Lawns - St. Augustine Grass
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  (January) I would like to know when is the best time of the year to transplant St. Augustine grass?

  We have been quite fortunate the past ten years or so, and have not seen a lot of winter damage on St. Augustine, but that wasn't the case before that. Simply as a precautionary measure, I recommend waiting until spring to begin any transplanting or planting of St. Augustine. In a perfect world, it would be done in the spring, no later than June or early July.

  (November) We have St. Augustine grass on hillside behind our house to avoid erosion. It's in a shaded area. Are there things we can do to protect the grass during freezes?

  We haven't had much St. Augustine grass loss in the past ten years, but if the temperatures stay below freezing for any length of time that is a possibility. The best remedy for winter protection is to keep the grass somewhat on the tall side for the last mowing-this acts as a buffer and helps form a stronger root system. If it ever gets exceptionally dry in the winter, water can help prior to a cold snap. At the rate we are going, I don't think that will be a problem. Some people think leaving all their leaves on the grass will protect it, but that is wrong. A heavy covering of leaves before a killing frost, actually will prevent the lawn from going dormant. Extra moisture and no sunlight produced by the mulch could lead to a dead lawn next spring. A light layer of leaves--where you can still see lawn should work fine. Lets just hope we don't have a killer winter.

  We have a large lot with a good stand of St. Augustine grass and lots of oak trees. We used to pick up the grass clippings and leaves with a bagger mower. Now we use a commercial mowing service. They mulch the grass cuttings very fine. I have no problem with the grass recycling, but am wondering about the oak leaves. They told be the leaves would be finely mulched and would not need to be raked. Would this have a negative impact on our lawn?

  Recycling grass clippings and a limited amount of leaves is great for enriching the soil. If you have lots of oak trees, I can’t imagine being able to mulch all the leaves in place on the lawn. As the leaves begin falling, if regular mowing and mulching is done, things should run along smoothly. Its when the leaves begin falling in earnest, that problems may occur. As long as you can see lawn through the mulched leaves it should be fine for the winter. If the mulched leaves are so thick that all you see is mulched leaves, that would be too much. If the layer stays thin, year after year of this heavy mulching, may in time build up too much thatch, so dethatching can handle the problem, should that occur.

  My father laid some St. Augustine sod in his yard and would like to know if he should keep it cut or let it grow without cutting? The sod has been down for about three weeks. I would appreciate your response. 

  Definitely mow it as needed. If you let it grow too tall, when you do mow it, you will shock it by removing more than one third of the leaf blade. Continue a good watering program, and mow weekly if needed. You may want to mow at a slightly higher than normal mowing height your first growing season to help in root establishment, but don't avoid mowing.

  I have an area in my lawn that I burned pretty badly with fertilizer this past fall. I have watered but nothing else. What should I do to help my lawn out this spring when it greens up? Is there anything that can neutralize the area? The grass is St. Augustine.

  Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do when you overdo it with fertilizer, except water and wait. Before putting out plugs of new sod, have your soil tested this spring. Take a pint of soil from the area where the burn occurred, and take a pint of soil from your general lawn, then compare. If the salts levels are still high, you may want to hold off on putting out new sod. If they are closer to normal, go ahead and re-sod or plug in sod. Thankfully, nitrogen which has the greatest potential for burn, also leaches out of the soil the quickest.

  My St. Augustine lawn has been invaded by crabgrass. Last spring I put out a pre-emergent herbicide but I can't tell that it prevented any grass. The trouble is that once plants get to be mature, there's not much you can do to get rid of them. Next summer I've been thinking about spraying individual plants with Round-Up. Although it will cause a dead spot in the lawn, it will keep them from producing seed and continuing the cycle. Do you have any suggestions?

  Crabgrass is an annual grass weed. These germinate from seeds in the spring through summer and die in the fall. It is possible that you have a perennial grass weed such as dallisgrass that is the culprit--which can be mistaken for crabgrass. Pre-emergent herbicides don't work for perennials, but do a good job with the annuals. It is also much easier to prevent weeds, than try to kill grassy weeds within a grass. Use the pre-emergent again this spring--if you have a lot of weeds, try dividing the application in half. It is possible that if your lawn is thin and you used a low rate last year, that crabgrass still got established later in the season. Put out half in mid February through early March and the other application in early June. This should give you longer coverage. If you still have grassy weeds, then chances are they are perennials. Your method with Round-up would work, but you would have lots of dead holes, and St. Augustine isn't the fastest grower around. Unless you are planning on replugging with sod, it would be an open site, where more weeds could get established. Usually, a thick stand of St. Augustine keeps weeds out, it is when it gets thin, that weeds get a foothold. Unfortunately, there are no herbicides that will kill perennial grasses in St. Augustine, so other than spot spraying with round-up or hand weeding, you are out of luck.

  Down here in south Arkansas, we have a real problem with St. Augustine grass. We can’t seem to prevent brown patch. In my particular case, even a professional lawn care company using a professional Daconil fungicide cannot stop or even control it. Right now, brown patch has spread all over the yard. I see the same thing happening in yards all over town. Is there anything that can be done even this late, or especially next spring and summer?

  Brown patch can be a very difficult problem to control. I visited with our plant pathologist, and he claims the best product on the market to completely eradicate the problem is Pro-Star or Pro-star plus. It is not an easy product to locate, but can be special-ordered. Since it is packaged for the professional lawn care companies, I would ask your lawn care service to find it and spray for you. Next spring when your grass begins greening up, begin spraying. Spray two or three times at 10 -14 day intervals and see what happens after that. When fertilizing, use a slow-release nitrogen fertilizer, or put out frequent small amounts of fertilizer. If you use quick acting nitrogen sources infrequently, but at higher rates, this will make your lawn more susceptible to the problem. If you need more information, contact your local county extension office.

  I planted a St. Augustine lawn last year. They had to bring in some topsoil to establish the lawn, and it must have been loaded with nutsedge. Is there anything other than pulling it by hand that I can spray with without hurting my lawn?

  There is a relatively new sedge specific herbicide on the market called Manage. It is safe enough to use on all lawns - St. Augustine, centipede and tall fescue, included. How easy it is to find, may be the hard part. It is manufactured in small pre-measured packets which will treat 1000 square feet.

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