Mixed grass lawns.

[Donaz1]

I have mostly a zoysia lawn but I do have areas where St Augustine is growing. I have been told that the St Augustine can take over the zoysia. The only solution I could think of is cutting out the St Augustine and installing zoysia. Any suggestions? Would weed killer on the St Augustine be an option?

[photo1902]

Consider yourself lucky. I’d take St. Augustine any day, over zoysia

[Mleeja]

I have mostly a zoysia lawn but I do have areas where St Augustine is growing. I have been told that the St Augustine can take over the zoysia. The only solution I could think of is cutting out the St Augustine and installing zoysia. Any suggestions? Would weed killer on the St Augustine be an option?

Ace Hardware has a liquid weed and feed that will kill St. Augustine. Know from first hand experience.

[Doro22]

Consider yourself lucky. I’d take St. Augustine any day, over zoysia

Me too! We are from S. Fl and had St. Augustine & it is beautiful. The grass blades are larger & shiny green. Really take a look. The Zoysia is thin & scrawny. Yuk. Drive around Sunset Pointe, Poinciana & Sunset Ridge. They have beautiful lawns. We are going to change over to all St. Augustine asap. Right now it got mixed. We even asked one of the professionals from UF and they said St. Augustine is fine here. I am really perplexed as to how St. Augustine grass got such a bad rep around here. Go look for yourselves.

[tophcfa]

For what it's worth, our landscape/sod replacement guy told us that Floratam, which is a type of St. Augustine grass, seems to do the best in the Villages and that it is probably the most common type of residential grass in the area. I guess everyone has an opinion.

[Mrs. Robinson]

Consider yourself lucky. I’d take St. Augustine any day, over zoysia

Ditto!
Regardless what some others may say, I'll take St. Augustine.
No contest there.

[Donaz1]

I agree with all of the comments. I am very familiar with St Augustine and my sister's lawn in Jax is all St Augustine and it is thick and very green. However, with only small patches of St Augustine, it would be some time before it became dominant.

[billethkid]

Keep in mind the ability/environment to grow manicured lawns of "back home" does not exist here. We are attempting to grow lush lawns on sand based soil.
Hence the need(s) for constant replenishing of fertilizers/chemicals to enhance what can't be done naturally.

The lawns are also very damaged by lawn service providers that use big riding mowers, that churn up corners or where ever the come around. They also pass fungus and all other ills from yard to yard.

Good luck in the endeavor to have that back home lush lawn.

The smaller the area of grass cut by walking or self propelled/walking mowers will yield the best results.

I have over time eliminated most of the curves and fancy turns in the lawn configuration to eliminate the tire grinding that occurs in and around the turns.
Easy to do by extending the adjacent beds and eliminating the curves, as much as possible.

[CFrance]

Me too! We are from S. Fl and had St. Augustine & it is beautiful. The grass blades are larger & shiny green. Really take a look. The Zoysia is thin & scrawny. Yuk. Drive around Sunset Pointe, Poinciana & Sunset Ridge. They have beautiful lawns. We are going to change over to all St. Augustine asap. Right now it got mixed. We even asked one of the professionals from UF and they said St. Augustine is fine here. I am really perplexed as to how St. Augustine grass got such a bad rep around here. Go look for yourselves.
I thought it was a water usage issue when TV started building in Sumter County. Be sure to check with deed compliance before switching from zoysia to St. Augustine to make sure it's permitted in your area.

I would love to have St. Augustine rather than zoysia.

We had beautiful lush lawns grown on top of sand at Lake Michigan. Probably northern grass types grow better in sand than what we have down here. Instead of two times a week, it was watered every day for short periods due to the fact that the water drained right through the sand.

When you leave the north, you kiss beautiful lush lawns goodbye. But remember that when you're not shoveling snow.:laugh:

[autumnspring]

I have mostly a zoysia lawn but I do have areas where St Augustine is growing. I have been told that the St Augustine can take over the zoysia. The only solution I could think of is cutting out the St Augustine and installing zoysia. Any suggestions? Would weed killer on the St Augustine be an option?

Professional advice will tell you that nothing will kill just the St Augustine grass. IF THEY KNOW, they risk loosing their license if they do contrary to published instructions.

St. Augustine is less able to take the common broad leaf weed killer-24D. If, YOU buy the liquid, mix it strong you can spot treat areas where the St Augustine is INTRUDING and it will kill the St Augustine.

Also, bot St Augustine and the Empire Zoysia spread by (sp?) scions-runners. The ones from the empire Zoyzia are under ground the ones from St, Augustine are on top.
You cam use a push pull sometimes called a convex rake to tear out the St Augustine. The trouble is any pieces left behind will grow again.

For this stuff,"my grass can take your grass." You can also use the FACTS to control St Augustine. Both St Augustine and Empire Zoysia will go brown with lack of water. The difference is the Empire Zoysia goes dormant and will come back. The St Augstine goes PERMANENTLY DEAD. Trouble is you can control your sprinklers BUT you cannot control the rain.

[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Professional advice will tell you that nothing will kill just the St Augustine grass. IF THEY KNOW, they risk loosing their license if they do contrary to published instructions.

St. Augustine is less able to take the common broad leaf weed killer-24D. If, YOU buy the liquid, mix it strong you can spot treat areas where the St Augustine is INTRUDING and it will kill the St Augustine.

Also, bot St Augustine and the Empire Zoysia spread by (sp?) scions-runners. The ones from the empire Zoyzia are under ground the ones from St, Augustine are on top.
You cam use a push pull sometimes called a convex rake to tear out the St Augustine. The trouble is any pieces left behind will grow again.


For this stuff,"my grass can take your grass." You can also use the FACTS to control St Augustine. Both St Augustine and Empire Zoysia will go brown with lack of water. The difference is the Empire Zoysia goes dormant and will come back. The St Augstine goes PERMANENTLY DEAD. Trouble is you can control your sprinklers BUT you cannot control the rain.


The word you're looking for it stolons. Most southern grasses and many northern grasses are what are known as creeping grasses. That means that they have stolons which run on top of the surface and rhysomes that run under the surface.

St Augustines Bent is a very inexpensive southern grass that is used in The Villages and in many common areas. It is a very coarse grass with large, thick runners. It is fairly hardy and like most southern grasses, goes dormant in the winter.

The golf courses down here are planted with various strains of Bermuda which is also a creeping grass and will take over a lawn. Bermuda is a much finer grass and runners are not as thick. You'll find Bermuda on many of the very expensive homes in Florida. It can be cut much shorter than St Augustines or Bahia which are the predominant grasses in The Villages.

Bermuda also goes dormant and turns brown. That is why you'll see the greens, tees and fairways of the golf courses overseeded with an annual ryegrass in the winter. It's a nice look but it takes rough completely out of play.