How to Care for St. Augustine Grass
Welcome to the DIY landscaping blog. Here are some more ways to add beauty and visual interest to your yard.Saint Augustine grass (or St. Augustine for short) is a type of grass that thrives in warm climates. It is mostly found in the southeastern United States and westward into Texas. I live in the Austin, Texas area, and many of the lawns here use this type of grass. In this blog post, I’ll give you some tips on how to care for St. Augustine grass to ensure optimum health.
The video below gives a good introduction into the proper care of Saint Augustine lawns. I recommend starting with the video first, and then continuing on to the tips I’ve provided below.
More Tips for St. Augustine Care
I have been caring for my St. Augustine lawn for about five years now, and I’ve learned a lot in that time. If you like to learn from other people’s mistakes and successes, then you’ll enjoy this collection of tips.
Watering — If you live in a place with a decent amount of rainfall, such as Florida, you might not have to water your St. Augustine grass at all. If you live in a climate with long dry spells during the summer months, you’ll have to water more often. The best way to water this type of grass is thorough and infrequent. Many people make the mistake of watering St. Augustine too often (like every couple of days). This will result in a shallow root system, which in turn makes the grass less drought tolerant. To create a deep and healthy root system, you should give a good watering about once a week — unless the rain takes care of it for you.
Dethatching — St. Augustine grass is notorious for building up thatch. When you mow your lawn, much of cut grass accumulates at the soil level. Over time, this creates a “blanket” of thatch that prevents the grass from getting oxygen and light, both of which are important for good health. You can remove thatch in several ways. I prefer to use a flexible rake for this process. It pulls up the thatch without harming the grass. Then you can simply bag up all the thatch and dead grass. And voila … your lawn can breathe again! Once or twice a year is all it takes.
Aerating — I also recommend aerating your lawn once or twice a year. This can be done in conjunction with the raking process described above. In fact, the raking will aerate your lawn to a certain extent. Then you can finish it off by using a manual or power aerator. Within the context of lawn care, “aerating” simply means poking holes in your lawn. This helps to increase the amount of air, sunlight and water that reaches the grass roots — especially when combine with the dethatching process explained above. You can rent a power aerator, which looks sort of like a lawn mower. Or you can use a manual aerator that you press on with your foot. Once a year is all it takes.
Fertilizing — I try to fertilize as little as possible. If you do the things I’ve recommended above to establish a healthy lawn with deep roots, you shouldn’t need to fertilize it much. I apply Scotts weed and feed once or twice a year, and that’s about it.
In closing, I recommend that you continue your research beyond this website. There’s more than one way to care for St. Augustine grass, so don’t take these tips as gospel. This is just what works for me. Your climate may be different from mine, so your care requirements may also vary. By reading a handful of articles on St. Augustine grass, you’ll get a pretty good idea of what you need to do. Good luck.
May 29, 2009 11:59 am 