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St Augustine Turf
How much does irrigation water effect St Augustine turf over rain water?
It seems when I run my irrigation system when the brown spots show on my lawn, it doesn't seem to matter. But if we get natural rain, those spots green up instantly. :confused: And did you ever notice when your having your lawn treated by these company's, and you ask about the brown spots, it's always the homeowners fault. Your watering to much, your not watering enough. Good Grief :grumpy: |
So if I’m understanding the issue, you have perfect St Augustine Grass in your yard with the exception of some “Brown Spots” that only turn green after a rain.
How big are these brown spots? Are they round or different shapes? I’m assuming that you have ruled out irrigation heads missing these areas and underground structures that are limiting the grass roots from reaching far down into the soil. How about the suns reflection off of a window, hitting these spots and magnifying its intensity ? Are you sure it’s St Augustine and not a weed such as crabgrass ? How many inches of water does your system put down in these areas per week? What does the grass look like before it turns brown? Do the leaf blades fold in or do they remain flat? |
OP, you might also check the coverage of your sprinkler system, maybe the brown spots are getting the wrong amount of water.
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I would do the tuna can test.
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If your irrigation heads are clogging, Have an inline filter installed in your system. It is beneficial from what I have read.
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I switched off the automatic irrigation system, preferring to do it manually. The water that we use for irrigation and the water that comes out of the taps in the house are the same. In five years the difference is pretty evident: watering (both the lawn and our rather extensive patio garden) keeps the plants alive. Not much more than that. But a good rain, preferably a slow rain over hours as compared to a 30 minute gullywasher, and not only the plants on the patio but the lawn green right up. We have a Kaffir lime tree that doesn't do much of anything when dependent on hand-watering, but will put out not only a bunch of new leaves but also blossoms about a day after a good rain. |
Switching to a low nitrogen fertilizer with micronutrients Made a huge improvement in my lawn and reduced the need to water.
50 Pound Bag - Lesco 8-2-12-4 — Fertilizer Direct |
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I have a lot experience with St Augustine. It’s taken 3 years to perfect my yard. Brown spots are one of two things. One being the obvious…not enough irrigation water getting those spots. I’m assuming that’s not the problem. Most likely it’s the insect problem..cinch bugs or web crubs/worms. Either way they eat the roots of your grass. Hard rain would perk up the starving grass until it’s past the point of no return. Be PROACTIVE with insects. Put down every 4-6 weeks in the summer granular insecticide. Don’t wait until you see issues or it will take months to get your yard back. I irrigate mine 3x a week 40 minutes per grass zone during these hottest months.
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You are not overwatering your lawn and I feel you with the cost of irrigation here.
Quick rant/sidetrack on the expense as transparency is 🔑 : Many people don’t realize that the Family charge a monthly service fee for your irrigation in addition their usage cost so even if you don’t use a single drop in a particular month, you will still be charged a $24.68 / month or nearly $300/year maintenance or “base fee” in the newer section. This service fee is nearly $10/month higher than that of potable water and in addition to the Family’s other base fee of $46.98 (inclusive of tax) for sewage in the new area. So between irrigation and sewage base - and this is just the base (ie you pay it even if you don’t use it and likely pay much more for using it) - residents pay another $868.32/year in service fees to the Family. When you consider there are now 3,700 homes in CDD 15, these service fees generate $3.2M per annum. It doesn’t scale linearly - and the family has sold some of the 6 other utilities they built and charged you for in the form of a bond - but if you consider there are 14 other CDDs each paying around the same, that’s $50M for the privilege to use sewage and irrigation lines. And now you know how they can afford to pay their law firm to send our military veterans harassing cease and desist letters citing bogus “illegal” flights they make to promote the Villages. :pepper2: —- Anyway, back to your lawn: you’re not overwatering, you are overpaying, and I suggest both getting a good slow release fertilizer (Milorganite and Ironite should both help with greening and insecticides (cinch bugs are in full season.now, cause brown circles and can wreak havoc in days if not treated ), and looking up YouTubers like Better Call Chadd who have tons of videos on how to best maintain Saint Augustine weed—-er, grass. |
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Capacity charge (base rate) 5/8 X 3/4" meter $10.46 3/4 X 3/4" meter $15.70 1" meter $26.16 |
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Capacity charge (base rate) 5/8 X 3/4" meter $10.46 3/4 X 3/4" meter $15.70 1" meter $26.16 |
St Augustine grass being over run by weeds at our home here in Hawkins
Dean's has been taking care of our lawn here since 11/2021. But now over the last 6 month's the lawn is dying in certain areas. I've checked the sprinklers as that's my niche. But at this point I think I just need areas of sod replanted. Any suggestions for someone who's reasonable (I know...very hard to find in The Villages) to do major work like this?
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ALWAYS check water 1st, put test cups out and check your coverage. Do the homework and the math on how much water your grass needs compared to how much you are giving it. Look at slopes and soil type AND your gutter to see if or when you start getting significant runoff. Maybe run irrigation in intervals.
Rainwater is an awesome supplement to irrigation. Very beneficial, no matter how great your lawn looks, it will look better after a good rain. You could write a small book on all the reasons why, but I am not going to. 2nd most important thing... pH of the lower 4" of the top 6" of soil. While doing this test (if you REALLY want a great lawn) also measure the length of your roots in each location. Test your good areas and you bad spots. Likely your good areas could get better if you acidify as well. BECAUSE: You likely are trying to grow a 6.2 loving grass on 7.2 so your roots are very shallow and weak. There is fungus, bugs and lots of other causes, but you have to go in order. If you are good on water and pH, everything else becomes small and easy to control. ALSO, if your lawn care people are spot spraying for weeds, it is stressing the weedy areas. But hey, long as you keep throwing money to DuPont... |
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Most likely your problem is cinch bugs. They are real bad this year and multiple homes are having this problem. Might have to clean out the bad area and install plugs.
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