Gypsum

lbphathead19 – posted 05 June 2007 12:22

I have St. Augustine grass and about half my lawn is in bad shape. The blades seem to be growing horizontally and close to the soil. I recently scalped my lawn, opps. The healthy part has come back strong but the other part is still yellow and growing tightly together, I can’t see the soil. Not sure if it has to do with too much, too little water. I got some gypsum and maure to put down on the unhealthy areas will this possibly help.

How could I tell if I have a dsease or pest problem.

Also, would potting soil work instead of the manure?

TexanOne – posted 05 June 2007 21:14

St Augustine normally produces most of its growth horizontally if it has been growing on site for only a year or two. If your planting is fairly new (<2 yrs old), or if the turf was scalped down the point of being damaged, what you are witnessing is completely normal.

After a couple of years and when the sod thickens up a bit, the SA will it begin to focus more on vertical growth. St Augustine grown in full sun will tend to grow more horizontally than vertically.

Spotting disease in St Augustine is usually fairly straightforward – it will generally become yellowish, thin, or die out completely. I’m not sure about California, but Texas A&M released a 2007 St Augustine update report recently – complete with disease descriptions and photos:

http://www.plantanswers.com/2007_st_augustine_probs.pdf

Hope this helps…