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dcluck
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 315
Location: Dallas,TEXAS
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 1:54 pm Post subject: St. Augustine Decline |
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Yep. I've got it. :cry: It's pretty evident in my back yard and looks to be spreading to the front yard in some areas. Overall the turff looks healthy, but I'm worried about the eventual spread of the virus and the long term effect it's going to have on the entire lawn. Has anyone had any success with intorducing patches of resisitant varities into their lawns in order to allow it to take over? As I understand it, this is really the only means of dealing with it.
~Dave |
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Robert D Bard
Joined: 12 Apr 2003
Posts: 420
Location: Whitesboro,TX
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 10:15 pm Post subject: grass |
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try corn meal or product from alliance milling. They have product with cornmeal, bran and molasses. Works great!
Robert D Bard |
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dcluck
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 315
Location: Dallas,TEXAS
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| Posted: Wed Oct 22, 2003 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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St. Augustine Decline (SAD) is a disease with no cure as far as I've been told. Once you have it your only option is to make the best of it for as long as the turf lasts and to replace it with "resistant" varieties such as Raleigh or Floratam. What I'm trying to decide on is whether or not to start slowly phasing in one of these resistant varieties now over time or to just bite the bullet and have the entire lot resodded all at once. "Resistant" doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
~Dave |
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dcluck
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 315
Location: Dallas,TEXAS
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| Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2003 12:02 pm Post subject: |
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Does anyone know where I might find information on how to make the move from a SAD infected lawn over to a resistant variety? So far I've been told conflicting things concerning how to go about this. One organic nursery says it's a bad idea to try to introduce resistant sod a little at a time, while others say this is acceptable.
It seems that since resistant varieties like Raleigh have been around for 20 or so years, that it's difficult to find anyone with any direct experience on the subject. Everything I've found on the internet simply says to use resistant varieties in the first place and that's obviously not terribly helpful. :?
~Dave |
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CCC/TurfLover
Joined: 16 Sep 2003
Posts: 12
Location: ,
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:33 pm Post subject: |
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| What exactly causes SAD? Just curious to find out what makes it irreversible. |
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dcluck
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 315
Location: Dallas,TEXAS
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 2:47 pm Post subject: |
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It's a virus that's typically spread through the use of contaminated lawn equipment. I've also been told that it can be spread by foot traffic from one area to another. Others I've spoken to say not. I have no idea how persistent the virus is.
I'm not sure how this lawn got infected intially. I mow myself and have been here for almost 2 years, so I'm assuming that it had to have been prior to me owning the house. I've been told that it takes about 3 years to fully kill off the turf. Other than an overall slight green-yellow look, resulting from the mottled chorotic patterns on the blades, it's still thick and otherwise healthy looking. I'm phasing in areas of Raleigh and hope it takes over without infection.
~Dave |
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Billusa99
Joined: 24 Mar 2003
Posts: 291
Location: Dallas,TX
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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Each spring/summer the Home Despot near me has had flats of Raleigh plugs available at a very reasonable cost. I have used them very successfully in border areas to patch bare ground exposed when I trim back my overgrown monkey grass borders each spring.
Since St.A spreads so well, you may want to plant a bunch of these plugs throughout the infected areas while it still looks healthy. With a hand trowel and a bucket for the dirt, it's an easy job.
Good luck! |
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dcluck
Joined: 09 Mar 2003
Posts: 315
Location: Dallas,TEXAS
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| Posted: Thu Nov 20, 2003 7:59 pm Post subject: |
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I've been using larger sod sections (16x24 I think) at $0.99 each from Miller Grass. Looks good and it hasn't been fertilized according to them. The stuff at home depot was much much more expensive for the significantly smaller plugs when I saw it this summer.
On a side note, I've been burning the existing st. augustine down to the ground with a line trimmer so that I have an exposed surface for the sod. Is this okay to do, or would it be better to get in and dig out all of the old diseased roots and runners?
~Dave |
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Billusa99
Joined: 24 Mar 2003
Posts: 291
Location: Dallas,TX
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| Posted: Fri Nov 21, 2003 10:34 pm Post subject: |
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Glad you could find it so cheap!
As long as it takes root, it's working. However, depending on how thick the sod is, you may find uneven (i.e. raised) patches where you have laid it down.
They would then be scalped a lot closer by the mower than the surrounding turf when you mow, and thus be subject to drying out sooner in our hot summers. It's your call. |
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olamorrep
Joined: 17 Jun 2004
Posts: 2
Location: Houston, Texas
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| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2004 6:18 am Post subject: St. Augustine Decline |
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| http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/plantanswers/turf/publications/Staugdecline.html |
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Scott Fl
Joined: 29 Jan 2004
Posts: 78
Location: florida
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| Posted: Sat Jun 19, 2004 10:15 am Post subject: |
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you can fix SAD by adding PHOSPHITE to your spray program! it will be fixed in just a couple weeks!
K-Phite |
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