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PostPosted: Fri Feb 26, 2010 11:52 am 
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Apply at 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet every month to 6 weeks. That should take care of your fungus problems.
____________
Thanks for the suggestion! If the St.Augustine comes back, I will give the corn meal a shot.

A few questions:
Do you only spread the corn meal at the first sign of a fungus? Or do you use it as a 'preventative?'

When you say '4 to 6 weeks' ......do you mean 'year round' or just Spring thru Summer. My yard seems to start with 'the fungus' in early Spring and just keeps going 'til the end of fall. I start with Summer Patch, then Gray Leafspot, Brown Patch and I believe I also had Take-All Patch. Obviously, my grass is very stressed. I have been working to get rid of thatch build up, softening my soil, improve drainage and fill in low spots. I just have to wait for warmer weather to see if I have 'grass.' :( :|

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 3:03 pm 
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For you I suggest starting last month and going all season at the low rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet unless you see signs of active fungus. Then go to 20 pounds per 1,000 for one application. One application normally works for a season but you have every fungus there is. Let me ask this, Do you have good air circulation around your lawn? Are there any fences or tall shrubs blocking the wind? Yours is an unusual case with all the diseases.

Something else you can do is to spray the lawn with milk (3 ounces per gallon on your dial hose end sprayer). Repeat every 2 weeks or as often as you think about it. Milk is another good source of protein and enzymes. You could call it a v-e-r-y light feeding, but the idea is to get the milk onto the plant leaves, not the soil microbes. It is just another way to attack the fungus problem.

St Augustine should not have thatch. How often have you watered and fertilized in the past? Sometimes with daily water and frequent chemical fertilizing, you can actually grow it completely on top of the soil - roots and everything. It would look like thatch, but it is really just the entire plant. The cure for that is to transition to deep, infrequent watering and mowing high. Do not try to dethatch St Aug with tools or machines. That will rip out the stolons by the roots, and you don't want that.

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PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 10:22 pm 
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Dchall_San_Antonio"]For you I suggest starting last month and going all season at the low rate of 10 pounds per 1,000 square feet unless you see signs of active fungus. Then go to 20 pounds per 1,000 for one application. One application normally works for a season but you have every fungus there is. Let me ask this, Do you have good air circulation around your lawn? Are there any fences or tall shrubs blocking the wind? Yours is an unusual case with all the diseases.

Something else you can do is to spray the lawn with milk (3 ounces per gallon on your dial hose end sprayer). Repeat every 2 weeks or as often as you think about it. Milk is another good source of protein and enzymes. You could call it a v-e-r-y light feeding, but the idea is to get the milk onto the plant leaves, not the soil microbes. It is just another way to attack the fungus problem.

St Augustine should not have thatch. How often have you watered and fertilized in the past? Sometimes with daily water and frequent chemical fertilizing, you can actually grow it completely on top of the soil - roots and everything. It would look like thatch, but it is really just the entire plant. The cure for that is to transition to deep, infrequent watering and mowing high. Do not try to dethatch St Aug with tools or machines. That will rip out the stolons by the roots, and you don't want that.[/quote]
____________
We practice 'deep root' watering. I stick a screw driver in the grass. If it comes up damp, I do not water. My 'zones' are set according to the amount of water needed. I take into consideration shade, smaller areas (like the sides of our house) and the over spray I get from my neighbor's yard (who does NOT practice deep root watering, but waters every other day in the summer, even if we have rain). The area bewtween our homes is where my first fungus appeared...brown patch. That was 2 years ago. It took us over a month to figure out what it was. By that time, it had really spread. We tried to treat it, but it just kept spreading. My husband decided to use a lawn service. They did their best, but we have had 2 very humid summers with more rainfall than usual. And it has not just been our yard. St.Augustine turf is not doing good in this area. I went to a Lawn Seminar Saturday. I believe I was given some very good information. In fact, the info was very similar to what I have been reading here. I am doing three things to better my soil. I spread molasses on Saturday. I will use Thrive (turf) as soon as my yard dies out. (We had a lot of rain on Monday.) The next suggestion was to spread compost or peat moss as a top dressing. I did that last fall. I do plan on spreading corn meal, if it looks like our grass is coming back. At this point, we are very doubtful. My lawn service used an organic fertilizer about three weeks ago. I am not sure what I will be using. I did buy Calloway's New Generation Organic Fertilizer. But then I heard about Texas Tee and Medina. Or should I use Corn Gluten? Or is that a pre-emergent? I still have so much to learn!

My husband uses a trimmer along the house and fence. That is where we had the thatch problem. The last two years we have been bagging our grass, due to the fungus. When I had a healthy yard, I mowed on the highest setting, every 4 to 5 days and I used our mulching kit. We keep our blade sharpened.

I think we are good on the watering and the mowing. We need to improve our soil. We do an aeration in the early Spring and again in the fall. We then used Gypsum. This time, we will use either Texas Green Sand, Lave Sand or Expanded Shale.

I really do appreciate all help and info from the forums!

Thank you!

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Char Harris,
Flower Mound, TX


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PostPosted: Mon Mar 08, 2010 10:16 am 
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Greeting from Flower Mound!

It has been awhile since we posted about the condition of our St.Augustine. Are you seeing signs of 'growth?'

In my area, the weather has improved. Our temps are slowly climbing (might reach the 70's this week) and the rain is still with us. I am starting to see 'green.' Daily, more grass is sprouting. I have a 'combo' yard. The Bermuda is having more activity than the St.Augustine. I know St. Augustine needs a warmer ground temp than Bermuda.

I have done a few things to my yard in the past week. Last Saturday, I spread molasses. A few days later, I applied Thrive. (Trop John, thanks for your help!). I did a topdressing of peat last fall. I attended at Lawn Seminar at Calloway's a few weeks ago. Those were the three steps suggusted to improve the soil.

I guess I will now let Mother Nature do her thing! :lol:

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Char Harris,
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2010 2:07 pm 
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I've never heard that St Aug liked warmer soil than bermuda. I've heard it the other way around for years. Where'd you get that?

Peat moss is not good for the lawn. It is not bad but it doesn't do much of anything. Compost is 1,000 times better.

Rather than sticking a screwdriver in the ground, look at the grass. Count the days before it starts to wilt. Subtract one day and use that as your "first cut" at a watering schedule. It will be different in the different zones.

If you want to keep the grass, get going on corn meal like I said above. Forget about Calloways, Texas Tee, Medina, and corn gluten meal. They won't work against your fungus. Stick with whole ground corn meal. It is very easy to do this if you simplify. Part of the beauty of using corn meal is that it works on the big three lawn diseases. You don't have to take time figuring out what the problem is - just apply corn meal at the first indication of a problem. In your case you have a chronic problem so you need to treat it all season with corn meal to ensure it doesn't come back.

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PostPosted: Wed Mar 24, 2010 8:24 am 
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I've never heard that St Aug liked warmer soil than bermuda. I've heard it the other way around for years. Where'd you get that?

___________
From my yard. Come Spring, my Bermuda always turns green and starts growing before my St.Augustine. :lol:

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Char Harris,
Flower Mound, TX


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PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 9:21 am 
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Thank you. That's how we learn here!!! :D

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PostPosted: Fri Mar 26, 2010 4:37 pm 
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Peat moss is not good for the lawn. It is not bad but it doesn't do much of anything. Compost is 1,000 times better.

********I think it depends are what you are trying to accomplish. My soil was very hard. I used the peat last fall to help soften the soil and retain moisture. The past few weeks, we have been making planting beds in the backyard. We can now actually dig a hole. Before the peat, it was impossible. Our soil was THAT hard.

Rather than sticking a screwdriver in the ground, look at the grass. Count the days before it starts to wilt. Subtract one day and use that as your "first cut" at a watering schedule. It will be different in the different zones.

*******The screw driver method works for me. When I think it is time to water, I stick the screw driver into my grass and soil. If it comes up dry, I do a deep root watering. If there is moisture on the screw driver I do not water. I cannot make it any simplier than that...IMO.

If you want to keep the grass, get going on corn meal like I said above. Forget about Calloways, Texas Tee, Medina, and corn gluten meal. They won't work against your fungus. Stick with whole ground corn meal. It is very easy to do this if you simplify. Part of the beauty of using corn meal is that it works on the big three lawn diseases. You don't have to take time figuring out what the problem is - just apply corn meal at the first indication of a problem. In your case you have a chronic problem so you need to treat it all season with corn meal to ensure it doesn't come back.

********I wanted to improve my soil. I feel like I was given good advise from Calloways. When we start having humid, wet weather, I will use the corn meal.

We have replaced the St.Augustine in our front yard this past week. Celebration Sod will be laid on Monday in the backyard. With that in mind, I think the advise from Mike at Calloway's was right on the money!

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Char Harris,
Flower Mound, TX


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 03, 2010 2:12 pm 
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Good luck!!

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PostPosted: Wed Sep 22, 2010 12:49 pm 
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FYI--this grass that was having a problem last spring, came back thicker than ever. I hit it once with some nitrogen and let nature do its thing, thick, lush and green.


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PostPosted: Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:20 am 
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FYI--this grass that was having a problem last spring, came back thicker than ever. I hit it once with some nitrogen and let nature do its thing, thick, lush and green.


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This is great news! I am glad you posted an update on your SA. I was wondering how your grass did this summer. It was very hot and dry in Flower Mound!
This morning is great though. I feel like we went right from summer to winter in one 'swoop!'

We removed our SA from the front yard a few months ago. I had been spreading CM once a month. I was not getting the rampted fungus. Yeah! :lol: My problem was blades of grass turning yellow. Not a lot, but it bugged me. Another problem I had to deal with was my neighbors on both sides would water every other day. And their sprinklers hit both sides of my yard (shaded area!). I told them the benifits of infrequent deep root watering but it fell on deaf ears.

The Celebration turf in the backyard was beautiful. No problems. Great color, no weeds, no nut grass. It did really good in the severe, dry summer weather. I watered once a week...each zone for 10 minutes 3X.

We cancelled TruGreen and Truly Nolen. I am totally Organic and loving it. And I feel rather proud too!

I hope you have a great fall and winter!

Best regards,
Char Harris
Flower Mound,Tx


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