How do I take care of St. Augustine?

C

chuychanga

500+ Posts
I don't know a thing about properly taking care of a yard, other than running the mower over it from time to time.

When should I cut it short and when should I cut it long?

When should I use fertilizer?

How much and when should I water it?

How do I get rid of a few weeds? Pull 'em up, weedkiller, or just mow 'em down?

Many thanks.
 
Always cut it longggggggggg (and often) except for when you want to resolve any thatch problems and/or at the beginning of the new season (i.e., right now).

I only use a "feed" type (as opposed to weed and feed) fertilizer twice per year, in April and September. I watered heavily last year, twice a week for 3-4 hours a pop, and my front lawn absolutely flourished. Don't worry about the weeds - mowing 'em should do the trick, or you can just hand-pull them if you wish.

Water, water, water is the key with St. Augustine.
 
Fall is the most important time to fertilize (according to Scott's). For some reason, it's important to put down the fertilizer before your grass goes dormant in the Winter.

Another thing you should watch for is something called "Brownpatch", dead or yellowing grass that appears in concentric patches. It is caused by lawn fungus, normally due to your yard not fully draining. To prevent this, you should put down Fungus Control a couple times per year.
 
Grinder had some good points, but it sounds like he waters too much (which is what could lead to brown patch). Preferably, you should water once every five or six days during the summer, for long periods of time (provided there is no rain) and then let your yard dry out. This will cause your grass roots to grow deeper in search for the water. Like any turfgrass, leave the lawn clippings on the yard; you can also throw down a layer of good compost if it is in bad shape or just starting out.
 
As mentioned before, water St Augustine a lot. I fertilize in April, June, late Sept, then put down a pre-emergant in October. If St Augustine is healthy it will be thick and tend to not let weeds get started. Also, read the label carefully on any fertilizer that you put on your yard. Some are determental to St Augustine. I usually keep my mover set to cut medium to high, them mow weekly.
 
Don't water a lot. The more you water, the shorter the roots, the more disease and parasites you will get, the more chemicals you will use, and it is a visious cycle.
I almost never water mine, and it is really healthy and drought tolerate. Not quite as lush as the heavily chemicalized overwaterd lawns, but looks good. Fertilize with an organic fertilizer in the winter.
Try to get the weeds by hand, or just increase the health of the grass and it will dominate over the weeds and choke them out. St. Augustine is far hardier than people give it credit.
It won't florish in 12 hour direct sunshine without some more help, however. Like more watering.
 
Very easy to care for if you follow the program.

Mow regularly as mentioned before. Every 5-7 days depending on how fast it grows. My last lawn was mowed once a week. Mow it lower in the spring and increase the height during summer.

Water regularly. The ideal is to water just as the grass starts to stress but this is hard to determine so just stick to a schedule and shorten the time between waterings as the temps increase. It's stressed if the blades don't bounce back after you walk across them. This is going to be a least once a week during the summer.

Applying pre-emergence herbacide in spring and fall. Trick is the timing. I believe you apply in February and September.

You can fertilze but the best method is to apply a thin layer of compost in spring and fall. Fertilizers are ususally applied after the second time you mow in the spring although I have heard differing opinions. Apply in September as well. Some people apply in the summer but I feel the grass is stressed by heat so why waste the money. Fertilize with a 3-1-2 ratio.

Don't waste money on weed 'n feed. I also would not spend any time trying to pull up the weeds manually. As your yard gets healthy the weeds will be crowded out.

If you just follow the mowing and watering part, your yard will still look much better than most.
 
Pre-emergent twice a year (two kinds in the Fall) and fertilize four times a year. It is damn expensive to do it right if you have any real yard. The timing is very important adn depends on where you live. You pretty much missed the spring pre-emergent deadline unless you are in far North Texas. Where are you ?
 
aggy knows lawn care

go to 950 KPRC website and choose Gardenline. aggy has a whole schedule on how to care for St. Aug. lawns (although tailored for Houston climate)
 
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