Help my St. Augustine/Floritam

oceanlawn – posted 03 May 2001 15:44

Hey everyone, just stumbled across this forum and hope someone has some words of wisdom for me. I soded my whole lawn a few years ago on my very sandy soil with Floritam/St. Augustine. After battling bugs for a couple of years, losing my entire front lawn, I am now trying to reguvinate(sp?) the back. But before I start to sod the empty spots I wanted to add some topsoil/muck/pot ash or whatever that will add to the poor ph and give it a good thick thatch (I think I’m using the right terminology) as opposed to my hard and seemingly unhealthy base. Can anyone tell me what I can do. A local shop sells half muck half sand and then someone else recommended pot ash so if anyone can offer some advice I’d appreciate it.Thanks, and signed,Ready to lay concrete!!!Dean

seed – posted 03 May 2001 18:05

Dean, given water and nutrients, Floratam St. Augustinegrass will grow its own thatch, even in pure sand.

Amending the sand soil can improve water and nutrient retention, providing the right ingredients are used in the right way. Thorough mixing is important to prevent the roots from sitting up in a wet zone. Canadian sphagnum is expensive, but is relatively more stable than other sources of organic matter. Avoid organic residues such as manure if they have not been composted properly.

St. Augustinegrass has a fairly wide range of tolerance for pH values from below 5 to above 8; the grass might yellow from lack of available iron at the high end, and have other problems at the low end. The organic matter such as Canadian spaghnum, or even Florida peat, may help to bring these problems under control, by helping to hold the nutrients.

The point about “potash” which refers to potassium is that it is widely believed that extra potassium can help root development in St. Augustinegrass. Surprisingly that’s never been demonstrated, but since grasses grown in sand under high rainfall tend to be low in potassium, it probably won’t hurt to add some.

Phil

oceanlawn – posted 04 May 2001 10:26

Phil,Thanks for the info. But I still have a question. I soded 3 or so years ago and it has never built up a thatch. In fact, the thickness of the sod itself has long given way to a very hard base (like I remember lawns to have in the cold north). You mentioned water and nutrients, well I know I have the water covered and I have been fertilizing every 2 months or so, so what can I do to get my lawn jumpstarted towards being healthy and thick.Thanks again for any info you or anyone else on the forum can provide.Dean

seed – posted 07 May 2001 13:38

Dean, it is difficult to picture your lawn situation, especially the soil you describe as both hard and sandy. If you are in South Florida, especially western Broward County and most of Miami-Dade County, and your community has lakes surrounding the home sites, it is likely that your house and yard are built on top of dredged and crushed marl, which is the underlying whitish rock. Marl is a soft limestone, poor in nutrient retention, of high soil pH, generally low in percolation rate, and prone to micronutrient deficiencies. I would call it hard. Organic matter definitely helps. Deceptive land developers actually sell crush marl as “Florida sand” when they are doing landscapes and when they aren’t building roads with it.

If your soil is sandy then I do not understand why it would be hard.

Phil

Burlap_Etc – posted 07 May 2001 20:07

Dean, Lets see if I can help you out but you must promise to get back with me and let me know how your turf responds. A soil sample would be nice and your location would help too so try to get me that info. Now to get you started. Hang on here we go! Lets start with fertilizer. Get what I call a good started fertilizer. What I use is 18-24-12. I have found that this really gets the turf to stretch out its legs.(Fill and Cover) Second, Find two products One being Bolster this is a organic liquid product that pushed the turf to grow and respond. It also has Iron and Sulfur in it. Next is a Wetting Agent (Accu-wet). This will help you retain some moisture in your sandy soil. Within 7 days you will see some results.This is the begining to an intresting novel believe me but I can help. Get me the soil sample results and I can make some further recomendations. In closing I must say K is King! Meaning Potassium You cant go wrong with a good 1 to 1 Fert. (18-0-18, 13-2-13 etc. or even 9-2-22 and see for yourself the results. You will get away with less watering!

Burlap_Etc

[This message has been edited by Burlap_Etc (edited 07 May 2001).]

oceanlawn – posted 08 May 2001 10:58

Phil,Sorry for the bad description. My soil is very sandy and as the layman I think of it as hard; guess I’m wrong on that point. I appreciate your info. Dean

quote:Originally posted by seed:Dean, it is difficult to picture your lawn situation, especially the soil you describe as both hard and sandy. If you are in South Florida, especially western Broward County and most of Miami-Dade County, and your community has lakes surrounding the home sites, it is likely that your house and yard are built on top of dredged and crushed marl, which is the underlying whitish rock. Marl is a soft limestone, poor in nutrient retention, of high soil pH, generally low in percolation rate, and prone to micronutrient deficiencies. I would call it hard. Organic matter definitely helps. Deceptive land developers actually sell crush marl as “Florida sand” when they are doing landscapes and when they aren’t building roads with it.

If your soil is sandy then I do not understand why it would be hard.

Phil

oceanlawn – posted 08 May 2001 10:59

Burlap,Thanks for the info and yes, anything I do with my lawn I’ll get back to you. I’ll work on that soil sample and talk with you soon.Dean

quote:Originally posted by Burlap_Etc: Dean, Lets see if I can help you out but you must promise to get back with me and let me know how your turf responds. A soil sample would be nice and your location would help too so try to get me that info. Now to get you started. Hang on here we go! Lets start with fertilizer. Get what I call a good started fertilizer. What I use is 18-24-12. I have found that this really gets the turf to stretch out its legs.(Fill and Cover) Second, Find two products One being Bolster this is a organic liquid product that pushed the turf to grow and respond. It also has Iron and Sulfur in it. Next is a Wetting Agent (Accu-wet). This will help you retain some moisture in your sandy soil. Within 7 days you will see some results.This is the begining to an intresting novel believe me but I can help. Get me the soil sample results and I can make some further recomendations. In closing I must say K is King! Meaning Potassium You cant go wrong with a good 1 to 1 Fert. (18-0-18, 13-2-13 etc. or even 9-2-22 and see for yourself the results. You will get away with less watering!

Burlap_Etc

[This message has been edited by Burlap_Etc (edited 07 May 2001).]