St. Augustine grass

Stewart – posted 24 July 2002 15:58

I took over a yard with very thick grass. It was treated for dollar weed with Image,a liquid weed control. Most dollar weed is gone,but the grass has a yellow tint to it. Could I use Scotts Turf Control with insect killer? I live in Charleston S.C. Temp. is in the upper 90’s . I have a shallow well irrigation system, so water is no problem.

wdrake – posted 24 July 2002 16:37

My thoughts: Depending on when you last fertilized, it may be time to add 1 pound of Nitrogen per 1000 square feet. Generally speaking St Augustine needs to be fertilized spring summer and fall. Also yellowing can be the result of iron deficiency. K-Mart, Wal-Mart, Lowes, etc have liquid iron supplements you can spray or most fertilizers come with 2 or 3 % iron. Dollar weed is indicative of overwatering. You can control it best by cutting back on watering schedule and irrigate only when turf needs it; i.e., 40-50% of yard begins to go off-color

Bill DrakeNiceville FL

WillR – posted 24 July 2002 19:43

Bill, could it be possible that:

A. The Image made the grass “sick”?B. Stewart maybe watered too much or too late in the afternoon that the grass did not have time to dry out thereby causing a fungus to set in?

I dont know, but I think I would dig my finger into the ground to see if the soil is wet, if so, hold the watering to see if the grass improves. I might also consider a fungucide as a prophilactic measure.

You can also check a few random blades of the grass to see if they break off easy and have a dark area where they connect (which is almost a sure sign of root rot, or too much nitrogen in the soil).

Just my .02 cents. I am not a professional at this, just a hobbist.