St. Augustine Sod Keeps Dying

mjb920 – posted 29 September 2003 09:34

I am at wit’s end with my St. Augustine (Floratam) lawn. The same areas gradually die out every year. I have taken samples into my Florida county extension office and the results have been root rot and/or fungus. Twice I have totally removed the dead grass, loosened the soil 6″ deep, mixed in organic matter, and resodded. The firstweek I watered twice a day, the second week once a day, and every few days thereafter when the grass showed signs of wilting. It has been acouple months since the last resodding, and about 1/4 of the new sodappears dead. It looks like it never took root. I applied ScottsMaxGuard (fertilizer plus insecticide) a couple weeks after I laid thesod and have also applied Scotts Lawn Fungus Control twice. The areas that die are in mostly sun.

Thanks,Jim

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 01 October 2003 11:57

Aaaah! At your wits end, huh? This is where I can come in and suggest using some product that will guarantee success but it costs $200 per week!!

Just kidding. If you truly are stuck, you might try using an organic approach. Chemicals are not working for you, but there is an organic product that works 100% of the time against 100% of the fungus problems. Well, maybe not 100%, because of situations just like yours. Here’s the deal.

Ordinary corn meal, applied at a rate of 20 pounds per 1,000 square feet, will cause the fungus disease to die out in 3 weeks. It works because corn meal attracts a beneficial fungus species in the Trichoderma fungus family. That beneficial fungus acts like a disease against the disease fungus and the grass disease dies out. The research for this was done at the Texas A&M University at Stephenville.

Here the problem: you’ve already used a fungicide. Trichoderma is a fungus and cannot grow in your environment because of that fungicide. You could use compost (at a rate of 1 cubic yard per 1,000 square feet) to replenish the microbes in your soil and they will degrade the fungicide to the point where the corn meal will work.

Ordinary corn meal is a fantastic organic fertilizer, too. So if you choose to go with this, you can reapply the corn meal in the spring and expect to not have fungus for at least 90 days. And you can expect to have a dark green, dense turf, too. For lawns prone to fungus disease, like mine, I suggest a 90 day schedule for corn meal treatments. When I keep up the schedule, I back off to 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet.

I get corn meal at feed stores for $6.50 per 50 pound bag.

[This message has been edited by Dchall_San_Antonio (edited 01 October 2003).]

mjb920 – posted 01 October 2003 14:26

Can I use bagged manure or compost as a topdressing? How long would I have to wait to apply the cornmeal? If cornmeal is $6.50 per 50 pound bag, I’d be willing to apply it every week after all the s**t I’ve tried! Thanks.

daveworld – posted 01 October 2003 20:07

i’m in the exact same boat! how long will it take for the scott’s lawn fugus control to break down naturally?? also it would be nice to hear from someone who’s been using the ”corn meal method” and there experience as well. quite frankly MANY of these post scare the crap out of me. the time ,work, and cost of resodding ! my beautiful lawn was Destroyed in 1 summer only. thanks for all insight.

ted – posted 09 October 2003 11:40

call a professional lawn care company to see your lawn. it’s really hard to tell how much watering and fertilizing you’re doing. if you can break it down to inches and pounds it’s alot easier to diagnose what you may be doing wrong, if anything. there may be also a cultural/landscape design issue that is causing your problems. a professional chemical applicator would be able to help with this as mentioned before.. as far as the scotts goes, there’s nothing in either one of those two products that would help your situation, particularly on the fungus side. once you’re seeing fungus it’s to late to prevent it, and that’s how these products work best.

mjb920 – posted 09 October 2003 12:48

Ted,

No offense, but the two lawn companies I’ve had (one locally recommended, the other Scott’s Lawn Care) were pretty much useless. Their diagnoses, respectively, were nematodes and “no fungus” which, according to samples sent to the University of Florida and the local county extension office, were totally wrong. They all seem to put you on a regular weed & feed and insecticide program whether the lawn needs it or not.

david – posted 10 October 2003 11:53

in all fairness it’s probably ”nature of the beast” the lawn care companys push for contract’s and probably don’t pay the tech’s a wage that encourages a knowlegable employee. [NOT ALL COMPANYS].however i dont beleive that this is rocket science, and a cheap-skate like my self can and did have for [16 years] a beautiful lawn. i spoke with the co. ext. office and she stated the hard freeze had damaged a lot of st. aug. grass and the excessive rain in early summer was causing fungal infections. i must say this fellow recomending the ”corn meal”obviously beleives in it. personally i perfer the idea of organic’s over chemicals as long as it works.

Jims’ Turf – posted 11 October 2003 18:36

JIM, Do you have an irrigation system? If yes, is it on a timer? How old is the lawn?

Jim

mjb920 – posted 11 October 2003 22:40

Jim,

Yes, I have a sprinkler system. It’s on a timer, but I don’t run it until the grass starts to wilt. I try to give each zone 1/4″ to 1/2″ of water. The lawn’s about 12 years old.

Jim