St. Augustine Dying Off

jrpreston – posted 10 December 2004 11:26

My yard was sodded with St. Aug about six weeks ago. I was told to wait 4 weeks before mowing (which I did) and then rain on the weekends has kept me from attacking it until now. Unfortunately in the meantime a large patch, roughly 8’x15′, has begun to die off. It started with the leaf blades becoming darker and looking as if they were turning black. Then they curled up. Now they’re dying off. The rest of the lawn appears healthy and vibrant. I’ve checked all the sites dealing with grass diseases and can’t seem to find a match. Most of the ones that are close are warm-weather problems and it’s been too cool and rainy here in So Cal for that to make sense. Any idea on what this may be? If it is some sort of disease, do I risk mowing and spreading it to the apparently healthy areas? Is it too late in the season to treat with systemics? Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.