Stopping Dormancy?

hankhill – posted 19 September 2006 23:19

In the Austin area, I’ve been told by people that their St. Augustine doesn’tgo dormant in the winter, but my lawn (and my neighbor’s) certainly did last year.It slowly turned yellow in October or November, and then “greened up” in theSpring. (So, it wasn’t “dead” yellow.)

It was doing fine before the cool weather, so I don’t think it needed morefertilization. (At least, whatever summer chemicals it needed weren’t lacking.)

Am I doing something wrong, or are all the people claiming their St. Augustine growsin the winter–or at least stays green–smoking something? 🙂

[This message has been edited by hankhill (edited 19 September 2006).]

RickV – posted 20 September 2006 19:11

Where I live it stays green until I get a Hard Frost which doesn’t happen too often. If it warms up right away it will start to green up again but looks like crap until March.

TexanOne – posted 21 September 2006 23:27

Are their claims saying the entire St Augustine lawn remain green (or semi-green) through the entire winter, or just certain, protected areas? I’m thinking the folks making this claim are talking about SA in temperature-protected pockets.

I believe winter dormancy in SA grass is nothing more a function of nighttime low temperatures. There may be slight genetic differences between SA cultivars for full-dormancy thresholds, but to my knowledge, all SA will dramatically slow their growth when nighttime temperatures begin to regularly drop <55 F deg or so – no matter what the daytime high temperature may be. It may not go into a yellow-dormant look, but it will quit all stolon growth, and most vertical growth at that point.

In North and West Texas where nighttime winter lows are routinely in 20’s, all SA exposed to open sky conditions will go about 99% full dormant and stay that way until late-March to early-April. SA grass in protected locations like on the south side of house, or under a large evergreen tree (i.e. – large live oak tree) may retain some green throughout a mild winter. However, SA will go dormant from cold temperatures no matter how much water or feeding it gets.

TexanOne – posted 21 September 2006 23:37

Footnote – of course in Austin where everything is different from the rest of Texas, the SA may appear green through the winter to some folks there…