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yellowish brown spots in st augustine lawn
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Author:  btg [ Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:53 pm ]
Post subject:  yellowish brown spots in st augustine lawn

i live in ft worth and recently sodded my back yard because it died. the new sod has been in since april and has become very lush. it gets direct sun and i water regularly 2-3 times per week. recently however, i have noticed patches where the grass is turning brown underneath the new growth. this is how my lawn started to disintegrate last year. i just fertilized with corn gluten meal and seaweed minerals in water form. any ideas what this condition is, do i need to be concerned and if so, what do i need to do to treat? prior to the new sod, i put down a grub worm insecticide and again on top after completion of the installation. lawn is growing nicely and is very thick. i cut on the highest setting twice a week and mulch back into the soil. :?:

Author:  khwoz [ Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:09 am ]
Post subject: 

My first guess would be - Too much water. You should only have to water once a week deeply. The excess water will cause the fungal conditions you describe. Spread some horticultural cornmeal & cut back on watering. If the grub insecticide was a chemical, that didn't help matters either. In the future use beneficial nematodes to control lawn bugs. Keep in mind that most types of grubs are beneficial.

Author:  btg [ Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:49 pm ]
Post subject:  yellow spots in lawn

khwoz: thanks for the information, i thought this might be a reason as well. spots appear to be dissipating. i used CGM & seaweed minerals. will this make the lawn greener as well? do you have some suggestions that would really enhance the green quality of the lawn? appreciate it.

Author:  khwoz [ Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:40 am ]
Post subject: 

The corn gluten meal is a good fertilizer (somewhat expensive). I would use it at the proper time of year as a pre-emergent. That way you get a double benefit. A good, fine compost works wonders as do most other amendments (lava sand, green sand, compost tea, etc.) If you want to find out what your soil is lacking, have a soil test done. The following is from Howard.

Soil Testing
Have soil tested, by a lab that gives organic recommendations, to learn the total and available levels of organic matter, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphate, potassium, sodium, chloride, boron, iron, manganese, copper and zinc. Tissue sample tests are important to see what nutrients are being taken up by the plants. Check for life by counting the earthworms in a square foot of soil - should be at least ten. The best lab for organic recommendations is Texas Plant and Soil Lab in Edinburg Texas. They may be reached at 956-383-0739.

There is a lot of info on this discussion board & the web site. Do some searches & you can evaluate different peoples ideas and approaches to yard care.

Author:  btg [ Wed Jul 19, 2006 9:27 pm ]
Post subject:  other grasses in st augustine lawn

KHWOZ: thanks for your advice, i haven't watered as much an it seems as if the yellow spots are slowly dissipating. I have a lot of a blue green type of grass that is growing in the yard and it wasn't there last year. How can i get rid it short of attempting to pull it up. I also used CGM on the lawn and it did nothing to green it up, in fact, the front has turned somewhat lime green in color. what is the best product or products to use for greening and this unknown grass in my lawn? what does the Garrett juice do and what about molasses? where do i get this tea product i hear people talking about? lots of questions, point me in the right direction. i appreciate it. btg

Author:  khwoz [ Thu Jul 20, 2006 7:27 am ]
Post subject: 

Let me add to the watering suggestion I gave earlier; with all this heat & no rain, you may need to water more often than weekly - maybe every 5 days. The main thing is to water deeply. Personally I have never worried about other grasses growing with St. Augustine. Get your grass healthy & it should choke out weeds & other grasses. I'm surprised that the CGM didn't work for you. In my opinion, the two best products for your lawn would be a layer of good compost or an application of a good aerated compost tea. There are several companies in this area that can apply the tea to your yard. Ck the info below for way too much info.

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/view_question.php?id=795

Author:  user_48634 [ Fri Aug 11, 2006 8:49 pm ]
Post subject: 

If CGM didn't green up the grass, then I'm going to make a wild guess that you've had a lot of rain. That rain will leach out any acids your soil has developed. The resulting alkaline condition will bind up all your iron and it will not be available to the plants no matter how much protein or nitrogen you provide. What you need then is greensand. Nobody seems to know what the mechanism is by which greensand works, but it DOES work!! It is the only thing, short of waiting until next spring, that will green up an alkaline yard after heavy rain.

Author:  abraham1964 [ Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:41 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: other grasses in st augustine lawn

btg wrote:
KHWOZ: thanks for your advice, i haven't watered as much an it seems as if the yellow spots are slowly dissipating. I have a lot of a blue green type of grass that is growing in the yard and it wasn't there last year. How can i get rid it short of attempting to pull it up. I also used CGM on the lawn and it did nothing to green it up, in fact, the front has turned somewhat lime green in color. what is the best product or products to use for greening and this unknown grass in my lawn? what does the Garrett juice do and what about molasses? where do i get this tea product i hear people talking about? lots of questions, point me in the right direction. i appreciate it. btg

Author:  Texican [ Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:12 pm ]
Post subject: 

I know this topic is a little old and dated, but check this website to determine if your St Augustine has the fungal disease – Take-All-Root-Rot (TARR):

http://www.plantanswers.com/root_rot_fungus.htm

TARR is very common in Texas and a top-dressing with peat moss will greatly correct the problem.

Author:  Texican [ Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:24 pm ]
Post subject: 

Please tell me about this corn meal treatment. I've been reading a lot about it but have no experience with it all. Does it correct TARR problems?

Author:  Texican [ Fri Sep 15, 2006 1:59 pm ]
Post subject: 

Unfortunately, I did exactly what you said not to do and had the St Augustine sprayed with mancozeb (Fore) fungicide about 2 weeks ago. Well, after 30 years of doing this stuff, I’m still learning…

I’m going to try the corn meal treatment starting in about a month. Maybe by that time, the fungicide will have worn off.

Author:  Texican [ Sun Sep 17, 2006 12:49 am ]
Post subject: 

Well, I did the horticultural cornmeal trick today. I spread 80 lbs of the stuff on 4,000 sq ft of St Augustine through a rotary spreader – what a messy job that was! I’m not sure if I got more of it on the grass or me.

I hit the TARR infested areas with a double dose of the cornmeal for good measure. Now I am waiting to see what happens.

When I was buying the cornmeal, I got a chance to talk to the nursery owner. I respect this guy’s opinion very much because he’s been doing this business for 40+ years. He’s a firm believer in cornmeal treatments for garden fungal problems. He also had a bunch of other products like lava sand, soybean meal, and half a dozen other products I can’t remember. Looks like I have some studying to do to find out about these products.

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