I live in the Ft. Worth area. When I first purchased my home there was bermuda in the front yard that was very sparse. I have two large red oaks that shade the front yard a good share of the day. The only full sun is from 3:00 to 7:00 every afternoon. I thought that the logical thing to do would be to replace the bermuda with St. Augustine. After several pallets of sod, the lawn looked wonderful until I got attacked with fungi. I didn't know what it was until it was to late, so here I am ready to start over again. I had the soil tested and it was slightly alkaline ( 7.4 ) with a sandy loam base. It was below average in all its nutrients. I've decided to put ground cover under the large trees where there is little direct sunlight during the day. Give me some advice on how to proceed next. I've started the organic program in my flower beds and back yard. It looks magnificent. Please help.

I would put down a light layer of compost, 1/4 to 1/2 inch and lay the sod on top of that. Keep the lawn foliar fed with compost tea and keep the cornmeal handy if you spot fungus. Watch your watering practices, both quantity and timing. Go to the top of this section and read the stickies by DCHall. He has spend a lot of time providing basic information.
Tony M

Too bad you couldn't have caught the fungus with corn meal before now. You still have St Augustine in there. You can start now like it's growing and spread corn meal to revive the seemingly dead St Aug. My neighbor wiped out his St Augustine several years by feeding the fungus and now, after years of neglect, it is full St Aug.

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David Hall
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