We built our home last year and the St. Augustine grass has lots of field grass mixed in. Will the St. Augustine eventually choke out the field grass?
R
Field Grass
It should choke out the other grass when it gets really thick.
Wasn't Pedro Depacas a character from a Chech and Chong movie (Up In Smoke)?
My aunt always says, you either have healthy weeds that choke out the grass or healthy grass that chokes out the weeds. St. Augustine sows very quickly and will choke out your weeds as long as your St. Augustine is healthy. If it isn't now is the time to get it that way. My St. Augustine loves "dillo dirt".....not sure what is in it, but it sure is a rich, rich soil. You find it at all the nurseries here, but I usually by a bunch of it at a landscaping place and get a much better price. You can put some of that on areas where you might have damaged spots and usually the other St. Augustine around it will sow very quickly over it.
My brother who lives in Sugarland told me their solution for weeds. He said "We have this wonderful weed control technique. It's called "water the grass." He said if you water St. Augustine enough it will choke anything.
your brother is right silverfluter....st. augustine is very hardy grass and can look awesome with a good watering every 5 days. I say 5 days because living in the city, in the hot months we almost always go on water rationing. As long as it gets a good thorough watering every 5 days it will survive and stay green. It won't be lush and spread fast, but it will survive the hot, hot weather.
Set your mower at 4". Your St Augustine will thank you. The taller growing grass will shade the weeds and helps the St. Augustine to grow faster.
St. Augustine grass seed is not available because it usually produces seed only when stressed. You can use sprigs or sod to fill in bare spots or encourage the grass in the surrounding area to grow into the bare spot.
Yes, it has been my husband's alias since he was 12. Thanks for all the advice. We water ever other day, is that too much?
R
No, I don't think you are watering too much. I bet your St. Augustine loves to be watered that often. When I made my comment about the every 5 days, I was just stating that is about how long it can go without water and still stay alive. In the dead heat of the summer when there is no rain and high heat I go on water rationing where I live. Our water costs also go way, way up and so if I were to water it as often then my water bill would be very expensive.
Great information on how long we can wait. I'm new at this, but I'm also trying to figure out the best way to shade our air condtioner unit. One tree or shrubs?
Pedrodepacas,
Whether you are overwatering or not depends on how much water the grass is actually getting, the soil type you have and the weather. It is best to encourage the shallow rooted St. Augustine to grow deeper roots by watering deeper and less frequently.
First check to see how much water the grass is getting when you water. You can do this by setting soup cans or juice cans in various parts of the lawn, water as usual, then measure the depth of the water collected.
After I started this reply, I found an article by TAMU that can answer many of your questions. It has information on soil types, how to measure, how much water it takes... I hope it helps.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/homelandscape/water/water.html
Thanks, we have clay soil underneath. This will help!