trying to raise a phoenix from the ashes. please help

link2 – posted 12 May 2005 21:40

hello i am new to turfgrass as a member but have been reading many of the posts made here for a while.my problem is that i moved into a new home here in jacksonville fl and the person i bought it from did not take care of the lawn(st augustune). alot of the front had died and a little on the side also died. i decided i was going to use a rake and a hand dethacher(the one on a pole that have half moon prong on the end) and tear up parts of the yard and resod parts of it that needed it the most. well i did that and the yard still looked pretty bad because there was just to much thatch throughout the entire yard. so… i went to home depot and rented a power rake and went over my whole yard(except where i put down the large patchs of sod). I read in a article that it was hard to dethatch st augustine(sorry i could not find exact post again), that was an understatment, it took me two 12 hour days and i removed 45+ bags of thatch from a 1/4 acre lot W 1750 sq feet home on it (i swear on my life). There are some parts that look pretty bad and i will be putting down more sod left from the pallet that filled the big spot tomorrow. I’m in deep now, i can no longer accept an average lawn but need a spectacular one. i have watered several times thoroughout the day and even into the early night. The whole yard is nice and moist and looking batter then it did. i did and excellent job(not the kind of job you would get if you paid someone to do it) I really tried to get all the thatch out and now I dont really know where to go from here. I plan on getting a soil sample and get it tested tomorrow but i dont know who to contact. Is it to early to rent an aerater and do the yard? is there anything i should be doing or not doing(this is my first lawn).i was going to also contact a lesco agent tomorrow but i dont know if they will try to help me with my yard or try and help themselves to my money. Any advice or links would be greatly appreciated. thanks for taking the time and showing and interest. thanks

[This message has been edited by link2 (edited 12 May 2005).]

[This message has been edited by link2 (edited 12 May 2005).]

AnaZ – posted 13 May 2005 07:58

Wow… you really went at it.I’m no one to give technical advice, however I do know that growing things is nothing more than an exercise in patience.

If you don’t mind I’d like to know a bit more of what you did. You had St. Augustine in bad shape, and after removing the bad stuff you placed new sod. This is the part I’m interested in: what type of sod you used?

I’m also a new homeowner in Panama City Beach but my case is the opposite of yours. I moved this past fall into a house that had what appeared to be a handmade green carpet. Well, between the move, the winter and final exams things went to the brown side. Originally from Ft. Lauderdale I didn’t know it was legal to be that cold in any part of Florida.

Anyway, I suppose Jacksonville also belongs to the Florida Tundra, what type of sod did you buy?. For what I’ve read the “Palmetto” variety is the most cold resistant, but how does one know for sure what you are getting?

Thanks for your time and best wishes on your lawn

tallahassee lassie – posted 13 May 2005 10:17

Your house sounds about like mine, nice house surrounded by a disaster area. I was lucky enough not to have thatch though, once I blew the leaves off and saw the bare ground underneath I was set to start sodding/seeding/plugging.

I don’t have any advice for you, or any solutions, I just thought I’d let you know you aren’t alone.

K.

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 13 May 2005 21:01

I wish we could go back in time. St Augustine spreads by sending stolons out across the soil. When you “dethatched,” you chewed up the stolons. You really did a good job. Actually you really did a number on your grass. Still it think it will recover.

For the areas you had dead grass, you can sod that right away. For the rest, set your mower to the highest setting and weld it there (there is never a reason to scalp St Augustine), and just start deep watering once a week. You can fertilize with either organic or chemicals according to the label (or less).