question on sick looking st aug grass

[lorenzo piedra]

What the hell does a link from the Delaware extension service have to do with issues with St. Aug. turf?

And BTW corn meal will be a great way to feed vectors in zone 9.

And BTW2 PROFESSIONAL CERTIFIED LICENSED APPLICATORS must apply products with current EPA registrations not some Jerry Baker "tonic".

[backsmackwristcrack]

ooh ouch..verbal slap..and its early too. ah well..sorry it riled you there Lorenzo

[dave_n_mulberry]

the st aug is looking better it took a while. i never got any e-mail that this post had been replied to. sorry about the delay in posting back

[bobkessler]

Thats the St.Augustine you guys are always ranting and raving about? Looks like the weeds i spray in our gravel drive twice yearly.

Good, please remain in Ohio!

[bobkessler]

ok i don't have a license for fert or weed control but this is for my yard.

for four years a great looking st aug (seville) in back yard. took two years to get it looking like that. added tons of manure peat moss and tilled it in 36 inches as nothing would grow in it before that.... now in one weeks time have gone from a super thick lawn to sick as a dog see all the roots bare spots back yard. used scotts bonus s and in the past has kept it great. i called a pest control and they confirmed that i do not have chinch bugs and no mold he said lack of iron and need heavy fertilizer. he quoted a price of $1,100.00 to do it on a one year contract, he refused to give me a guarentee so i didn't let him do it.

any ideas on what could cause something like this? the grass gets 3 plus hours a day direct sunlight in the morning from 9:30am - 1:00pm then shade and then filtered sunlight from 5:00pm till sundown. my wife is ready to shoot me. she thinks i brought a bug from one of the pastures i mow.

One problem is you don't know what type of grass you really have. Years ago (25) USDA used to certify the type of sod you purchased. They had little red and blue tags right on the pallet. Over time the growing fields became contaminated (Okeechobee) and now USDA will not certify turf cultivars.
I consider all southern turfs full sun. I just don't agree with UF on that shade tolerant stuff. Be very careful with the Weed and Feeds. Just a slight overdose can lead to bare spots and patches. I'm positive you don't have chinch bugs judging from the pics.
I'm going to forward your pics to Dr. Phil Busey at the Ft. Laud. research facility for UF. I can tell you in advance that they rarely tell the entire story but he will attempt a diagnosis.

[Ric]

Bob

Opey and myself have become quite good friends over this thread. In fact he called me this morning. I would like to think we have learn a lot together about Hurricane clean up.

Opey had many oak trees in his yard before the hurricanessssss. He now has beautiful Turf and no trees. Therefore I think you hit the nail on the head in your above post.

BTW the "it will get worst, before it gets better" comes from one of your seminars.

[dave_n_mulberry]

and let me step in.... (opey throws hat on floor Aunt Bea Hits him with a broom Opey picks up hat and runs to back porch)

Ric is right a lot of comnversation since the hurricanes. nature did what i did not want to do. Thin my trees and remove two of them from the yard. the heighbor behind lost three trees that shaded me and the one to the side lost 4. my grass is becoming very thick and very aggressive growing now that sunlight can get to it. it is seville that was in the pictures. it is growing like crazy the area with the bitter blue has begun to creep where it had never creeped before and it looks like the floratam is going to spread over all of it. if i remove two other leaning trees i will lose all my shade plants. we are going to wait to see if we get another hurricane before we cut those two down. if we can go one year i think they will re-root and be strong again.

[timturf]

So, what was the problem?

[Ric]

So, what was the problem?

Tim

Opey is about a 3 hour drive from me so I never got to see the problem in person. However if you re-read this post again, I think it was a shade problem. Opey had Day-lighted the large Oak trees and was having a good success with what I think is a shade tolerant culivar of S.A. However as the trees started to fill in the turf became weaker. After Charley Frances and Jeanie got done with the trees, Opey now has beautiful turf. As a former Greens-keeper you know the favorite tool is a chain saw for good turf.

Bob Kessler's post about USDA Certify turf is only fuel for the shade fire. BTW Bob is younger than me but been in this business about 5 time longer than me. He is real sharp.

FYI I still call Dave "Opey" even on the phone. In fact he is on my automatic Dial as "Opey". Dave is a common name as is Ric. Since I know several Dave's and have their number on auto dial "Opey" works for me and Dave also. After all Opey is now a Movie producer and making millions

[dave_n_mulberry]

it was A SHADE PROBLEM. and yes the tress did fill in and we did thin them out but not ebough. now that mother nature forced us to open the space up it is growing