St. Augustine with alot of Chinch bugs

projectpete19 – posted 08 August 2007 12:42

Hello,

I have St. Augustine grass in central florida with automatic irrigation, it is new and only about a year old. I am new to florida and owning my own yard!

I noticed i was getting reddish brown spots throughout my lawn, so i added some fertilizer the day i went off to vacation. when i came back those spots became bigger and some spots looked dead, down to the dirt almost.

i had a lawncare company check it out and they said i am infested with chinch bugs bad. when they are done spraying i am going to aerate my yard, my question is should i put down lime or fertilizer after i aerate? if so what should i put down and how long after i aerate should i put it down?

thanks

swflawn – posted 09 August 2007 04:55

Plug the bad areas this is all the aerating you will need. Then start fertilizing to grow it in.

projectpete19 – posted 09 August 2007 07:06

my dead areas are pretty big, i would say that there are two spots about 10′ x 10′. Since I heard that sod takes about 3 weeks to spread and plugs take about 2 months, can i just lay a few pieces of sod in each of the 10’x10′ areas and let it spread to cover the rest?

swflawn – posted 14 August 2007 05:30

Dont want to sod unless you do it right. May want to plug and just wait longer or put the plugs closer together also retreat for the chinch bugs one treatment will not be enough.

ElectricFlyGuy – posted 06 October 2007 21:25

Ferilize with Scotts W/ Atrazine to make your lawn heathy and combat other future weeds trying to come in. Try not to OVER water as St. Augustine grass can ‘drown’. Also, you can do a test yourself that is pretty cool to see what if anytrhing you have at any given spot of your lawn>>> I mix about a 1/4 cup of laundry detergent to a gallon or two of water, pour it from a watering can in a spot about 2′ diameter and stand by and watch what pops out. NO bug likes soap and all plants love soap. BUT be careful on some plants that are wax covered. Thanx, Scott.

quote:Originally posted by projectpete19:Hello,

I have St. Augustine grass in central florida with automatic irrigation, it is new and only about a year old. I am new to florida and owning my own yard!

I noticed i was getting reddish brown spots throughout my lawn, so i added some fertilizer the day i went off to vacation. when i came back those spots became bigger and some spots looked dead, down to the dirt almost.

i had a lawncare company check it out and they said i am infested with chinch bugs bad. when they are done spraying i am going to aerate my yard, my question is should i put down lime or fertilizer after i aerate? if so what should i put down and how long after i aerate should i put it down?

thanks