Is there anything better than St Augustine grass? (Houston, El Paso: cul-de-sac, how much)

[DJboutit]

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[Queen Palm]

my experience with St. Augustine is that it's disease-proned, weed proned and very high-maintenance. When healthy, it looks good. But I've had to stay on top of the seasonal fertilzers. I noticed that when I skipped winterizing St. Augustine, that by early spring, it's more brown than green. I've had to rake (de-thatch I guess), but found sod webworms...

It is not drought tolerant as has been stated. It does need ALOT of watering. Yet too much isn't good. It's too much trouble, but it's the only grass that i've found as standard for lawns, and pretty much the only (sod) grass sold where landscaping is sold.....

[Texascrude]

Is there a reason people here don't have Bermuda? I'd like a grass that my kids can run and play on... guess I always assumed everyone here had St. Augustine for a reason -- never considered replanting.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by Texascrude

Is there a reason people here don't have Bermuda? I'd like a grass that my kids can run and play on... guess I always assumed everyone here had St. Augustine for a reason -- never considered replanting.

I think sometime back in the 60's-70's when it was introduced, it what "the" grass to have. As I said, it looks good if maintained properly. In fact, I can recall in El Paso when it was introduced, but back then people still cut their lawn with reel mowers.

I had a strip between the houses here in Houston where I let the St. Augustine grow, but I cut it with my reel mower, it looked pretty good I must admit. But the problem with it is the control factor, any amount of rain, or fertlizer, or both cause the grass to grow too much.

It is making a comeback in a miniscule way, at least in Katy. I think many new transplants that moved here because of the economy are noticing the difference. There are three four new homes in my subdivision that have all Bermuda lawns, and another two neighbors with huge estates have it for their lawn too. The two with the acerage have very nice lawns, like a golf course.

I will admit, it is a LOT of work to put in a new lawn properly. I did it two ways... one, I put an herbicide down that killed all the grass, then I repeated to make sure. It did look odd in summer to see a yellow lawn. I then raked it all out, leveled the lawn, then sodded the front yard, and sprigged the backyard. I did this on two homes.

My last redo (current home), I rented a sod cutter from Lowes, and cut the front and back yard. I then would measure about a six foot section, and then roll it up like a carpet, and put the rolls of sod by the curb with a sign that said "Free St. Augustine". It was ALL gone that morning. One guy came by the next day and asked if I had more, and I told him there was some in the back yard, but he'd have to roll it and remove it... he said he'd be back with his daughter, and sure enough, they took what was left in the back yard.

Anyway, I then sodded the front and back yard of my home with the Paspalum. So, there is work involved, some people just don't care to do anything these days except plant little flowers from the hardware stores. I think my neighbor and I are the only ones who cut our own lawns.

People can ask for it on new homes if they wanted, but most never even think about it.

[Texascrude]

Originally Posted by HookTheBrotherUp

I think sometime back in the 60's-70's when it was introduced, it what "the" grass to have. As I said, it looks good if maintained properly. In fact, I can recall in El Paso when it was introduced, but back then people still cut their lawn with reel mowers.

I had a strip between the houses here in Houston where I let the St. Augustine grow, but I cut it with my reel mower, it looked pretty good I must admit. But the problem with it is the control factor, any amount of rain, or fertlizer, or both cause the grass to grow too much.

It is making a comeback in a miniscule way, at least in Katy. I think many new transplants that moved here because of the economy are noticing the difference. There are three four new homes in my subdivision that have all Bermuda lawns, and another two neighbors with huge estates have it for their lawn too. The two with the acerage have very nice lawns, like a golf course.

I will admit, it is a LOT of work to put in a new lawn properly. I did it two ways... one, I put an herbicide down that killed all the grass, then I repeated to make sure. It did look odd in summer to see a yellow lawn. I then raked it all out, leveled the lawn, then sodded the front yard, and sprigged the backyard. I did this on two homes.

My last redo (current home), I rented a sod cutter from Lowes, and cut the front and back yard. I then would measure about a six foot section, and then roll it up like a carpet, and put the rolls of sod by the curb with a sign that said "Free St. Augustine". It was ALL gone that morning. One guy came by the next day and asked if I had more, and I told him there was some in the back yard, but he'd have to roll it and remove it... he said he'd be back with his daughter, and sure enough, they took what was left in the back yard.

Anyway, I then sodded the front and back yard of my home with the Paspalum. So, there is work involved, some people just don't care to do anything these days except plant little flowers from the hardware stores. I think my neighbor and I are the only ones who cut our own lawns.

People can ask for it on new homes if they wanted, but most never even think about it.

So... I can't just throw down some seeds?

[ILTRAD]

We bought a new house last year. The backyard was a mess and we decided to take everything out and put down new sod. I did some research and found a variety of zoysia (palisades I think) that sounded perfect.
It was beautiful at first - soft and carpet like. We watered everyday for about 16 days as recommended. I mowed with a reel mower as recommended which I actually really enjoyed.
Then a tropical Storm came thru and we found out that the installers didn't grade the yard properly and it held water. The grass got really damaged before we could fix the drainage issue. 9 months later and it still hasn't recovered at all. It's just super slow growing/spreading.
We also had a big problem with all the spots where my dog peed-it killed the grass and took forever to grow back.
We ended up having all the dead spots replaced with st Augustine which will eventually take over the whole yard.

[v2four]

zoysia is an awesome grass, but like guys have said, it takes a couple of seasons to fully blossom, and if you have a 60 foot lot or longer, then you are in for a long haul.....I think if people just learn how to maintain their st augustine grass, it will look great....water two or three days a week...weed and feed in the spring and fall....turf builder in the summer....and in the winter you can use rye grass seed to keep it green, but rye grass grows very quick and if seeds get in your garden or around your tree mulch, they will germinate, so you will have to pull them out..

also, you should aeroate and detach your grass right now...after the winter season....detaching is just raking out all of the "dead" or brown grass from your lawn, so you can have new grass growth.....you can rent an aeroater from home depot or lowes, or better yet, have a company like tru green or scotts do it for you....follow those steps and come the summer, your yard will be the envy of the neighborhood.

[LizzySWW]

^^don't detach your lawn, dethatching works better.

[v2four]

thanks Lizzy...I didnt proof read my own statement!!

[Seoid]

I always found Bermuda to be very pokey growing up in El Paso but that's because no one waters enough there (obvious reasons!)

We had St. Augustine for years until my parents Xeriscaped.