What's wrong with my lawn? (pics inside)

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J

jread

Senior member
Jan 20, 2005
544
0
0
I'm not sure what's going on with my lawn and was wondering if someone could help me out. I live in Austin, which is a pretty hot and dry climate for the most part. Our St. Augustine sod was put in around mid-September 2005 and looked bad through most of the Fall/Winter. We recently had a few weeks of high humidity and frequent thunderstorms that dumped tons of rain around here, and our lawn seemed to go from brown and crunchy to lush and green almost overnight. I treated with Weed & Feed about two months ago and then spread Ironite a couple of weeks ago. Both treatments made the grass even more green and beautiful than before. Then, the past week we had pretty hot (95-100 degrees some days) and very dry (hardly any humidity) weather. During this time I went back to watering the lawn like before with the sprinklers, etc. Well, today I noticed a lot of bright, yellow blades scattered throughout the lawn. Upon further inspection it seems like one side of the blade has yellowed while the other is still green. There are areas like this throughout the front and back yard, and the lawn overall has faded in color from the deep green it had before. I tried to take some photos to show what I'm talking about so hopefully someone can help me figure out what is going on. It's very disappointing to do all this work and have our yard FINALLY look nice, only to have it look bad again in two days.

All help is appreciated!!


http://celura.net/lawn/grass11.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass16.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass17.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass4.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass10.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass15.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass5.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass14.JPG

http://celura.net/lawn/grass7.JPG
 
Ryan

Ryan

Lifer
Oct 31, 2000
27,519
2
81
You have St. Augustine grass - did you use the right kind of fertilizer? Most off the shelf Weed and Feed brands will kill it - you need to use something that is specially formulated for it - like Scott's Bonus S (I swear by this stuff).

It's a very finicky grass - but it loves water. Make sure you treat for fungus, since St Augustine is very prone to it due to the fact that it likes water.

 
Ryan

Ryan

Lifer
Oct 31, 2000
27,519
2
81
Originally posted by: tami
ryan is a gardener.

you should have one check out your grass.
Click to expand...

"Gardner" sounds so gay - I prefer Landscaper :p
 
V

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
21,503
9
0
Originally posted by: Ryan
You have St. Augustine grass - did you use the right kind of fertilizer? Most off the shelf Weed and Feed brands will kill it - you need to use something that is specially formulated for it - like Scott's Bonus S (I swear by this stuff).

It's a very finicky grass - but it loves water. Make sure you treat for fungus, since St Augustine is very prone to it due to the fact that it likes water.
Click to expand...

That and a lot of weed and feeds say not to use on new grass.

I used soem weed and feed and killed some of the new seeds, not much, I just put down but I had to as the weeds were bad in a couple new areas. Short run bad but long run my grass is back up and no weeds.

What are the "weed" ingredients of the weed and feed?
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: Ryan
You have St. Augustine grass - did you use the right kind of fertilizer? Most off the shelf Weed and Feed brands will kill it - you need to use something that is specially formulated for it - like Scott's Bonus S (I swear by this stuff).

It's a very finicky grass - but it loves water. Make sure you treat for fungus, since St Augustine is very prone to it due to the fact that it likes water.
Click to expand...

I have been caring for St. Augustine Grass for quite sometime now. I can see one of possibly two things wrong here:[/list][*]The Grass blades are not long enough. You need to set your lawn mower height to the highest possible setting. Cutting St Augustine grass too short will kill it. [*]It may need a good thatching, this will remove all the old dead debris that is choking the roots. After you thatch the lawn it will look a bit funny but after a few weeks you should start to see improvements. Thatching should be done every two years.[*] Scotts Makes a fertilizer for St Augustine. Check with your local nursery, they will be able to recommend the proper chemical or treatment.
[/list]

http://www.yardcareproblems.com/index.c...entId/762ec6c9653d9e33f34599aa663f2766
 
sao123

sao123

Lifer
May 27, 2002
12,653
205
106
only water your grass at night. watering during the day cooks your grass and kills it.
 
Jeff7

Jeff7

Lifer
Jan 4, 2001
41,596
20
81
The lawn here is probably like 3x the size of yours, but yours has 3x more grass.
Looks fine to me - it's mostly weeds here. Quite a variety pack in fact.:)
 
D

DurocShark

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
15,708
5
56
Originally posted by: sao123
only water your grass at night. watering during the day cooks your grass and kills it.
Click to expand...

To get more precise...

Water 2 hours before sunrise (automatic sprinkler system helps here) or 1 hour before sunset. The before sunrise one is better.

Why is this important? Because the water droplets on the grass acts as a million magnifying glasses burning your grass. The reason the morning pre-sunrise watering is better is that you have less risk of fungussing in the soil. Even in TX it's a risk, though less of one than the PNW.

<--- Did landscaping for years in high school
 
T

Trikat

Diamond Member
May 22, 2003
3,384
0
86
That's what you get for feeding your grass weed and "feed." Whatever "feed" is, but we all know what weed does. :evil:
 
D

DurocShark

Lifer
Apr 18, 2001
15,708
5
56
Originally posted by: Trikat
That's what you get for feeding your grass weed and "feed." Whatever "feed" is, but we all know what weed does. :evil:
Click to expand...

Weed and Feed = Magic Brownies
 
J

jread

Senior member
Jan 20, 2005
544
0
0
Originally posted by: Ryan
You have St. Augustine grass - did you use the right kind of fertilizer? Most off the shelf Weed and Feed brands will kill it - you need to use something that is specially formulated for it - like Scott's Bonus S (I swear by this stuff).

It's a very finicky grass - but it loves water. Make sure you treat for fungus, since St Augustine is very prone to it due to the fact that it likes water.
Click to expand...

This is the Weed and Feed I used: http://www.vigoro.com/ProductCategories...FreeWeedFeed/ProductLabels/default.htm

Only used it one time and it said it was fine for St. Augustine. I will definitely go with Scott's Bonus S next time, though. The Scott's products seem to be the best I've used.
 
lozina

lozina

Lifer
Sep 10, 2001
11,711
8
81
Man your lawn looks great compared to mine. My lawn isn't even grass anymore. It's mostly clover or other weeds. How the hell did clovers almost completely take over my lawn? Anything I can do about that?
 
Googer

Googer

Lifer
Nov 11, 2004
12,576
7
81
Originally posted by: sao123
only water your grass at night. watering during the day cooks your grass and kills it.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Watering at night lets the roots soak for too long and they can being to rot, leaving the plant to die. Early morning is the best time to water before the sun starts to rise. Depending on where you live this could be between 4am and 5am (possibly 6am depending on Daylight savings time).
 
Quasmo

Quasmo

Diamond Member
Jul 7, 2004
9,630
1
76
Originally posted by: MisterJackson
Originally posted by: Ryan
Originally posted by: tami
ryan is a gardener.

you should have one check out your grass.
Click to expand...

"Gardner" sounds so gay - I prefer Landscaper :p
Click to expand...

I guess no one else sees the irony in this statement, but I do!
Click to expand...
I thought the exact same thing...

 
T

ta8689

Golden Member
Feb 5, 2006
1,116
0
0
Originally posted by: sao123
only water your grass at night. watering during the day cooks your grass and kills it.
Click to expand...

the truth! especially on hot sunny days
 
T

ta8689

Golden Member
Feb 5, 2006
1,116
0
0
Originally posted by: Googer
Originally posted by: sao123
only water your grass at night. watering during the day cooks your grass and kills it.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Watering at night lets the roots soak for too long and they can being to rot, leaving the plant to die. Early morning is the best time to water before the sun starts to rise. Depending on where you live this could be between 4am and 5am (possibly 6am depending on Daylight savings time).
Click to expand...

Well der! Do you think hes going to be outside on his lawn at 2 am in a bathrobe watering his grass? 4 am is night. theres no sun yet.
 
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