“Stringers” or Roots in St. Augustine Yard

mkgipson – posted 05 May 2007 14:32

In the past three weeks I have started to notice long “stringers” or roots/vines growing out of the turf. They are anywhere from 8″ to 18″ in length and are all green with St. Aug blades on them. They are growing over the top of the lawn. The lawn is pretty green and had been looking good but now these are seemingly taking it over.

I put down fertilizer in April and have been watering about 3 times a week w/ 7 min in each zone. The yard has a 5-8% slope down from the house to the street. It gets mostly sun (new house w/ only 2 small trees).

Any ideas what’s going on? What would you all suggest to fix this?

Almaroad – posted 06 May 2007 12:01

Gees Guy: That’s how St. Augustine grows. It sends out these runners to thicken up your yard. They are called “Stolens” and will root and thicken up your grass. Fertilize with 1lb Nitrogen per 1000 Sq.ft. during May, June, July and some Iron in July. Everyone should be so lucky.

seed – posted 07 May 2007 06:22

The phenomenon of “looping” involves stolons that for whatever reason are going aerial.

St. Augustinegrass stolons normally well-behavedly extend close to the surface of the soil. In the case of a closed canopy of St. Augustinegrass, stolons grow out over the top of the canopy, that way they can produce roots from the nodes and the roots extend down into the soil, and help keep the stolon attached. I believe that after stolons root into the soil there is still some potential for cell expansion in the internodes, which is accommodated by a little horizontal zig-zagging in the stolon, which remains flat with the ground level.

Sometimes stolons do not successfully root into the soil, whether because of prior use of preemergence herbicides, or because soil insects have nibbled off the young roots, so 3 or 4 nodes in a sequence will show only a blackened tip of a short root maybe 5 mm long. After this happens, when the intervening internodes do their cell expansion, instead of a side-to-side zig-zag, the expansion forces the stolon to loop up vertically, which is not good because it makes the lawn look ragged, nonuniform, and when it is mowed the looped stolons will probably get cut off.

Phil

sigdaryl – posted 14 May 2012 14:51

Are there any suggestions on how to correct this “looping: issue? Would it be best to just remove them from the lawn? Or, is it possible to successfully force them to lay horizontally?

spudman2 – posted 23 June 2012 10:26

I am trying an Actinovate for lawn and Garden. It is a beneficial microorganism (reading from the label here). There is a fungal disease that attacks the roots on the runners. It is also good for Brown Patch, Take All Patch, Dollar Spot, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, Grey Mold, Root Rot, Damping off, Crown Rot, Black spot, Leaf Spot. I am going to feedback how it works. The guy from Natural Gardener recommended it along with a corn meal product. We need rain for the corn meal product to work so I will put it down in the late winter next year. Good luck.

spudman2 – posted 29 July 2012 10:34

quote:Originally posted by spudman2:I am trying an Actinovate for lawn and Garden. It is a beneficial microorganism (reading from the label here). There is a fungal disease that attacks the roots on the runners. It is also good for Brown Patch, Take All Patch, Dollar Spot, Downy Mildew, Powdery Mildew, Grey Mold, Root Rot, Damping off, Crown Rot, Black spot, Leaf Spot. I am going to feedback how it works. The guy from Natural Gardener recommended it along with a corn meal product. We need rain for the corn meal product to work so I will put it down in the late winter next year. Good luck.

spudman2 – posted 29 July 2012 10:36

This remedy did not contribute to eliminating the stringers on top of the grass. I am now going to try nematoads to eraticate the June Bug. They like to feed on the roots of the St Augustine and when this happens the strigers have no way to anchor thr runeers down. Wish me luck.