# What type of grass do I have?



## Rusty_Shackleford (Jun 21, 2019)

I recently moved in, and I cannot confidently identify the specific St. Augustine grass in my yard. Or is it Zoysia? Help!


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

I don't think it's Zoysia. The tips look a little too rounded to me. St Augustine most likely. The stolon in pic # 2 makes me think it's Floratm variety.


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## Spammage (Apr 30, 2017)

@Rusty_Shackleford I agree that this is St Augustine.


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## Rusty_Shackleford (Jun 21, 2019)

@Spammage @Stellar P Thanks for the help. What about the stolon leads you to think Florotam? Is it the coloration, or something else?


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## McDiddles (Feb 24, 2020)

Don't know a ton on St. Aug but I suspect finding the exact cultivar may be tough.


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## Stellar P (Apr 13, 2018)

Rusty_Shackleford said:


> What about the stolon leads you to think Florotam? Is it the coloration, or something else?


It's purple-ish.


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Stellar P said:


> Rusty_Shackleford said:
> 
> 
> > What about the stolon leads you to think Florotam? Is it the coloration, or something else?
> ...


It does look more like Floratam. Definitely not Zoysia.

1) The stolons have a purplish color usually in Fall and Winter.

2) The leaves are very broad, more so than Palmetto (well its close really depending on which leaves are picked), but this will definitely tell you its a st. aug.

3) If you feel them they will have more of a coarseness too it. Almost a really slight prickliness. Think super-thin medium toughness fuzz, lol.

4) If you walk on top and it feels like that it has more of a "crunch" to it versus walking on other types of lawns.

5) That heavy thatch layer is also a relative indicator

6) If there sections where the nodes are 3-4 inches apart? (one indicator of Floratam is that it has the widest separation of nodes in some areas)

7) Are there areas in your yard where this seems to thrive more that others (say out in the sunlight versus under a tree)?

8) The darkness of the leaves (combined with the other factors also tell me its floratam).

9) About now is when Floratam starts to perk up a bit. Its not as good as other cultivars when it comes to the cold. Doesn't like anything below 45 degrees. You should notice a bit of browning that happens at that temperature although there are other cultivars like this as well.

10) General Notes: Do not cut less that 3.5 inches. Preferably 4 inches for Floratam. Possible higher if under a tree so that there is more room on the blades to receive sunlight. Floratam loves sunlight (but not dehydration, lol). There are going to be many products on the market that say "Safe to use on southern lawns", etc. Don't buy in. Be wary of any big box store item that contains 2,4d. Do not touch any big box store item that contains mecoprop or mcpp. On Floratam the combination of 2,4d + mcpp will kill it. Even products that say safe to use on Floratam, just means it won't kill it, but may brown it. Keep in mind Floratam is the most sensitive variety of St. Augustine.


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

This guy here is always putting out great video. You may find this one useful for your situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IrvG5JJANc&feature=youtu.be


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

Definitely St Augustine and most likely an older variety of some sort.


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## Rusty_Shackleford (Jun 21, 2019)

@kb02gt Thanks a ton! That was incredible helpful and thorough. I've got some research to do!

@BakerGreenLawnMaker How has it been cutting st aug with a reel? I have been on TLF for a while and I've always been jealous of your lawn!


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Rusty_Shackleford said:


> @kb02gt Thanks a ton! That was incredible helpful and thorough. I've got some research to do!
> 
> @BakerGreenLawnMaker How has it been cutting st aug with a reel? I have been on TLF for a while and I've always been jealous of your lawn!


You got it @Rusty_Shackleford . I remember being in your shoes and having to spend hours, upon hours, upon hours researching. When i get a little more time, i'll try to post a few more tips.


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

@Rusty_Shackleford the TruCut reel definitely leaves a great finish cut to my SA, generally I mow with the reel from March to the Beginning of June then I break out the ole rotary mower. I tried mowing in the hotter months with the reel, but it can't handle the HOC at 2.25in. Thanks for the compliment to the lawn. Good luck this year! I have found that my SA loves a good dose of Starter fert in early April and a feeding of Slow release fert starting on Memorial Day. In the beginning I tried pushing N to it, but it doesn't much care for large amounts of Nitrogen. I usually apply GreenTRX on the holidays (memorial day, the 4th and Labor Day)


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

@Rusty_Shackleford A few more tips are that:

1) There are 2 different varieties of St. Aug. There is the dwarf (captiva, saphirre, seville, and delmar) varieties which can be cut at 2 - 2.5 inches. Then there are the standard varieties (palmetto, floratam, bitter blue, etc) that must be cut 3.5 inches (4 preferably) or greater.

2) Always keep a sharp blade on the mower as to not tear the lawn blades.

3) If you have a bunch of weeds, you'll want to bag your clippings. Otherwise you can mulch the clippings as long as your not cutting tall grass. St. Aug needs to be mowed at a minumum of 1x/week during the growing season (spring and summer).

4) St. Aug shows signs of dehydration when the leaves begin to fold like a book or birthday card. (couldn't come up with a better example, lol) Also when you walk on it and if leaves a foot print for longer that 5-10 minutes, means i may need water.

5) Never at night or during the day unless you absolutely have to. Watering at night encourages fungus. However if the lawn looks really dehydrated then watering it regardless of what time it is, is better than waiting. Fungus on lawn can be recovered, dead dry grass cannot.

6) Best watering times for St. Aug are between 1am - 3am just before the dew process.

7) Water St. Aug deep (45min on back to back days, or 30min day 1 and an hour on day 2, with 5 days afterwards as this encourages deep roots) on clay soil. On sandy soil water 20 - 30min every 3 days or so. This assumes 30min = .5 inches of water. Healthy St. Aug needs only 1 inch of water per week. Not so healthy St. Aug needs 1.5 inches. I'm using hydretain on sandy soil to try to keep the water at the roots longer.

8) Never water during frost or extremely cold weather on that day or week. Otherwise you still want to water during the winter as the soil is still alive.

9) Grubs start showing up in June. Consider Imidacloprid for this which gives about a 3 month residual. If you need them dead today, go with Trichloforon but you will only get a 2 day residual so you will still need the Imidacloprid. Try your best not to miss this one as these guys can really tear up a lawn. Do not user Pyrethoids for grubs (such as Bifenthrin, lambda or gamma cyhalothrin).

10) Consider dropping lambda-cyhalothrin the closer you get to April to prevent chinch bugs. You could use Bifenthrin (however chinch bugs are becoming more resisitant to this). Keep in mind too that Floratam has a little bit of resistance built into it as well, but not as much as it did when it first came out.

11) As mentioned: Memorial Day, Labor Day, and around Easter are the fert days. July 4th as well if your not in a blackout period. If in a blackout period, you would just go with a 0-0-2 with micro nutrients, and skip the Nitrogen all together.

12) The memorial day application only needs to be a slow release nitrogen. I'm going to go with Milorganite here for that reason. And because its just easier to get at my local Walmart or Home Depot.

13) Keep nitrogen to less that 1 pound (preferably around .7lbs) per 1000 sq ft. With about 4lbs per year 5lbs max. If your on the same line / path as Miami you can go even 6 or 7 (max) pounds per year. Mainly because there is no winter there, lol. You do not want to push nitrogen or growth to much during winter and fall as the lawn is trying to go into dormancy.

14) Aeration and heavy raking and dethatching are not necessarily encouraged as this can damage the stolons (roots which grow above ground). There are no rhizomes (roots which grow underground), so those stolons are all ya got.

15) Floratam was created by collaboration between University of Florida and Texas A&M. Hence its name Flor - a - tam. Those 2 university have great information about growing St. Aug. Clemson university does as well however they are a little further north so the information is not as relevant to those living further south.

16) Pre-Emergent. Next to watering the lawn. This is the most important thing you can do. Without pre-emergent it is going to be a rough year. Pre-Emergents prevent weed seeds from germinating. So pre-emergents prevent weeds. Post-Emergents are what you apply once you get the weeds. So post germination.

17) Top most popular pre-emergents for St. Augustine: 

Prodiamine

Dithiopyr

Pendimethalin

Pennant Magnum - honorable mention. Not necessary and very expessive, but i believe it has a 85% efficacy rating when blocking sedges. Usually you have your yellow sedge, purple sedges, and kyllinga

18) Top most popular post-emergents for St. Augustine: 

Celicius, Atrazine, Penoxsulam - General weeds, mostly broad leaf.

Blindside (this one can be a bit harsh though because of the MSM it contains) - Used mostly for crabgrass and sedges.

Dismiss, Sedge Hammer - Sedges mostly

Dismiss NXT (new) - They say it can suppress torpedo grass, and if you can do that, then that alone is impressive.

19) Top most popular fungicides for St. Augustine: 

Eagle 20

Clearys 3336F

Azoxystrobin.

Just learned that you will want to stay away from Propiconazole. I've not had good results with this either.

20) Top most popular pesticides: 

Lambda-Cyhalothrin - used mostly for chinch (good for mosquitoes as well)

Gamma-Cyhalothrin - Lambda is an improved and safer version of Gamma.

Bifenthrin - used mostly for chinch bugs(good for mosquitoes and spiders as well)

Imidacloprid - mostly for Grub control and then some

Trichloforin - kill all grubs and listed insects now


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

This may also help.


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

Here is a thread from this forum with a bit a bit more information regarding the products:

https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=4683


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## BakerGreenLawnMaker (Mar 13, 2018)

kb02gt said:


> @Rusty_Shackleford A few more tips are that:
> 
> 1) There are 2 different varieties of St. Aug. There is the dwarf (captiva, saphirre, seville, and delmar) varieties which can be cut at 2 - 2.5 inches. Then there are the standard varieties (palmetto, floratam, bitter blue, etc) that must be cut 3.5 inches (4 preferably) or greater.
> 
> ...


Really, really great stuff here! This is why I love TLF!


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

@BakerGreenLawnMaker

TLF is awseme, and i have learned so much on here. Thanks :thumbup: .


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

@Rusty_Shackleford

21) Also keep in mind that sapphire st. augustine also has purple runners and both saphirre and floratam have a white root color. Floratam is still thicker though in every way. Its basically the smaller dwarf variety of floratam which can be mowed to 2-2.5 inches. If you try to mow regular floratam to 2-2.5 inches you will know really soon that your mower is struggling, the lawn doesn't look right, and you see stolons everywhere, basically it will look like your tearing up the yard.

22) Measuring the lawn: This is one of the most important steps. Measuring your yard. Would not put anything on the lawn until it is measured. Home depot sells a Dewalt 100 foot measuring tape for $15 so i used that. I printed an aerial view of the house and marked of the sections that were close to 1,000sq ft, 1500sq ft, and 2000 sq ft. to make things easier. Also you can use a luggage scale or larger type scale with a 5 gallon bucket for weight the granuals. After you do it once you will realize how easy it is. I went with a "Taylor Stainless Steel Analog Kitchen Scale, 11 Lb. Capacity" which has a huge dial on it.


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## Rusty_Shackleford (Jun 21, 2019)

@kb02gt You just took me to school! This is more info than I ever could have hoped for. I will probably be a bit distracted from work today while I take in what you've typed up!


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## kb02gt (Aug 23, 2019)

@Rusty_Shackleford

Absolutely. No need to take it all in at once. Take your time. I will most likely just be casually and randomly posting anything else that comes to mind in this channel. Glad to hear you are finding the information helpful.


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