St. Augustine is struggling!

waugeys – posted 15 May 2003 17:03

I live in Central fl and I take care of over 50 acres of land. Most of it is St. Augustine,the rest is bahia. I know I have damaged some of the St. Aug with herbicide. I also have fungus beginning. I have fertilized with 15-5-15 just a few weeks ago and treated for the fungus.My grass areas around some homes are really having it tough with no rain and what little water irrigation provides which is only once a week. they were in bad shape with frost damage and weeds this past winter. mowing height is kept at 4.5 inch. So without mother nature helping me out im struggling to get these lawns back to near perfect like they were two years ago. any suggestions??

seed – posted 26 May 2003 17:33

waugeys, the apparent lack of proper irrigation is something you might work on. Watering once per week might be adequate if your St. Augustine gets the coverage, enough uniformity to reach all areas and fill the rootzone, about 3/4″ or more. If sprinkler heads are too far apart, you might never get that kind of uniform coverage.

I would not expect fungus to be a problem, especially this time of year.

Fertilization will tend to make drought symptoms worse, but the effect should be short-lived.

Perhaps, if the community does not have enough irrigation capacity, they should replant the large sunny arears with bahiagrass, and let them go with no irrigation, and redesign the sprinkler systems in the St. Augustine areas to do a decent job.

Phil