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.

I feel your pain...our irrigation water is full of silt and it affects the sprinklers all the time and it's a royal pain...never mind all the chemicals washed into the retention ponds from everyone elses's lawn.....whereas rainwater falls on the lawn evenly and irrigates with clean water...

I would do the tuna can test.

If your irrigation heads are clogging, Have an inline filter installed in your system. It is beneficial from what I have read.

Don't know that much about St. Augustine grass (even though it is what we have), but overall natural rain water is FAR superior to anything that comes out of the tap or sprinkler.

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

Which part of the Villages do you live in which causes the sprinklers to fail all the time? I have lived near Lake Sumter Landing and find that my failure of sprinklers typically is because of lawn equipment and overgrowth of grass and plants.

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.

One contributing factor to the green up after a rain could be the nitrogen released from lightning. The lightning would need to be close by but the additional nitrogen released will have a positive impact on your grass color.

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:

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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.

Sounds like brown patch fungus

To turn the grass green, you need inches of rain. The sprinklers running once or twice per week in the summer keep the grass alive. But if we don't have summer rain, then you will see the grass suffering a bit.

Lawn care nut. Check for disease

St Augustine Grass Tips For Winter
– LawnCareNut