St. Augustine thinning and browning pics

by Legacy post · 2016-05-11

projectpete19 – posted 03 May 2008 07:11

Hello,

I live in central florida. About 6 months ago I had a chinch bug problem and had to re-sod my front lawn. I used bitter blue, and up until two weeks ago it was a nice deep green and the blades were thick. I weed and feeded once, two weeks ago some brown spots started to appear, and where the brown spots are the blades of grass are really thin. I did a chinch bug test and none came up. The pics are below, do you guys know how i can fix this?

Brown spot in the middle of healthy grasshttp://www.emeraldparkhomes.com/assets/grass/grass1.jpg

close up of thinning grasshttp://www.emeraldparkhomes.com/assets/grass/grass2.jpg

Healthy part of lawnhttp://www.emeraldparkhomes.com/assets/grass/grass3.jpg

Brown spotshttp://www.emeraldparkhomes.com/assets/grass/grass4.jpg

[This message has been edited by projectpete19 (edited 03 May 2008).]

Apple – posted 03 May 2008 08:12

Can you post the name of the products that you used? Has the irrigation been checked recently. The close up pic shows that the leaf blades are now “rolled up” and that is usually a sign of drought or herbicide injury.

projectpete19 – posted 03 May 2008 08:18

i used vigoro weed and feed, but that was a couple months ago. no other herbicides have been used since.

my irrigation system is good i checked that. the only difference is i usually had it going 3 days a week, then for two weeks i tried running it 2 days a week just before this happened. but i put it back to three days a week.

if it is drought damage will it come back now that i have set the irrigation back to three days a week?

[This message has been edited by projectpete19 (edited 03 May 2008).]

Apple – posted 03 May 2008 12:22

Water it in throughly and continue to water 3 days. The appearance should improve in the coming days. If it doesn’t then let me know. If you’ve watched your irrigation run, make sure to set out a irrigation gauge in these areas and be sure it is getting 3/4 of a inch at each watering.

projectpete19 – posted 03 May 2008 12:49

can i just put a cup on the lawn and measure the amount of water in the cup or do I need some type of special device?

thanks for the info

Apple – posted 03 May 2008 13:08

empty tuna cans work or a cup would be fine.I would suggest buying a rain gauge(5$ or so) next time at the store to help know when to water, come afternoon rain season. Last year I had my irrigation issue off for weeks at a time due to mother nature helping out.

projectpete19 – posted 06 May 2008 09:18

I havent fertilized the grass yet since I did the weed and feed a few months ago. Is it safe and will it help to fertilize while the grass is like this or should i wait?

Apple – posted 06 May 2008 14:26

If you’ve been 60 days from last fert then your alright to refert with the proper products.

seed – posted 07 May 2008 19:02

Check again for chinch bugs.

Phil

projectpete19 – posted 07 May 2008 19:44

damn.

i checked earlier with the coffee can test and I saw one chinch bug. I sprayed sunniland chinch bug killer (with permathrin) are those patches going to come back or are they dead?

i cant believe this is happening again, i just resodded my lawn 6 months ago

Apple – posted 08 May 2008 14:52

Continue to check on the CB’s. Some CB’s have become resistant to certain insecticides so make sure to switch up the active ingredient with each application. Also retreat this area in 7 to 10 days to break the life cycle of any survivors.

Almaroad – posted 12 May 2008 15:54

I just check the “Weed and Feed Label” Just what I expected. 28% Nitrogen–not good at the begining of year especially when just coming out of dormancy, AND THE BIGGIE was the Weed label- 2, 4D. Although slight in number…St. Augustine cannot tolerate it. If the conditions were sunny–even more of a problem. I suggest that you water like crazy to wash it down. There may be more that you’ve done. Why don’t you call a professional to look at the turf and go from there. Too big of a subject to even try to answer here. Roy

projectpete19 – posted 14 May 2008 08:04

i have been water daily and the grass is slowly coming back to normal. thanks for the info, i thought the damage was from chinch bugs.

i did spray for chinch bugs once and am doing it again this week just in case

Almaroad – posted 14 May 2008 18:27

What are you using to spray? Just for your own peace of mind: Go to a Lesco and talk with one of those guys. Generally those non-specific things like Bug-B-Gone, Clinch Away, etc, do more harm to St. Augustine than good because most of those companys are based in the North and they’ve never dealt with warm-seasoned grasses–There’s a world of difference between Kentucky Bluegrass, Kentucky 31 fescue and Bitter-Blue or Palmetto St. Augustine. Just like some manufacturers list St. Augustine as being tolerent of 2 4-D. Yea, it is in minute quanities, but minute quanities do not take care of the problem. Do yourself a favor and buy that expensisve stuff and never look back. I just paid $260 for a lb of pre-em and $230 for a pint of liquid to treat Green Kyliinga. Expensive but it all works because it is specific….a lot cheaper than resodding a yard.