St. Augustine Maintenance
 

Hi All,
Live in Spanish Springs, CY Villa. Love it. Have had a number of issues with my lawn using one of the dozen or so companies available. Tired of it. I am healthy enough to do my own fert, insect control and mowing. What I am looking for is someone who is knowledgeable regarding the identification of lawn diseases, what to use to treat / prevent and when to apply. in general provide a season by season playbook on what works here to keep the lawn healthy.

This can be a one-time visit or we can set-up a schedule based on seasons / situations. If interested please reach out to this post and we can discuss your experience and fees to begin.

Thank you.

What you might want to consider is talking with the folks who sell sod (not necessarily installing it). The Sod Lot in Summerfield for example. Phone: 352-693-3270. There are others as well. They'll have a pretty good idea of just what kinds of things negatively affect lawns, and how to handle them. Might be worth your while to check that out.

I have also found ACE hardware to be very helpful.

I suggest a visit to the Sumter County extension office on 466 west of Morse Blvd. The folks there are extremely knowledgeable and helpful about agriculture, etc. They aren't there every day, so I'd call first.

Sumter County - University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences - UF/IFAS

No fees. Can likely get you all the info you will need from texting me a few pics, or me just stopping by for a free look.
Call me at 352 303 8610 for my resume' in this subject. Can start with.. began working summers and after school over 40 years ago for Mr. Cottom at Cottom's A-1 sod.
You should begin step by step looking at irrigation and drainage, soil type, depth and pH, also sunlight.
Most likely, your "runners" are sitting on top of exposed roots and you have a mushy feel in some areas, should amend with some topsoil or sand to fill in the space. Likely your soils has a pH around 7.2 and you want it closer to 6.2. This is important for your lawn to actually use the nutrients in the fertilizer. Some sort of coffee application is a great way to acidify. Topsoil helps, but doesn't give the grass a reason to produce deeper roots, and deep roots are key to success.
Once you get these "steps" in a healthy place, only then should you begin pest and disease control as if you don't have a healthy growing place, the pests and disease are not only harder to diagnose, but harder to treat.

I've started taking care of my lawn and found a utube channel called "The Lawn Care Nut" that has many good videos. He's in the Bradenton area and most of his videos are about St Augustine and zoysia. A lot of fertilizing and preventative tips and time lines.

The Lawn Care Nut
 

Another vote for the LCN. It's where I learned the most about getting rid of the common Bermuda in my zoysia. Specific info for using the Fusilade II and Recognition combo. It worked.

I applied the same combination of herbicides last Saturday for my common Bermuda problem. It's been 8 days and I'm already seeing some results and looks like the 3 to 4 week time-line is accurate for total kill. One bonus is that the treatment is turning the torpedo grass yellow so it may be working on that as well.

Herbiciding
 

Might be fun to compare notes. Have found that the "degree" of Bermuda infestation made a significant difference in how things looked *after* the "success".

We had areas that were nearly totally Bermuda. We have a small birdcage coming soon so I've taken some of the "sod" from that area (where there was a much lower percentage of Bermuda) and tried replacing some of the worst areas of infestation with it - prior to starting this "chemicals" experiment. It's been interesting and still I'm still learning a lot.

Wouldn't be getting my hopes up too much about the torpedo grass, though. Making one's own "sod" teaches one a *lot* about rhizomes and stolons. They're not all the same. :-) OTOH, other than a few "special" weed types - such as doveweed - we've had a *huge* reprieve with the "regular" weeds, such as spurge and nutsedge. Our pest control company seems to be pretty good with the "special" types.

The main area that I have Bermuda is where Dean's would start cutting my grass every week. It is an area about 10' x 15' and it is mostly Bermuda but I can see some St Augustine underneath. Its also scattered in other areas but nothing like my front yard. It's going to look bad for a while when the Bermuda dies but I'm planning on getting a whole bunch of St Augustine sod plugs and going that route.

The information on the Recognition does list torpedo grass in the suppression category and it does seem to be working. A lot of it is turning yellow so I'm spraying and praying. My neighbor has a lot of torpedo grass so if I can keep it from spreading I'll be happy.

St. Augustine
 

Ahh, St. Augustine. I noticed that the LCN had varying success rates with his two S.A. versions and the Bermuda suppression. Do you know which type you have here? I've gotten the sense that Floratam and ProVista have been bounced around here. Guess it was his Palmetto that he was struggling with. Some of the S.A. lawns I've seen here north of 466A have been surprisingly dark green and thick. No idea which variety those are.

The torpedo rhizomes remind me of the Alien. :-) I think I have some pics around somewhere. . .

It's been 3 weeks; wonder how the OP is doing?

Horticulturist
 

Just went by there to consult about "height of cut" (HOC) issues with my mower. Was told that the impressive, "older guy" "horticulturist" fellow there had, sadly, retired.

I did check and I have Floratam. I wish it was ProVista as I could have just sprayed the Bermuda with glyphosate and be done with it.

If you have St Augustine everything I've ever read is to cut it as high as possible. I've seen from 3 1/2 to 4 inches is recommended. Since I've been mowing myself and cutting it at 4 inches my grass is looking a lot better. Most of it hasn't reached 4 inches yet but it's been scalped too short by Dean's for 3 years and taking a little time to recover.

Height of cut
 

I have zoysia and HOC is a totally different animal with St. Augustine. Sounds like you now have it under control. I've also drastically reduced my Empire zoysia HOC and the increased thickness is kind of amazing - at least in the best areas.