Whats up with all the dead grass? (Austin, Round Rock: new house, landscaping)

[momof2dfw]

FYI: If you OVER WATER in the spring and summer months while your grass IS green it will develop very shallow roots. When this happens those roots have not gone down deep into the ground in search of water as there is plenty on top. When this happens and winter comes along and a REALLY COLD freeze happens it can kill your grass/roots as they are exposed and now frozen. When they are down deep they are still getting some water for their dormant period and are insulated from the cold.

[HappyTexan]

Right now the bluebonnets have started growing. Not the flowers but the leaf bases. My front lawn is covered with patches of them and vetch as well. Gonna wait and see how well the bluebonnets due this year..should start blooming some time mid March.

[Chris2000]

No need to Over-water anything. You can train you'r lawn very easily to need minimal amounts of water. In Phoenix i could make it all the way threw the summer 115-120 degrees out. While only watering once a week. Its all about the first month the grass is coming up. If you water it like crazy to spur growth then the grass will expect that much water and if you miss watering it, It will die. But if you water it once a week trying to get about an even inch into the ground, It gets used to having little water and do fine. Which is nice in-case you have to leave town and don't want to come back to a dead lawn.
Also a tip..If you don't bag you lawn clipping and just let them fall on the lawn. It reapplies the nitrogen back into the grass. So you don't need any fertilizer. The only thing is you'll want to mow it twice a week so that the clippings are small and wont bunch up and look bad. If they are small clippings they will break down completely in a few days.
Chris2000

[TX-Griff]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

Uh, have you ever been "up north"? "Winter" in Austin is nothing like a winter up north.... and the grass there doesn't go dormant.... that's just a southern thing, I think. The grass that grows in the north, may be a different kind than what grows down here.... I know in the Seattle area, our grass was the healthiest in the winter (rain). No dormancy.

I was SUCH a newbie to the wonders of St. Augustine when I got here... I actually went into Home Depot looking for a box of St. Augustine seed to cover some patches that weren't doing all that well... the guys in HD were very sweet to not laugh out loud at me.

"Up North" winters are brutal... below freezing temps for weeks on end, snow, snow, SNOW blanketing the landscape... cold, dry winds coming in from Canada and blizzards. LOTSA blizzards.

Winter in Austin... it regularly rains, a fine "mist" like rain (unlike our summer thunderstorms where it POURS... gawd I love TX summer thunderstorms!), temps occasionally dipping below 32° but more often in the 45° range overnight w/ 60+° during the day, warm, moist winds. We get "ice days" here more often than "snow days." I think it's actually snowed here three times since I moved here in '99.

Lawns "up North" can't grow St. Augustine as it's only hardy up to Zone 8a (for sure) and sometimes up to 7a. (See Hardiness Zone chart at USNA - USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map: Zone Details.) When I lived in CT and had a lawn, it was usually Kentucky Bluegrass, fescue (or a combo) or Bermuda grass.

Down here, though, the winner is St. Augustine, by and far:

St. Augustine grass is a widely used lawn grass along the Gulf Coast in the U.S., in Southern Mexico, throughout the Caribbean region, South America, South Africa, Western Africa, Australia and the South Pacific and Hawaiian Islands. The species is primarily of tropical origin and is native to sandy beach ridges, fringes of swamps and lagoons, salty and fresh water marshes and limestone shorelines. St. Augustine grass gradually moved inland to naturally open sites such as streambanks, lakeshores and other moist sites. It tolerates a wide range in soil types, but does not withstand waterlogged or droughty sites.

In the U.S., St. Augustine grass is found from the Carolinas to Florida and westward along the Gulf Coast to Texas and in Southern and Central California. Because of its lack of winter hardiness, St. Augustine grass is restricted to areas with mild winter temperatures. Like bermudagrass, St. Augustine thrives in high temperatures, but the growth of St. Augustine is better than that of bermudagrass in cool, coastal climates.

http://http://plantanswers.tamu.edu/turf/publications/staug.html (broken link)

In my subdivision you can always tell the "newbie" owner... he plants rye grass after discovering his lawn has gone (dormant) brown, not realizing alllllll the lawns have gone brown for the winter. (We don't laugh, either... we just smile and wait for him to "get it" come his second winter.)

TX Griff

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Right now the bluebonnets have started growing. Not the flowers but the leaf bases. My front lawn is covered with patches of them and vetch as well. Gonna wait and see how well the bluebonnets due this year..should start blooming some time mid March.

Dang. I wonder if that's what I sprayed RoundUp on two days ago. I thought they looked different then the normal weeds that pop up and we do get bluebonnets in our yard.

[Chris2000]

Wow!!
People are just going to hate my wife and I. We are the people who know the grass is dormant, And plant the Rye seed anyway cause we like the green lawn.
Hopfully people arent goin to sit around and judge us.heheh
Chris2000

[Trainwreck20]

Nah, no one really cares, but the waste water thing is VERY accurate. They assume that you are not watering in the winter and your total water usage is used to calculate waste water. We typically use 3000-5000 gal/month when not watering, but will easily use triple that during the watering months. I am guessing you do not need to water rye that much, but if you do, you will boost your wastewater portion of you bill year 'round.

[TX-Griff]

Originally Posted by Chris2000

Wow!!
People are just going to hate my wife and I. We are the people who know the grass is dormant, And plant the Rye seed anyway cause we like the green lawn.
Hopfully people arent goin to sit around and judge us.heheh
Chris2000

Well, we might judge you... but as most of us have adopted the fine manners exhibited by 107% of native Texans, you'll never know if we do.

TX Griff

[HappyTexan]

LOL Chris2000..a true Texan will just walk by your place and think to themselves.."Why did he go and spend money on seed to grow grass in the winter so he would have to mow instead of letting it go brown and take the winter off"

[twange]

If you simply cannot tolerate the look of dormant grass but don't want to waste water trying to make it something it isn't, try xeriscaping. There are many plants and grasses that are drought tolerant. It will certainly take some time, money and vision but it's extremely efficient, beautifying and much more economical in the long term.

But just about every plant I know of has some sort of dormant phase...

Xeriscaping - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Xeriscape
Xeriscape: A Guide to Developing a Water-Wise Landscape
Xeriscape