Dormant Care

txstaug – posted 19 November 2005 06:09

Hi,

I’m a first time home owner, in central TX, and just had my St. Augustine sod laid this past week. Right now, it’s a beautiful green color but I’ve been told that in a few weeks, it’ll go dormant and turn brown.

Can anyone give me specific lawn care tips on how I should care for the grass during it’s dormant stage? I’m originally from So. California and have never heard of grass going dormant until coming out here.

The only things that I was told was that I should continue to water it but not to fertilize… Is this correct? How often should I water it? Does dormant grass still require mowing?

I appreciate any advice! Thanks in advance!

txstaug

hankhill – posted 22 November 2005 00:54

Seems awfully late to lay sod in the Austinarea. I’m going to wait until March toredo some of the areas of my lawn that needit. Some of my St. Augustine has gonedormant already–some areas that had moldand other areas weakened by Image. Thestronger areas are still green, but havestopped growing vertically. Strangely, the green areas still seem to be growinghorizontally, so that I don’t mow any morebut still have to edge.

I dropped some pre-m last weekend and willhit the lawn again in February. If thedormant (injured?) areas don’t come back,I’ll need to resod them. I plan to usePalmetto for the sunny spots, and Amerishadefor the regions under deep tree cover.