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St Augustine grass.

Is it possible to get a great looking lawn if I have about 60% weeds. I applied 'Scots Bonus S for Southern Gardens' once last spring and once about a month ago. It rained a lot this past summer. I still have about 30 to 100% weed depending on the area. Should I apply those plugs that I see at Lowes to the area with no grass?



^ one of the worse areas. You can see the thick blades of St Augustine and all the other junk around it.

I don't have the money to re sod but I can be patient and do things slowly if there is hope.

When I was a kid----many years ago, my mother had me going with her to abandoned houses that had St. Augustine lawns one spring. We'd cut out a few dozen small patches, especially where there were long runners going over sidewalks and such, take them home and spread them around the yard and plant them, water them in and do so until they took. In a couple years time we had almost all St. Aug. grass. Here in La. grass grows practically year round, just more so in the spring/summer months.

If you have more time than money, get some plugs or perhaps buy a several pieces of the sod, cut it in smaller pieces and plant them. They should grow quite well in Fla.

^ thanks. I didn't think about just buying a piece of sod and cutting it up. Do did you cut it out of the ground as a kid?

pengh wrote:^ thanks. I didn't think about just buying a piece of sod and cutting it up. Do did you cut it out of the ground as a kid?

Yep, we'd take a shovel and cut into the sod and into the ground under it to get some roots. We'd take patches about 6-8 inches square and like I said, if it had runners, that was all the better.

We made sure the houses we took this from were rental units that were not occupied and hadn't been for some time. Usually the grass was pretty overgrown by the time we took some of the patches.

This is just me, but I would use a broad spectrum post emerge product to get the weeds under control and then hit them with a pre emerge. I always use the Trimec brand products. The only thing I noticed it that on several of those products it warns against using them on th Florotam variety of St Augustine.

Pengh - welcome to the forum.

I tried accessing both LSU and Florida State Ag Centers but My computer is acting up and I was not able to. I wanted to find mowing height recommendations for St. A. In general using straight lawn fertilizer on a regular schedule (I think it is 3 times a year in our souther region) and proper mowing height and watering is the best way to have a lovely lawn. You do have a major problem with the weeds. I really don't like to use weed and feed but sometimes you have to. Look for a product designed for southern lawns and make sure St. A is listed on the label. Don't try to apply with one of those hand held spreaders. Invest in a good broadcast spreader. The bag of weed and feed will tell you what setting to use on the spreader. You will need to water it in. Again don't try to do that by hand. Set out a pulse sprinkler with a 360 degree spray pattern.

I have this argument with g every spring. He wants to weed and feed the entire yard. I don't want him using that in the back because we have a 150 year old southern live oak and my garden is in the back. The compromise is that he does his thing in the front and leaves the back alone.

I am that I can not access the info I want. The thing is that you keep the grass mown to a particular height never cutting more than 1/3 of the foliage. So during the warm rainy season you will need to mow more often - probably every 3 or 4 days. The grass will be healthier. The foliage will shade the soil and keep weed seeds from germinating and the weeds will not have a chance to go to seed. Fertilizing and good mowing practices will result in a lovely lawn - it just takes more time.

As soon as my compter stops being stupid I will post some links for you.

Good luck.

^ thank you guys