St. Augustine Sod?

Russ – Austin, TX – posted 25 January 2004 11:39

Question for those on the board in S. Texas. I have large dirt patches from the previous owners dog at my new house, and was wondering when would be a good time to resod for optimum growth in 2004. I’ve been told Mid-March is ideal, but I’m looking for any additional opinions. What would you put down before or after your resod? (fertilzer, manure, etc…)

Also, can anyone recommend a place in San Antonio, Austin, Round Rock area to pick up Corn Meal, or Corn Mulch? I’m having trouble locating this at local Feed and Fertilizer stores.

Thanks!

ted – posted 25 January 2004 15:39

mid march would be alot better than now. it’s too cool for the sod to take root- and please forget the corn crap- just stick to regular fertilization techniques.

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 25 January 2004 23:20

I’ll not take the bait in the previous, highly provocative message from the uninformed Ted. Texas A&M has proved the value as an anti-fungal disease agent. And thousands of people who regularly use it for a fertilizer report excellent results. It would be nice if people with different opinions would at least keep their language civil. This has always been a clean list.

Call around to feed stores for corn meal. I can get it (in San Antonio) at five different feed stores within a few miles and I live in the city.

Late March is the time to lay St Aug sod in your area. If you want bermuda, wait until May or June for best results.

Manure has no place in gardening. It is an ingredient for compost. A year after it goes into the compost pile, then it has value, but if it smells bad, it smells bad for a reason. Bad things smell bad. Good things never smell bad.

If you want your sod to be protected from disease, use corn meal at a rate of 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you want to start off with a turf that will need less water for the summer, apply compost at a rate of 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet right after you lay the sod. You can apply the corn and compost at the same time if you want.

ted – posted 26 January 2004 15:02

interesting. what do you do about the potassium, phosphorous,magnesium, iron, and sulfur??? why does every major lawn care company in the universe use Prostar for brown patch fungus control? wouldn’t corn be cheaper? i don’t doubt that it may have some use, and if a & m has tested it, it may have some merits. however, there’s so many more pieces to the puzzle than just putting corn down or every body would be doing it! how do you spray for weeds? do you soil test first?how do you lower the high ph’s down to an acceptable range? do insects disappear if you fertilize with corn? wow!

jr – posted 26 January 2004 23:04

Russ, trust Ted on this one. He’s right about one thing, fungicides are far more expensive as a general rule than any other lawn chemical we use. If corn did the job of the expensive fungicides, then there would be no market for fungicides.

Besides, wasn’t it the people at Texas A&M that built that elaborate bonfire that fell on top of people? Take their research with a grain of salt.

ted – posted 27 January 2004 10:22

hey watch out, i’m a texan!!! seriously, a & m has some heavyweight turf scientists, james beard wrote “the book” on turfgrass science. i’m not against alternative methods of lawn care, nor am i a chemical freak. i just think that these poor guys out there that spend good money and time on these lawn care products need to have proper advice on what to do! i mean i’ve actually had customers in pain over what their lawn looked like! it can be very frustrating with the lack of help you can receive at the local hardware or lawn and garden store. just follow the basics of good maintenance, correct grass choice, proper watering and fertilization, and you’ll generally have 90% of the battle out of the way. most guys in my business are in business because of all of the screwups that happen between the original installation, and poor maintenance and bad advice afterwards. let’s face it, if they’ve got a truck and a uniform, they must be lawn care experts, right? stick with your local university web sites- lots of great info there. remember- it’s only grass.

jr – posted 27 January 2004 11:54

nothing against texas here ted, its the best place ive ever been. i was just trying to inject a little lightheartedness. but seriously, and you will probably agree with this, the single biggest problem i have in dealing with customers is bad advice they’ve received. they are always high on some big cure-all they’ve heard about, like this corn meal thing. the point is, in dealing with plants, or anything living for that matter, that there is no one thing that is the answer to everything. there are no absolutes and there is always more than one way to handle any issue in the landscape, depending on what the factors are unique to that situation. the idea that throwing a bunch of corn meal around on the basis that it will rid the world of fungus is a perfect example.

ted – posted 27 January 2004 12:49

are you kidding? it’s hot, humid, and full of bugs! yeah, the neighbor, the mowing guy, the uncle, the brother, are all experts. but i think both in medicine and plant health, we’re going to be seeing some major changes in the way lawn care products are developed. plants that are now being genetically cloned to grow high tech fabrics, etc. will lead the way to new uses of old crops and plants. i mean just look what has happened in the rain forests- new cures for cancer and other diseases will come after these plants are genetically sequenced and mapped the way human dna has been. so i’m not really down on the corn thing that much, i just think you have to look at the research and use the best product. i’m sure the corn has some effect on the turfgrass, and it may turn out later to be a effective tool against disease.

ted – posted 27 January 2004 12:51

p.s. wasn’t there a pre-em based on corn gluten? or am i nuts?

jr – posted 27 January 2004 15:21

for the record, texas doesn’t have anything on florida when it comes to humidity and bugs. i think we’ve strayed far away from the original question, but i agree in principle about chemicals being discovered in, and derived from plants. i haven’t heard about the pre-m from corn gluten, but as you know of course, a whole class of pesticides was developed from a chemical in the chrysanthemum flower. this includes tempo and talster, two of the safest pesticides we have today. what people forget when they are on their all-natural highs is that not only do good things come from nature, but some of the nastiest and most toxic chemicals on earth occur in plants. nobody has to make hemlock in a beaker somewhere, for example. i hope they do find what it is in the corn meal that makes it do what it does, then refine it and make a labeled pesticide, fertlizer, fungicide, herbicide, or whatever it happens to be useful for. what i object to is it being presented as the solution for everything.

Russ – Austin,TX – posted 31 January 2004 18:44

Thanks for your info. I’ve already tried to go the “professional” route, but have been left unsatisfied with the work that was done with a local lawn care company. $500 dollars later, with a few misdiagnosis’s have left me scratching my head, and that’s why I’ve posted to this board.

I’m trying to avoid fertilizer as much as possible b/c of pregnant wife and dogs. This year I’ll try the corn meal route, and see what happens.

Thanks for the advice on sodding.

ted – posted 01 February 2004 12:53

nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorous are about as “natural” as it gets. you won’t be hurting anyone by using these products.

jr – posted 02 February 2004 11:31

to illustrate ted’s point, every breath your wife and her baby takes will be some 22% nitrogen, if she drinks a coke there will be plenty of phosphorous in the form of phosphoric acid, and potassium is vitamin that everybody needs.