St. Augustine

[Lil' Dave]

Moved into a home in a rural area. No lawn.

Went to a local equipment rental facility that also sold sod grass by the pallet. Looked at his list of species and the traits of some 5 different species of St. Augustine. Picked out the type indicating high tolerance to heat and drought. They brought out a couple of truckloads of topsoil to put around the house first. Then I laid the sod. This was in April.

Have kept the grass irrigated, and did some light watering in the late evening to supplement when appeared the heat was drying the grass out.

The back of the house is what I expected due to the prevailing shaded area near the house. Lush and green. Some other areas are having difficulty maintaining their green-ness. Guess due to the heat, and when the rain is less prevalent.

Have noticed in the sunny areas, there are some single sods if you will, that are deep green and seem unaffected by the heat. These are few, the remaining seem to dry up and start turning yellow.

Did the sod contractor (not the reseller) mix up the grass species in the order?

[World Traveler]

You'll get better advice if you provide a little more info -- although the yellowing can be due to overwatering, since your back yard is OK, that's probably not it. The best way to get an answer is to take a sample to your local extension service and Master Gardener program --

1. -- Where are you?
2. -- Which variety did you plant -- Bitter Blue? Floratam?
3. -- Most St. Augustine grass does not do well in shade, so that in your shady back yard may not do well in the long term.
4. -- If you're sticking to a good watering schedule -- deep enough and frequent enough, the sod in your sunny areas should be doing well, even in the summer.
5. -- If there are areas that got skipped at topsoil time, or if your yard has other issues (e.g., buried construction debris -- not uncommon in new developments -- or a septic tank close to the surface, the sod in that area may not do well.

Your St. Augustine grass should be well established by now, and healthy. the light afternoon watering is not doing it any good and could lead to fungal problems. Just make sure it's deep watered without overdoing it. Sod that I laid about 8 weeks ago has already established itself, and yours should have, also.

Good luck and regards --

[Lil' Dave]

Understand the need for detail. Comparison of various sections of sod that receive alot of sun, supposedly all the same species. Some very green, some not. All has been irrigated identically. Asked for an opinion based on that observation as to whether there may be more than one species of grass in the delivery.

Answers to your questions below in your reply.

Hays county, west of Wimberley. IE hill country

I'll have to hunt down the paperwork.

Depends on the variety/species. The species my parents had thrived in the shade. Turned brown, dormant in days of extended heat in the summer. I remember that well.

Once a week, deep irrigation/watering. Bearing in mind any major precipitation to modify that schedule. Light watering to combat wilting/yellowing due to heat if sunlight is excessive/no cloud cover for that period. No fertilizers, root growth stimulators or other additives have been applied to this grass.

Spread topsoil about 3" deep, to 10' from house, runs the perimeter of the house. Debris, rocks etc. were cleared away from house well before the topsoil arrived. Septic tank is downhill from house, in front. About 70' away in the middle of the gravel drive. Leech field is further downhill and further away from house.

[World Traveler]

Dave: I stumbled onto a website that might help, which includes a map showing areas where St. Augustine grass can best be used -- have you seen

site does say "Bitterblue and Seville are the most tolerant of shade; others need full sun". This area has a lot of sod farms, but Seville is hard to find anymore. Mostly it's Floratam or something similar. My experience has been that St. Augustine is a warm weather grass that should stay green all summer, and that the differences between the characteristics of different varieties of the grass are not great enough to fit your description, so my kneejerk reaction to your question is that rather than mixing varieties it may be that there's a environmental/maintenance problem of some kind. In established lawns yellowing could be a sign of an iron deficiency. The website has some fertilizer and other care recommendations. Regards -- WT

[Lil' Dave]

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