St. Augustine Trouble!!

[Nndeed27]

I overseeded my St. Augustine this past fall. I did so because the grass was damaged pretty badly from a combination of chinch bugs and Texas drought. I was told that the rye could add nutrients to the lawn and give the Augustine a fighting chance (but comes with the risk of hurting it during the regrow phase in spring, which we are now in). A lot of the brown is from recently dead rye as temperatures heat up. The front yard is currently mostly rye with a few Augustine runners. The backyard has several runners but is still in bad shape. I added Scott’s turf builder weed and feed about 6 weeks ago and nitrogen about 3 weeks ago.

Wondering if I need to resod, add plugs or wait a little longer for more signs of life? Help!

 

[cpp gardener]

The weed and feed is not labeled for St Augustine. You may have burned it with the weed control. Your best bet is to plug in the thinnest places then wait another month to feed with a plain fertilizer. Be sure to to keep it watered and with warmer temps it should recover.
Always read the whole label to see if whatever you use is labeled as safe for St Augustine. It's sensitive to a lot of weed-killers.

 

[DirtMechanic]

They have a 1 and a 2 . The 2 has atrazine for st aug.


Did you use the following?:

Scotts Turf Builder Weed and Feed 1 contains the following active ingredients: 2,4-D - 1.21, Mecoprop-p - 0.61, Nitrogen (N) - 28, Soluble Potash (K2O) - 3, and Sulfur (S) - 7.

At least they used very little, but folks will apply it at rates greater than recommended because feeding plants is a good thing and more is better, right?

It can be confusing because of the highly reduced quantity of some chems being rated as safe for st aug when really it is still not a good idea and it is frankly irritating that the weeds will not go away at the much reduced application rates. Also the timing, where certain times of the year st aug is growing fast an therefore can take up more (too much) chemical where other times it grows slower and takes up less. The weeds are generally aggressive growers and take up more chemical. So it becomes a dangerous balancing act. The chemicals actually hurt the grass usually and its just a calculus that it hurts the weeds more. Like chemotherapy in a gardening way.

My st aug is up and green but that only happened recently as we began experiencing high 70f temps

 

[Nndeed27]

The weed and feed is not labeled for St Augustine. You may have burned it with the weed control. Your best bet is to plug in the thinnest places then wait another month to feed with a plain fertilizer. Be sure to to keep it watered and with warmer temps it should recover.
Always read the whole label to see if whatever you use is labeled as safe for St Augustine. It's sensitive to a lot of weed-killers.

Thanks for the reply! I used the below:

Scotts Turf Builder Bonus S Southern Weed & Feed2, Weed Killer and Lawn Fertilize​

The description states the fertilizer is to be used with St. Augustine. I believe the main issue was that I got to the bugs too late last summer so perhaps they ate more roots than I realized.

 

[Nndeed27]

They have a 1 and a 2 . The 2 has atrazine for st aug.


Did you use the following?:

Scotts Turf Builder Weed and Feed 1 contains the following active ingredients: 2,4-D - 1.21, Mecoprop-p - 0.61, Nitrogen (N) - 28, Soluble Potash (K2O) - 3, and Sulfur (S) - 7.

At least they used very little, but folks will apply it at rates greater than recommended because feeding plants is a good thing and more is better, right?

It can be confusing because of the highly reduced quantity of some chems being rated as safe for st aug when really it is still not a good idea and it is frankly irritating that the weeds will not go away at the much reduced application rates. Also the timing, where certain times of the year st aug is growing fast an therefore can take up more (too much) chemical where other times it grows slower and takes up less. The weeds are generally aggressive growers and take up more chemical. So it becomes a dangerous balancing act. The chemicals actually hurt the grass usually and its just a calculus that it hurts the weeds more. Like chemotherapy in a gardening way.

My st aug is up and green but that only happened recently as we began experiencing high 70f temps

This was the grass last October, right before I decided to plant the rye seeds. This was after a battle with drought and chinch bugs. My neighbor’s yard still had green signs off life at the time.

 

[DirtMechanic]

Just wait then. I use a plugger about this time as dead spots just begin to show themselves but the ground is still moist with seasonal rain.

Would it be an opportunity to swap into zoysia or something hybridized for the problems you mentioned? Its not a crushingly large area.

 

[Nndeed27]

Just wait then. I use a plugger about this time as dead spots just begin to show themselves but the ground is still moist with seasonal rain.

Would it be an opportunity to swap into zoysia or something hybridized for the problems you mentioned? Its not a crushingly large area.

I have considered zoysia. A little intimated by the thought because I’ve only ever used St. Augustine but at this point I’ll try anything. This will be the second resod in three years.

 

[DirtMechanic]

I have considered zoysia. A little intimated by the thought because I’ve only ever used St. Augustine but at this point I’ll try anything. This will be the second resod in three years.

Its worth considering. UGA (tif) has developed a great number of hybridized grasses. Here with our clay the grasses that run on stolons naturally prosper, but with enough effort and money you can change the soil to have better drainage like a sand based putting green.