# Saint Agoustine + Festuca Arundinacea Journal



## HFR (Mar 1, 2019)

Dear all,
First time post over here. Finally, a dedicated lawn forum for all the lawn nuts, I mean, enthusiasts ! :lol: 
Unlike the majority of people around here, I am not in the US. I actually live in Europe, more precisely, in Portugal. 

I feel a bit embaressed to show my lawn due to the high quality lawns I see around here compared to mine young lawn. But I think I should share passion anyway with all of you.

Back in 2016, I decided to do something on my 80m2 backyard. First, me and wife were almost deciding to go for artificial lawn. Honestly, we were almost there to install the artificial turf, due to low maintenance. But then, it was very expensive and I was thinking to myself where´s all the fun in that? I mean, there would be no watering, no mowing, no cut grass smell... come on - that´s not worth it ! There would be no connection between us.  
So we removed 15cm deep of clay-like terrain and filled it back with normal sand from the forest (cleaned).

So, I got some Saint Agoustine runners (stolons) from a family member to start then and I´ve "borrowed" several other more from public gardens during several weeks where the Saint Agoustine was available. 
So, every week I was right there placing a few more stolons here and there and watched them spread nicely. :thumbup: 
We have to be really patient with Saint Agoustine !! :nod:

Here´s some pics of when it all started back in March 2016 :

The first ones ! After a few days, some seemed to have dried up and died. But... inside those dry leafs, new baby green leafs were being born ! Well, It´s true some stolons in fact died but with Agoustine we need to be patient.
Usually fresh and good looking stolons will make it without any problem. At some point I only used the best good-looking ones I could find around.



A picture from above of most of the future lawn.



Shinny happy !



The battle has started...



Growing...and growing...





There they go ! Ok, they´re all over the place now. No turning back, can´t stop them !! :lol: :lol:





This shot was taken when the lawn was almost complete. These must have been taken in 2017/18.





Then, I was quite happy with the lawn, but... some things had to be improved :

- In winter time with temperatures close to 0º sometimes and lots of humidity it was getting yellow (I already knew this was going to happen).
- I think I have two different Agoustine varieties : Floratam + another one with less tall leaf and lighter-green colour. as soon as I found this, I got more of the first time and luckily, it grows quicker and is now getting all over the place.
- There wasn´t much vertical growth. Just runners spreading on top of each other with low height leafs.
- It could be greener (perhaps I was not using proper fertilizer amount).
- In the end, I wanted to MOW MORE and have fun. :lol:

...So, I decided to mix Festuca and simply spread it above all the Saint Agoustine lawn. This is a mix of 70% Festuca Arundinacea + 20% Lolium Perenne + 10% Poa Pratensis. I bought 2kg and spread it like rice all over the place. Watered and waited. 5 days later and some green hair started to come up.

2018 was over and this is how it looks now in 2019 :

Before the cut yesterday ! Winter is almost ending and it is already looking green. Weather temperature around 22ºC (71ºF). The Saint Agoustine variety is starting to re-appear again and will continue as the temperatures increases.



After the cut yesterday : Cutting close to 6cm height. The white spots are actually the effect of direct sunlight.



A close up of the mixed Agoustine with Festuca before the cut. Looks nice in my opinion. Some weeds can be seen. I removed them after.





The festuca seem to have helped Saint Agoustine tolerate the cold climate of the winter. Almost like a nursery plant. It also helps filling the spots of the Agoustine, making it thicker and softer to the touch. The kids have complained a bit about the harshness of the Agoustine at the beguinning...I thought it was just fine. 
Saint Agoustine alone takes a few years to have a good stolon and rizhome base so that we can enjoy the leafs. Otherwise, we are walking over runners/stolons all the time !!

Hope you enjoy it !


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## HFR (Mar 1, 2019)

I forgot to say. I don´t use yet any chemicals to kill fungus or other nasty weeds. I just remove the weeds by hand which what i really don´t like about lawncare :lol: Removing weeds by hand ! :? 
The only care I give is water in spring and summer and spread a bit of fertilizer every 2 months. 
I Started watering yesterday due to a sunny weekend and it hasn´t rained a lot this winter, despite high humidity.
Luckily never had fungus despite the VERY high humidity in winter in several zones of the lawn.

My "mean machine", is a simple push 4-stroke rotary Scheppach Lawnmower, 139cc, which I like a lot. The deck is quite small, only 40cm, and engine is quite powerful. It never chokes. It has no special functions, but I can adjust cut height quickly with 1 lever from 25mm to 75mm in 8 different height positions. 
Sometimes i collect the clips, sometimes I just don´t use any bag... I cut them and leave them there. The mower actually cuts the leafs very well and in fine particles (I call it a poor man´s mulching).
Scheppach is a German brand, but the mechanics of this model are chinese, I think. Some other models use the Briggs & Stratton engines.
This one has never failed on me and usually starts the first pull. I can put 1,2 liters (3,2 gallons) of gasoline, so it lasts a long time for my needs. I am using my car´s 10W40 in there at the moment. Last year used 15w40, but it seemed harder in the mechanics in colder weather. Seems to be fine now with 10w40 all year around.
I had to sharppen the blade myself three times until I got a proper cut without smashing the end of the leaf !!
Also installed an external fuel filter.
Purchasing costs around 140$, new and delivered.

Here it is :


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

@HFR, welcome to The Lawn Forum! Your lawn looks great! The progress pictures are amazing! :thumbup:


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## HFR (Mar 1, 2019)

Thank´s ware ! 
I´ll keep it updated. Hope I can learn with all the other members around here and who knows, pass my knowledge as well.


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## Austinite (Oct 4, 2018)

Wow. Very impressive. Very cool progress!


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## HFR (Mar 1, 2019)

Thanks Austinite ! The lawn is 3 years old now.
This year, finally, it is looking like a proper lawn. Just too bad it´s only 80m2 (about 800 sq feet). I wish my backyard was bigger (more fun !!). I look at most of the backyards over here and .... :nod: That´s what it should be.

Now I have to find something good to trim the edges. I am using a nylon trimmer now, but it just doesn´t seem to perform right in some areas. It´s useful for some applications, but finishing could be better (some leafs get cut and smashed).


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Another warm/cool season mix! This is going to fun to watch!


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## HFR (Mar 1, 2019)

Well, they seem to complement each other very well year around. :thumbup:

But, I have to be careful during summer. Every year, between June and August there´s a period of a few weeks where the temperature outside is ranging from 35º to 40º (95F to 110F). Sometimes, for a few days we may see up to 45ºC (113F). 
Festuca doesn´t like it :| Well, at that point no lawn will be confortable.

I don´t have a watering system of any kind. I just water the lawn myself once a day those summer days. I just use my water hose and water it. The Festuca always suffers a bit nonetheless, at least that´s what happened last year. On the other hand, Saint Agoustine seems to tolerate better up to a degree and compensates for that.

As the autumn and winter season comes, Festuca just seems to come out of nowhere and makes everything look beautiful again. This year I really can say I had my lawn green the whole time.  Just used fertilizer during autumn and winter.


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## Greyleafspot (Oct 16, 2018)

Nice. Love to see st aug from stolens. Did that when I was a kid and my Parents lawn is still thick as hell.


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## Green (Dec 24, 2017)

Nice. Yeah, over 85F, and the cool-season grasses start stressing. Thankfully we rarely go above 95F here in the Summer.

I think this is the first St. Aug./Tall Fescue mix I've ever seen! Do you find that the TTTF and St. Augustine blades look similar? I think Floratam looks pretty similar to Tall Fescue overall...both have wide blades.

Also, what percent of the ground cover do think is Fescue?

Do you mow above 3.5 inches, since both like a high HOC?

It's also interesting how the grasses protect each other during different seasons. I think you're onto something here...

@Festaugustine


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## HFR (Mar 1, 2019)

My parents had Saint Agoustine for many years in a house where we lived.
They did exactly the same thing. I don´t remember quite well the initial days when it was planted, but I remember very well to play in the sand with my brother and years later to hear my dad mowing the lawn every 15 days. Did that lawn grow !! :lol:

I think the TTTF blades are almost the same size as Agoustine. But not quite. Fescue is a bit thinner and the colour is a brighter, shinnier and. My Agoustine is a strong dark green. That was one of the reasons I chose the Festuca.
Some of my Agoustine I believe to be Flotaram kind. It grows faster than the regular one, which is of a lighter green with less vertical growth and the the stolons spread at a slower rate. I have both of them, but at this point, the Floratam took over. Again, I think it is floratam, but not sure.
Anyway, they seem to take care of each other just fine and it looks nice all year. I can also mow more frequently which is something i like to do and find it relaxing.

The lawn is a total mix. The seed was spread all over, like rice. It was just "overseed" and a few days later, it started growing!
I don´t have a pure Festuca and Agoustine separation. They´re really mixed. A few spots will received a reinforcement of Festuca, but it´s basically mixed all over. :nod:

The height of cut is usually close to 6cm (2.4 to 2.7 inches). Perhaps I will increase a little bit, but no more than that.
And let me tell you, i´ve seen people around here cut the Agoustine really low. Because it is so dense after many years, they just low the mower and bang !

Festaugustine :thumbup: That sounds fantastic !!


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