Killed my lawn

black thumb – posted 19 February 2004 08:25

I successfully killed my St.Augustine lawn in less than 2 years. I don’t know what I did wrong. Was told I ‘burned’ it when I fertilized it and also was told it was grub worms that killed it. Now I have a lawn of nasty creeping weeds. I can’t afford a to resod it but want to try plugs/seeds (after treating soil). Any suggestions on something similiar to St.Augustine? I live in Central Texas.

ted – posted 19 February 2004 15:41

you can’t plug or seed st. augustine- ( actually,you can plug it, but it takes too long.) whatever you did to your st. aug. would happen to any other grass as well.stick to the st. aug. and follow regular maintenance practices- see texas a & m web sites for lots of info.

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 04 March 2004 02:02

My next door neighbor a few years ago killed his St Augustine by overwatering a fungal disease. Now it is a beautiful St Augustine lawn. Give it some time. Treat what ever you have like a turf and it might come back for you.

The one thing that seems to have fixed the neighbor’s lawn was conversion to an organic program. Currently she has not watered in 4.5 years and it’s green all year long. Kind of pisses me off, but that’s the way it is (c; Here’s my program…

1. Water deeply and infrequently. 2. Mulch/mow at the highest setting.3. Fertilize with corn meal regularly.

Corn meal will kill any fungus you have in the yard and fertilize at the same time. Also it is cheap and you cannot make a mistake with it. It cannot burn anything. If you have grubs, the solution is beneficial nematodes.

BG – posted 16 March 2004 19:53

When you sod your yard next time use ammonium nitrate at 2lb/1000ft2. Apply when temperatures exceed 85 deg and full sun is visible. Do not water for 3 days as to let the fert settle. Note: Dont smoke of light a match anywhere near your house. Your friend, BG

bw******@co*.net – posted 23 April 2004 22:41

My grass is dying amd it has holes about the size of a dime, all over where the grass is dying. It looks like I areated it. What is it????

lawn supervisor – posted 26 April 2004 17:13

could have been many reasons for the death of your lawn ie.; scotts bonus s with atrazine middle of summer, fungus, chinch bugs, roundup?, grubs are usually more localized though, never seen a whole yard destroyed by grubs alone.

Plugging is not a bad idea just water every day for two months apply pre-emergent herbicide 2-4 weeks before you install them refer to label for specific amount of time as varies with type used, and use a heavy nitrogen slow release fertilizer after insalled 1 month then every two months thereafter spot treat any weeds as they emerge normal plug installs range from 8″ to 12″ apart. Hope this helps i installed alot of yards using plugs for my pest control company with great success. Dont get discouraged, YOU CAN DO IT!

josepht – posted 09 May 2004 12:52

You can do it it will be easy. First why not check to see if you DO have a grub problem. Dig a one square foot spot in the yard just deep enough to get under the grass. (about 2 inches deep) then if you count 3 or more grubs then treat your lawn for grubs. You can go to any Big Box store and get a granular product to treat grubs. Then this fall just reseed your lawn with fescue it will be a lot cheaper and easier to maintain for you since you dont want to spend the money for sod. If grubs isnt your problem then email me and we can look at a diffrent route.

[This message has been edited by josepht (edited 09 May 2004).]

ted – posted 09 May 2004 17:27

yeah, except tall fescue won’t grow in central Texas!!!

josepht – posted 09 May 2004 21:23

OOPS DIDNT NOTICE YOU WERE IN TEXAS!!!!!!

Well Im not in Texas so I dont know what U.S.D.A ZONE you are in but If you get a Good drought tolerant fescue and water it enough it should grow. Lesco and rebel both make a zone 9-10 fescue. The cows in texas eat dont they and Im sure they are eating a type of Rye or fescue

Bermudaman – posted 21 May 2004 01:28

I too started out with St. Augustine, but overseeded with bermuda and can’t be happier. Just keep it mowed low and nothing else will grow! Texas is just too hot and too dry in the summer to be wasting water on a yard! It took 2 years for the bermuda to really take over the yard. Now I only have to water my lawn maybe 2 or 3 times a year. I’d rather drink my water than spray it on dirt, considering the cost of it here.