St. Augustinegrass, Stenotaphrum secundatum, is a warm-season, sod-forming grass used extensively in lawns and parks in Florida and along the Gulf Coast to Texas. It is generally just called “St. Augustine” in the United States, or “Charleston” in some southeastern United States, and “buffalograss” in Australia and Republic of South Africa. Cultivars include the older ‘Bitterblue’ and ‘Floratam,’ dwarf cultivars such as ‘Palmetto’ and ‘Seville,’ and the latest ‘CitraBlue’ and ‘ProVista.’
St. Augustinegrass runners are entirely stolons (above-ground) so it has relatively little tolerance to defoliation (leaf removal). Drought injury, fertilizer burn, and scalping (close mowing) can kill St. Augustinegrass. St. Augustinegrass performs well in moderate shade although the cultivar ‘Floratam’ is less adapted to shade than the dwarf cultivars. St. Augustine is competitive to many weeds. The southern chinch bug, Blissus insularis, is a major pest. Cultivars have little or no cold hardiness; based on a field study in 24 Florida counties, St. Augustinegrass winter survival is limited to “a minimum air temperature between -6 degrees C and -9 degrees C” (Busey, 2003). The center of origin is almost certainly Old World because the six other Stenotaphrum species are entirely Old World in distribution, in an arc from southern African and across the Indian Ocean to Hainan, China.
coullion – posted 10 August 2012 10:58 My lawncare company inadvertenly sprayed my lawn with Roundup instead of insecticide 2 weeks ago. The owner of the company assures me that if the runners are still there he can bring the…
Spriteman – posted 12 November 2012 20:27 Just put down my fertilizer and Atrazine weed killer for the winter. My local lawn & garden store says that this will provide nutrients over the winter and prevent new weed germination in…
cocoinkaty – posted 01 April 2012 12:14 I lost my 3 acre yard to the parched/scorched earth drought that was 2011. Upon arrival at the house (navasota,TX) this week I found an entire yard of dandelions and bluebonnetts. ok with…
Adra – posted 16 June 2012 07:55 My usually perfect lawn guy cut my beautiful St. Augustine too low yesterday and it looks awful! I haven’t seen it look this bad in years so it took me a while to…
JC6457 – posted 18 June 2012 15:15 Just over 3 weeks ago we put in Seville St. Augustine sod. The day after we laid it, we had 2 weeks of heavy rain every day.The grass looked amazing; nice green color…
ozk – posted 05 October 2011 10:47 I sprayed spectracide weed stop for lawns on my St Augustine grass two weeks ago. This past friday when i mowed the lawn the grass was coming up by the roots and now…
Terry1953 – posted 05 October 2011 18:04 I fertilized my st. augustine grass about three weeks ago with a high nitrogen fertilizer. It turned brown almost overnight. Anything I can do to save the area? seed – posted 08 October…
jbinflorida – posted 05 September 2011 17:24 OK, so I have been trying for two years to get a nice healthy lawn. I have resodded twice. Each time my sod seems to die out of nowhere it does good for…
inkeded – posted 05 September 2011 21:44 I am in the process of buying a new home. The builder has informed me that, due to watering restrictions (in Apopka, FL), I will have St. Augustine in the front yard and…
zero610 – posted 25 September 2011 17:58 I have St. Augustine grass and with the drought we’ve had in Houston, I have patches of dead grass. It was my fault for not watering like I should and I’m now paying…