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UltimateLawn's DFW St. Augustine Journal

52K views 291 replies 18 participants last post by  UltimateLawn 
#1 ·
Well, I've taken over my lawn care this year since my previous lawn service created a number of disasters including fungus, weed growth and mutilated lawn at edgings. I'm in the DFW area with St. Augustine and am still working some of the issues. Here are some of the photos...

September 13th:
Clover in beds, now knocked down with some glyphosate...


Crabgrass growth on side yard, knocked back with two rounds of Blindside...


Virginia Buttonweed growth - also knocked back with two rounds of Blindside...


Nutsedge in Front Yard, now on third serving of Dismiss. Pretty good control, but still chasing them...


September 27th:
Fungus buildup in various areas in the lawn. I've been treating with Propiconazole and Azoxystrobin spray. I think it has helped but with the cooling weather, the grass has not yet rebounded...


October 11th:
Saw about 5 Earthball fungus growth in yards. Was able to remove most of them, but one did bust open to spread spores before I got to it...



October 19th:
Removal of an older (rotting) Silver Maple from the front yard...


October 21st:
Fighting with a significant outbreak of Bermuda, particular along the front curb line. Maybe blown in from the street...


Nutsedge still reducing...


October 25th:
Second mole hill seen in lawn. Saw one about three weeks ago. I haven't seen them in my front yard for some time. Maybe attracted to the various chems and Milo throw-downs?


Welcome to my lawn nightmare! Feedback is more than welcome.
 
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#2 ·
I'm not certain, but I think some of the fungal growth and general thinner lawn is a result of my poor lawn mower. I proudly own a first-gen Ego 20" mower that I've been using (somehow) on the St. Aug here in DFW. I bought this mower when I lived in Colorado and it handled my cold season grass just fine on a lawn that was only about 1,000 ft2. Now I'm at 5,000 ft2 with St. Augustine and it struggles significantly.

I regularly sharpen the blades, but they are made out of some pretty soft metal so they don't hold their edge very long. Also I've been mulching - mostly because I was too lazy to bag, but I don't think this mower mulches very well and it is added a thick humic-type layer of thatch, helping to choke the living grass and contributing to the fungus(?).

I'm committed to a new gas mower as it rolls around to the new year. I'm undecided between a Honda HRX217HYZ and a Toro Timemaster or Turfmaster. I'm also looking at the Honda HRC commercial line, but they seem a bit more oriented to a business than a resident. There is also a Ferris 32 inch I'm considering, but it is pretty bulky to store.
 
#5 ·
@dubyadubya87 , I know what you mean!

It started popping up in a wetter section of the lawn this year. I had never seen it before in the lawn, and with the ground spread and unobtrusive little white flowers it looked like something from an alien outer space!

I hit it with Blindside and it seems to have controlled it well to where I can actually pull it up quickly when it shows up from time to time. Unfortunately the St. Aug took a beating where the Blindside landed.

Brutal weed to stop!

Somewhere on my list is to re-level some portions of my yard that have settle as little bowls that trap water. Maybe in the spring.
 
#7 ·
So cooler weather has landed in the DFW area with lows in the high 30's and a lot of rain. Grass is pretty much going dormant. My lawn had a late feeding of Milo and the nitrogen is certainly showing through. I think I have the greenest grass on the street!

That being said, there is a pattern to the grass with a lot of shriveled brown grass leaves amongst the broader leaves. Is that simply dead leaves showing up as the grass grows dormant and growth slows? Or is it an indicator of another problem?




 
#9 ·
UltimateLawn said:
I'm also looking at the Honda HRC commercial line, but they seem a bit more oriented to a business than a resident.
I tend to agree they are worth skipping. Some of the commercial Toro's in my neighborhood weren't any more robust and didn't cut any better. They were simply larger, with bigger fuel tanks for fewer fill-ups. They might be tougher on the wheel and handle area, but I doubt a home owner would ever recoup that extra expense.

IMO, I'd stick with Honda or Toro but purchased from a local dealer instead of a box store. Better service, and higher quality models are sold there. I'm shocked the EGO lasted this long - I know some gas mowers that have fits with St. Aug and Zoysia. You'll be happy with a new mower. Cheers.
 
#10 ·
dubyadubya87 said:
I have the same in mine right now. Curious to hear if anyone knows for sure what it is.
I have a theory on the shriveled St.Aug blades. I have been fighting a fungal outbreak and this may be leaves and/or stolons attacked by the fungus and it was a full blade kill. I think they were there all season, but I tend to cut my StAug high and maybe these were leaves under the top of the turf that I did not see during the growing season.

Thoughts?
 
#11 ·
UltimateLawn said:
dubyadubya87 said:
I have the same in mine right now. Curious to hear if anyone knows for sure what it is.
I have a theory on the shriveled St.Aug blades. I have been fighting a fungal outbreak and this may be leaves and/or stolons attacked by the fungus and it was a full blade kill. I think they were there all season, but I tend to cut my StAug high and maybe these were leaves under the top of the turf that I did not see during the growing season.

Thoughts?
Could very well be. I noticed mine only in one area and seemingly overnight. I was able to lightly rake much of it out. It was almost like 'hay' in texture, mixed in amongst my SA. I haven't bothered spraying for whatever it might be, as I'm dealing with St. Aug Decline anyway and will be slowly transitioning to zoysia via plugs.
 
#13 ·
Planted 2 Shantung Maples in the Front Yard to replace the Silver Maples that were there previously. Honestly the Silver Maples were crappy trees that died quickly and were very susceptible to fungal development...



Also noticed about 5 mushroom outcroppings in the turf in a more wet area of the yard. I suspect it might be related to all of the organic material (Milo and N-Ext products) I dropped about 2 weeks ago as a final fertilization going into the winter. The rain over the last 4 days didn't help as well...



Time to put down fall tree spikes for these and others.
 
#16 ·
Dropped curative rate of Propicanozole fungicide. This is my third curative drop on alternating rounds of Propicanozole and Azoxystrobin. Hopefully after the last 6 weeks the broad lawn fungus will be greatly reduced. I plan on doing monthly preventative rates through the Winter and into the early Spring and see where things stand then.
 
#17 ·
First time to mow in about 3 weeks. I hate this mower. Bagged top leaves but the mower did not grab any lower leaves between the StAug blades. I hate this mower.

I dropped some Advion ant bait chasing some ants that had been tracking through my front beds. I can't see any mounds so I am pretty certain that they are building underground. I was initially thinking as temps dropped that their foraging for the season was complete but warmer temps prevailed and the drop looked good in terms of attracting them.

Also I have started to make an attempt to straighten a large tree in the front yard while it is going dormant.

The new maple trees are starting to color up nicely giving quite the show.

 
#18 ·
I am getting ready for some fall trimming in my beds and these grassy-like plants are notorious for wanting fall trims. I regularly forget to trim them and then I'm left with all of these brown leaves the following spring when the new green leaves grow in.

Does anyone know what kind of plants these are, when I should trim them back, and how I should trim them? Thanks!

 
#20 ·
Raked fallen leaves two days ago and then today...enough already! For 5K ft2 you wouldn't think we would have so many leaves. One of the things I like about raking is it really pulls the leaves, acorns and generally dead St. Aug blades up and out. However, it takes forever and more frustrating, I get to do it again in 2-3 days.

What are some of the tricks available to make the process of dealing with large amounts of leaves easier? I've done the mower mulching technique, but all it does is choke up the grass and spit a ton of leaf particles in the air triggering my allergies.

I was also thinking that if I did mulch, then I could use the leaves for bed cover going into the winter months before I refresh with new mulch in the spring.

Thoughts?
 
#25 ·
Long time no post, so picking up in the new season. Did a 2ea 4 gallon water mix to drop 0.18oz/1,000ft2 of Prodiamine WDG and 0.11floz/1,000ft2 of Specticle Flo. This is my first time using Specticle, so we will see how things go. Specticle is crazy expensive for the 18 floz bottle, but each application is about 5$ per for my 5,000ft2 lawn.

I'm planning on another drop of this combo in about four weeks as things continue to warm.
 
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