This past summer the city went on water restriction due to lack of rain. We were able to water once every 2 weeks. Needless to say, the lawn looks terrible. What say you as the best way to help the grass recover. Still on water restriction.

Thanks!

Drill a well.

My sprinkler system broke down pretty bad 2-3 years ago and my St Aug got scorched and was completely brown. Next year it came back no problem.

I just used a rake and got all the thatch out, seed and feed, and water.

This was it last year

Every two weeks? Yikes! Do they at least allow you to hand water? If you're on a lot size like KRoyal's or my front at about 2500sq ft. I could stand out there and hand water it pretty easily while drinking some beer.

That’s what we did….





Or go with something more drought tolerate like Buffalo grass or Bermuda grass

Feed the soil, St. Augustine in good soil takes a whole lot less water.

Feed the soil with what to make it good?

Lava sand will hold moisture in the soil. Look it up.

Depends on your dirt. SA prefers sandy soil over clay ... most grass does. SA loves the sun as long as it has water. It hates the shade.

And no, DO NOT switch to Burmudagrass. It needs WAY more water in the dead heat of summer than SA does. In fact, I would use SA on baseball fields over burmuda if it would take traffic but it does not.

Put some pre-emergent weed killer on around Valentine's Day. Be advised: SA needs a much different food than other grasses as it's technically a broad leaf weed-grass.

Keep you SA cut VERY short when dormant. As it comes in this spring, gradually raise the cut height to match the temperature. You should be cutting SA twice a week from mid-April to late May. Never cut off more than 1/3 of the total height. Use a bagger the first cut of the spring and the last cut of the fall to carry away the now useless clippings.

I use a recycler on my SA despite others' opinions it always must be bagged. The reason I do is because the return of the clippings returns some moisture to the grass.

I was waiting for you to come along and answer that.

Let that crap die and over seed with Bermuda.

Capture rain water off your house gutters. The equipment costs, but the water is free.

Technically you're not wrong but there are some debatable statements we can discuss.

1.Bermuda needs way more water. It's the opposite. Both can and will go dormant. Bermuda will recover faster. SA die off will be way more;
2. The whole sandy soil vs clay is irrelevant really. The major swath of NTX down to Houston is Clay. This is where Ph comes into play with them way over 7 and nutrient avalabily. 3 I hear that SA needs much different food all the time. It loves a 3-1-2. How do we know that? Soil test will tell you what it wants or needs. It's the same as all turf grass. It might need a 21-0-0, 15-5-10 or a 13-13-13 who knows without a soil test? Granted you can run a much lower Nitrogen program on SA. Your fungicide apps need to be on point.
4. I love your mowing height rec. But you say you use a recycler and be must be bagged, then follow up with "The reason I do is because the return of the clippings returns some moisture to the grass" I'd like some clarity on this. Besides scalping I would love to see the clippings returned back to the lawn.
5 Your pre emergent date is on point.
6 I love talking turf grass and I am by no means calling you out and saying you're wrong, hell, I'm probably wrong, and I'm no scientist saying my way is the law. I would love to have a friendly discussion on it.

I see far too many people cutting their grass too short and eventually the grass dies. Cutting grass too short is like planting a tree too deep. Both will result in certain death. Some types of grass in good conditions will tolerate it more then others. I have fescue in shady areas and NEVER cut it lower then a 5 out of 10 setting on my mower. As it gets warmer and dryer I raise the setting.

1. My experience comes from my lawns which have been both St. Augustine and Burmudagrass ... currently I have 90% SA with one corner of BG that is being taken over by the St Augustine. Every summer the burmuda wilts way before the SA and every year the SA takes a little more real estate. I also took care of youth baseball fields for several years and saw how well the Gulf Rye worked in the spring and how bad the fields got in summer when the burmuda took over.

4. Maybe I was unclear but what I said was use a bagger for the FIRST cut of spring and LAST cut of fall. Recycle the rest of the year as long as you mow often enough despite others saying you shouldn't recycle SA at all.



I put lathe filings on mine when it seems low on iron.

I started using Milorganite fertilizer on my St. Augustine. It is organic fertilizer. It works by feeding the soil instead of a quick chemical shot to the plant itself.
So far, the results have been great. Seems to need less water and it looks healthier. My last home had bermuda grass. I've always liked St. Augustine better.
We have lots of trees. It grows well in shade. Bermuda won't.

It's not organic, Milorganite is the dried sewage of Milwaukee.

You can get something like that in Austin called Dillo Dirt.

Then somebody screwed up when they printed the bags.

I suppose the people of Milwaukee are natural and poop follows the definition of organic (relating to or derived from living matter).

I used to use it but tend to go with chicken\turkey poop fertilizer since it's cheaper.