Advice on Floratam

Ethics05 – posted 07 August 2007 10:07

Grass in the last 3 mos has gotten thinner (when you check for thickness and toughness there is a lot of gaps developing and its getting “stringy”) and when you walk on it you feel like you’re walking on a weak padded mat so to speak.

Usually I use Lesco Talstar quarterly (I think I missed a quarter) and once in a awhile Lesco’s Bayer product for Grubs. Fertilize quarterly with Lesco and time is coming soon for that.

Perhaps I let it get a little to far out of hand with the pest control stuff?

Don’t really see any brown patches developing like with chinch bugs OR the “pulling up a section like a carpet” which results from grubs.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

hankhill – posted 08 August 2007 22:16

Thinning of healthy green grass can mean it’s getting too much shade.Have your trees been growing or has it been rainy/cloudy a lot lately?I may try Amerishade in my most shaded areas next year.

I’ve never seen any SA killed from pesticide, even in those placeswhere I sweep it off a sidewalk or patio, which tells me that you’dhave to work pretty hard to kill SA that way. My guess is thewarnings not to use it too often or over a certain amount are toprotect the water table.

[This message has been edited by hankhill (edited 08 August 2007).]

Ethics05 – posted 09 August 2007 09:36

No shade here my friend. We’re in sunny, treeless (except for some palm trees), southwest Florida. Different than other parts of FL. Very tropical.

Thanks.

hankhill – posted 09 August 2007 15:45

What is your watering schedule? We’veeliminated shade & insects…

[This message has been edited by hankhill (edited 09 August 2007).]

Ethics05 – posted 09 August 2007 20:32

Watering Schedule is now afternoon showers almost every day. June – October. Definitely gets enough water.

swflawn – posted 10 August 2007 04:48

It is very hot here in sw florida and st augustine will stress from drought in about three days this time of year. I live in sw florida and the weather is not consistant enough to rely on. No rain in june, no rain in july, and august had a few days. Has not rained in over a week here. Your area may be a little different but you get the point. If you go to the store and it is raining doesnt mean it rained on your lawn. So my opinion is you stressed the lawn by letting it get to dry at some point in the last three hot-dry months and more than likey you have chinch bugs.

Ethics05 – posted 10 August 2007 05:47

It definitely is chinch bug time as seen in many lawns, so you may have a point. Glad I treated with Talstar and Grub stuff recently. We’ll see how it plays out in the next couple weeks. Recovery is usually pretty fast after applying those items when there is a problem. It really does a number on the chinch bugs. The weak areas really start to respond and tougher fairly quickly.

Thanks guys.