St. Augustine too thick!

TamuAg – posted 10 August 2001 20:45

Over the years we’ve always had a very nice thick St. Augustine lawn. However, it seems like there is about 2″ of extra “padding” between the ground and the blades of the grass compared to a few years ago. We cut at the same height as always, but around the edges near the curb you can easily see that the lawn is “raised” up higher than before. It looks great and sure feels nice to walk across (has sort of a “bouncy” feeling”), but our “self-propelled” mower seems to just “sink” into it and takes a lot more manual pushing than ever before.

Any suggestions? Thanks!

wdrake – posted 11 August 2001 03:26

Sounds like thick thatch. Check out University of Florida guidance on thatch and its control athttp://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LH029

Bill DrakeNiceville FL

TamuAg – posted 13 August 2001 09:18

Thanks for the link. I rented a lawn aerator and had it this weekend. I left the plugs on the lawn hoping that as they crumble and breakdown it will encourage microbial activity in the thatch layer. I’m thinking I should go ahead and topdress with a layer of soil too…