How to remove old st aug sod?

Bob913 – posted 15 December 2004 13:55

I recently bought a house in south florida. The existing st augustine lawn has been neglected (bugs, no watering, you name it)and I want to replace it. What is the best way to remove the existing sod? I have heard all sorts of things, from killing everthing with defoliating chemicals, renting a sod stripper, etc. Please help.

StevieD – posted 17 December 2004 11:13

I don’t know the best way, but I can tell you how I did it. I was happy with the results. Over a period of 4-6 weekends, I sprayed my lawn 3 times with Round-up and once with Triple-Spike (? Triple something or other) general purpose grass/weed killer. After spraying, I rented a sod cutter and used it on the dead area. I then used a flexible-tined rake to rake up the dead, dry vegetation.

I then smoothed the now bare soli by pulling a weighted chain link fence gate behind my lawn tractor. I smoothed by driving in tight circles. After it was smoothed, I spread starter fertilizer.

When laying new sod, I made sure to water/dampen the dirt just before laying the sod.

Since I could only work weekends, this entire process took me approximately 6 weeks to complete for a 3,500 sq. ft. area.

tahoekid – posted 04 January 2005 21:12

What ever you do do not do it right now. You say you live in Florida, not sure what weather is like. If it is around 75 degrees or less and cold at night wait until the end of March. Right now it my be slow growing. You want to attack during the most vital growing time of the year.

Fertilze and water well at the end of March. Wait two weeks. If the lawn greens up, then attack with the maximum allowable Roundup. Wait a couple of weeks, water well, Roundup again. Wait a week, then either sod cut it or til it. The only problem with just tilling it is that it will be hard to rake out because it is so clumpy and has massive stems. Basically follow the directions for prep and laying new sod. Search for sod farms on the internet and look at their recommendations for preparing the site. If you going to put St. Augustine back, do not worry so much about killing the old stuff off. Just sod cut, til level, mulch and lay. But if you are going to put Tall Fescue in, then don’t miss a step. It will come back and haunt you next year. Just remember, the grass has to be awake/not dormant in order to kill it.

jr – posted 07 January 2005 08:00

I actually live within a thousand miles of you, in Melbourne, Fla to be exact, unlike the last post, so I can help you. St. Augustine is more or less ative year round here, particularly in south florida, although less so in winter. You can still kill what you have, with roundup or whatever, and if it is so thin and neglected already, it shouldnt be that hard to rake it out and just replace with new sod, which you can and should do this time of year. That way it will have plenty of time to root and become semi-established before the weather is a thousand degrees down there come April.

joe Dokes – posted 13 January 2005 17:43

Jest roundup and plant the plugs and throw plenty of fertilizer on the patch.