We built our house in San Antonio, TX a little over a year ago. The builder provided full St. Augustine sod in the front and back yard covering approx. 1/4 acre.

The lawn was great last year, but the back yard has struggled and started to thin out this year. It really hasn't turned yellow, but rather brown/grey throughout the yard. No areas appear to be totally "dead". Most of the "struggling" spots in the yard only have about 2-3 of soil before the shovel hits stone. The yard drains quickly because there is a lot of stone in our area and my back yard has a large slope towards the house. Many other houses appear to have the same problem as we are, but their owners don't know what to do either. We are confident that it isn't a disease, grubs, or lack of watering. In fact, the brown/grey grass does NOT come up easily.

The builder is bringing a load of dirt and a crew two days from now to add topsoil to the yard, but I would like to know if it could be something else or if this is the correct action to take. I don't want to mess up the yard any more than it already is. Any help is appreciated!

We moved into our new (to us) home last June; the house is 25 years old. The 1 acre yard was a combination of St. Augustine under the oaks, Buffalo in the sunny areas out back and common Bermuda in the sunny areas out front. The previous owners never really watered, so the lawn suffered through most of the year. Now that we are pumping water on the turf (we have a well ), the St. Augustine is really taking off. We may have full coverage in a year or two.

Unfortunately, we have numerous outcroppings of limestone in the yard. Some of these ledges run just under the surface of the soil. Many are exposed . . . 1'-3' wide and as long as 40' . . . all at soil level. When the sun hits the rock, it really heats up and the grass suffers. I can tell that excessive soil heating occurs in areas with thin soil over limestone. We've considered adding additional soil to some of the more problematic areas (i.e., those in direct sunlight for much of the day).

If your problem areas (thin soil over limestone) are exposed to direct sun for a good part of the day, you may be fighting a losing battle. I'd bet you need considerably more soil . . . not just another 2"-3".

Thanks for your input! It does sound like the same challenges you faced. We have no trees in the back yard, so the ground is unprotected from the sun.

The landscape company that added the dirt recommended placing the biggest trees we can buy back there. Our neighbor just had some trees planted today and my wife said it took 3 guys trading off on a jackhammer 6 hours to dig a hole for a fairly large tree. I can't imagine what that'll cost!

I'm dealing with exactly the same situation. I'm up Hwy 281, North of San Antonio. Augustine yard (3000-4000 feet), on a slope, rock underneath. Right now it's bright yellow wherever the sun hits most of the time. Areas that get at least some shade stay lush and dark green.

I've tried:
Adding 2 bags of Texas Green Sand (month ago)
Spraying all over with Gardenville Sea Tea (2 weeks ago)

I really don't see what help these have provided.

Delphine at Gardenville has recommended, in the Fall, by-pass the compost top dressing and go to Sports Turf Pro instead. She told me right away that there wasn't enough soil between lawn and bedrock.

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Brad