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 Post subject: thatch
PostPosted: Sun Nov 14, 2004 2:26 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jul 04, 2004 6:37 am
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Hi all, my lawn is mostly st augustine and over the years a lot of organic matter has built up. I overseed every year but the seed cant get to the ground in small areas all over the lawn(about 5000 sq ft). Every year I put out dried molasses, lava sand, cornmeal, green sand but it hasnt helped much. My grandfather thinks a shallow discing will do well for the st augustine and allowing the seeds to make contact. What do you guys think and when would be a good time to do something. Thanks for your help


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PostPosted: Tue Nov 16, 2004 1:52 pm 
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Joined: Tue Mar 18, 2003 3:45 pm
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Location: San Antonio,TEXAS
First of all, we need to know where you are. If you would just go to your profile and fill in the part about where you live, I promise nobody will come looking for you, but we will be able to give you better advice, especially about timing things.

You can't do anything mechanical to St Augustine except core aerate or it will die. St Aug spreads by runners above the ground. If you do anything that damages the runners, they will be cut off and the plants will not get fed or watered.

Why are you over seeding? What and when are you over seeding? St Augustine doesn't grow from seed.

How often do you water? Most organic matter build up in St Augustine comes from watering too often. What happens is your grass roots do not need to dig into the ground for water because it is always wet at the surface. The organic matter you see is roots. By watering deeply and infrequently the plant's roots have to go into the soil looking for moisture. If you are watering more than once a week in the summer and more than once a month in the cooler months, then you are watering too often. When you go to infrequent watering, you will have to water longer each time for awhile. Eventually your plant's roots may go deep enough that you never have to water by hand, because your grass will survive from rainstorm to rainstorm.

How high do you mow? St Augustine should be mowed at the mower's highest setting all season long. There is never any reason to mow St Augustine lower so you may as well weld or glue your mower in the high position.

For all the stuff you put on your yard I hope corn meal is a majority of it. The rest of that stuff might be nice once every couple years but you need an actual protein source several times a year. Corn meal is your only fertilizer on that list.

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