New St. Augustine with problems

BT – posted 24 June 2005 18:57

Hi. My newly sodded St. Augustine lawn is developing problems..first it had a verticle stripe where the grass appeared to be dying. My lawn guy then applied a fungicide and an insecticide. Now large parts of the lawn are turning yellow. Could it be burned? Will it come back? I believe I’ve watered it correctly in the 2 to 3 months it’s been here. Thanks, Barbara

Tungsten33333 – posted 24 June 2005 20:00

Could be iron deficiency. You shouldn’t have hired a chemical man to screw your grass up. Organic is the best way to go….

turf r us – posted 25 June 2005 06:48

What did the technician diagnose as the problem? You don’t go applying “solutions”, organic or not, without a clear understanding of what the problem is.

What’s your soil pH and profile and how did you prep the soil?

Tungsten33333 – posted 25 June 2005 07:32

what the chemical man did was destroy the soil. You can go off and using those fungucide and pesticide, etc etc to the point that the soil is so sterile. That’s not how nauture works. Duh. The best option is to let the nature do its work but you can speed it up by using compost, a thin layer all over the lawn and water them in. 20lbs of corn meal per 1000 sqft to feed microbes in compost. It also helps to control fungus growth or at least keep the ‘bad’ ones under control. There are benefical microoganisms that you need to keep grasses healthy. It goes on.

Ever wonder why those man made chemical products warns everybody to stay away for 24-48 hours????? Duh.

BT – posted 27 June 2005 05:23

Thanks to all of you. The SA has now turned brown and dead looking… never seen go brown in a matter of days..Should I assume it’s too late for the compost and corn meal or am I looking at replacing the sod? Thanks so much.

Ed77 – posted 27 June 2005 08:37

A Classic example of chemical salesmen just making a sale and leaving you with the resulting headaches.

It does appear you have a kill off well in hand. Some of it may resprout, but it is unlikely you will see complete coverage this season. I live in a huge turf growing region, and it is well known that once you start to see a kill off, it is too late to make much of a difference. In your case, a crafty salesman was able to make a few extra bucks off of your misfortune.

I agree with the comment that you should look towards organic for a more balanced approach to nutrition and maintenance. I like a product that is a blend of 5% iron, 5% sulfur, 5% humus, and 3-5% seaweed(Iron Sea Humus). It turns on the microbial activity in the soil and feeds your plants with hormones and nutrients that promote growth and general overall health.(And it is real cheap!)

….As stated earlier, a good healthy plant and soil system doesn’t have the pestilence problems of one that is being sustained by artificial stimulants and nutrients.

Alex_in_FL – posted 27 June 2005 19:17

BT:

Take a piece of sod to your county extension office and ask for advice. My guess is you had insects. For fungus to destroy a yard that fast would require your walking all over it and spreading it.

Organic is okay. Chemicals are okay. Both have their places. I’ll post some thoughts on organic later pro/con if you are interested. You might be surprised by the information.

Unfortunately for you, neither you, the other posters, or the lawn man had any idea what the problem is/was. Therefore everybody was firing blindly.

Had you put cornmeal down I believe you would have a dead yard with cornmeal on it. And oh yes, buying cornmeal costs money just like spraying the yard so you would have been out the same money most likely.

Again, ask the county extension office what the problem is. You might be able to salvage the yard – it is June after all so there is lots of growing season left.

Good luck and best wishes.

Alex