Replacing asian jasmine with St. Augustine grass

[queenbee]

I have an established area of asian jasmine that is quite large. I would like to remove it and replace it with St. Augustine grass. What would be the best method for accomplishing this?

[Bekah]

My husband and I have both been working on this. I sheared it within a couple of inches from the ground and ripped it up by hand, trying to get most of the roots (quite backbreaking). My husband cut it right underneath the ground with the shears and was able to pull it up like a carpet, but he did not pull out all the roots so I don't know if it will start growing back in that area. We only pulled up a relatively small area.

In a larger area, you would probably want to get at it with a weed eater and then pull up the roots with a sturdy metal toothed garden rake. You will probably want the ground slightly moist so that it will come out easier. It's not an easy job not matter how you do, unless you pay someone else to do it. :)

[dcluck]

Trying to get rid of well established asian jasmine bed is one tough job and I'm not sure that you'll ever get rid of it completely. I've gone at it with a weed eater, but the stuff I had was a bit much for it. What worked for me was a cheapo electric hedge trimmer to shear it off to the ground - much like Bekah and her husband did.

After that it's back breaking hand and tool work trying to get all of the roots, or as much as you can stand before the urge to call someone else in to do it for you - or any number of worse things. :evil: Depending upon the size of the beds it could be a long weekend's worth of work just to make a dent in it. In my case I'm still not done after perhaps 4 or 5 afternoon's of hard labor.

If no one else has any better suggestions then you might call around to some nurseries to see what techniques they recommend. Good luck!

~Dave