I need help figuring out how much fertilizer I should put on my St. Aug.

From what I read, this is the formula
• one pound per 1,000sq ft
• nitrogen content ÷ 100 = how many pounds of fertilizer to use per 1,000sq ft

Is this correct? I do not want to burn my lawn.

Thanks

If you're using a chemical fertilizer product that will burn your lawn then you're not using an organic program.

Take a look at the simple answer in the Dirt Doctor library:

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/71/ to get his take on synthetic fertilizers (the ones that burn).

And here's a longer comparison:

http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/131/

Here is something about lawn diseases (with some discussion for prevention and treatment: good to know when choosing to fertilize):
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/organic/garden/view_question/id/370/

For some reason the library doesn't have a pure play on "St. Augustine" so I've posted links to the above items. I think you'll find that the organic approach isn't any more expensive to practice, but it is a lot easier on everything in the garden (and the neighboring water shed, because what you sprinkle on your lawn can end up in the water).

Good luck!

First of all forget about measuring pounds of nitrogen. That does not apply at all to organic gardening. Why? Because the microbes in the soil can extract nitrogen from the air. When you feed organic fertilizer to those microbes there is a multiplier effect you can never quantify.

The only grass that feeds heavier than most grasses is bermuda. So for most lawns the app rate for all grain type fertilizers is 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you want to you can double that amount with no reason to worry. When you get up to tripling that amount, you run the risk of smothering the grass with the sheer volume of stuff.

Then you need to discuss frequency. I fertilize on the federal holidays starting with Washington's Birthday (I'm in San Antonio) and ending on Thanksgiving. I fertilize on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.

I've been sharing these rates and frequency for years and have not heard/read of anyone complaining about not enough green. If anything I read of people using amounts more like 30-40 pounds of soybean meal. Soybean meal is very high in food value for the soil microbes. There is a way to quantify the amount of nitrogen in soybean meal but as I've said, it really doesn't convert that reliably.