine line. between 70 degree and 80 degree weather. Some people can get away with watering every 3 days (2 days no watering followed by 1 day of watering), but others can not and need the extra water. As long as the grass is getting 1.5 inches - 2 inches of water per week then you should be fine during the hotter months. I messed up one day because my lawn was stressed and the weather station said 98% chance of rain. So i waited and we didn't get a single drop. My mistake was that i should have watered anyway. It is better to over water than under water.

Resources:
https://www.qbdfl.com/docs/manuals/YearlyCalendarFloratam.pdf
https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/media/sfylifasufledu/st-johns/horticulture/pdf/St.-Augustine-Turf-Maintenance-Calendar.pdf
http://blog.yourneighborhoodlawnservice.net/grass-care-calendar/
https://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheet/brown-patch-large-patch-diseases-of-lawns/


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

Thanks to everyones advice the yard has turned the corner and looks much better. The Sods and plugs look like they will both survive. I did the fungicide 5/14, and continued with the BT spray thru 5/26. Now I'm just managing weeds while I wait for the plugs to take off. So far so good. If they continue at this rate the yard will be filled in soon.

there are tons of runners coming out. Any tips to speed up the growth/spread? There are some runners going over the driveway, Should I replant those sprigs after edging? or is that a waste of time. Thank you,


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

Those St Aug (Buffalo) edging cut off's need to have some roots growing out of the nodule to be viable transplant.

Throw them in a bucket of water mixed with any generic seaweed only solution at 400 (water) : 1 (kelp)
for a day or two before slice planting them into the soil.


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## OldsmarRob (Apr 28, 2020)

@Buffalolawny How much water would you recommend each week? right now my target has been about 1", should I water spots that get blasted by the sun more?


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## Buffalolawny (Nov 24, 2018)

If it spreading across the driveway. It's coming along ok.
The grass will tell you. 
Soft under the feet with no shoes. It's watered ok. Having a slightly crunchy sound give it a water if you have had rain dont water for that week. People treat buffalo/st aug like couch/Bermuda because they refer to it as a summer grass must treat it as so. Zoysia is different again


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