St Augustine problem

John in North Carolina – posted 18 May 2001 21:27

I need help. I live about an hour in from the coast of NC. I sodded my yard with St Augustine 3 years ago. Got all the proper soil levels, etc. For 3 years it has been beautiful and grown like wildfire. This spring (st augustine always seems to put out later than my neighbors’ centipeded), there were entire patches of my yard that have never come in. The rest is green and thick as ususal.

I haven’t taken samples anywher and haven’t really looked at the roots either. My neighbor’s Centipeded that was sodded last year is doing the same thing.

My question is – would it be normal to have sections to die over the winter? I wouldn’t think pests would have been active over the winter. If not pests, then, are diseases active enough in winter when my grass is dormant to kill it?

Any direction is greatly appreciated. I’m proabably going to take a sample to the Ag Extension office and see what they say.

wdrake – posted 19 May 2001 03:58

Your best bet is to talk to the folks at the Extension office. Last winter was exceptionally cold here in NW Fla and my guess is that the cold got your grass. Would not expect that “bugs” did the damage over the winter. However, according to some of the literature there are fungi that do their dirty deeds (which you discover during the spring “green up”) in the cooler months of fall.

John in North Carolina – posted 19 May 2001 10:14

Thanks WDrake. I spoke with my neighbor this morning.

He said that he had spoken with someone locally and then with a person at a conference at NC State last week. He said that we had a late freeze in the spring that clipped it just as it was starting to put out.

I have examined again for bugs and don’t seem to have any and there is no root rot, so looks like he may be right. Get to fertilize and water heavily for the rest of the summer I suppose.

Thanks so much for the advice!!!!

GregA – posted 19 May 2001 18:49

John,To speed up cold damage recovery in those areas try applying Millorganite at labeled rate and topdress with sand. We had alot of winter damage in Central Florida on turf that was watered during the freezes. Yards that were topdressed 2 months ago are nearly filled back in. Good LuckGregA