Is your St. Augustine grass going to make it through this summer?

[TXtrkgrl]

The rain yesterday helped my St augustine. More would have been better but I'm not complaining. This morning I ran the sprinker in a couple of spots that were turning yellow from the sun. I'm hoping with the rain and the sprinkler I can buy a little more time.

If I had to do over, I would NEVER put SA again. It is very demanding.

[dmmjsm]

I hate our SA grass. Sorry, but I cannot understand why they plant this grass. It does not rain enough here to support it. (at least not in the three years I have been here) I know its been an exceptional drought, but I get sick of fighting to keep it alive. We have it in the front yard, and its struggling to survive. It looks pretty sickly. Almost all of the yards in my subdivision have SA, and the only ones that look good are the ones that either have very shaded fronts or the people cheat and water with sprinklers at night. I would replace the grass, but I share grassy areas with my neighbors.

[MockingbirdHill]

Originally Posted by Chaka

I'm considering ripping out all the grass there and putting in assorted drought tolerant/native plantings, but I think the bermuda will always survive....

i'm thinking of making a couple of curvy-edged beds around the trees in my front yard and filling them primarily with mulch.

do any of you green-thumb types have any suggestions for me on how HOW to implement this plan?

here are 2 or 3 photos. the hose in the pictures is just outlining the areas i'm thinking of converting to mulch.http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q23/MockingbirdHill/areatomulch3.jpg (broken link)http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q23/MockingbirdHill/areatomulch4.jpg (broken link)http://i132.photobucket.com/albums/q23/MockingbirdHill/areatomulch1.jpg (broken link)

[scuba steve]

How'd you get pine trees to grow in San antonio?

[Chaka]

Is that bermuda? If so, it's going to be hard to kill it enough to keep it out entirely. You can try digging it up and drenching the area with a chemical killer.....but that's not fun. I was told though that tilling would make it worse, so maybe digging it up isn't such a good idea.

if it's St A, kill it, put some cardboard down or newspaper, then cover with mulch.

Also ask on gardenweb forums. Excellent source of info.

[wellguy]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

How'd you get pine trees to grow in San antonio?

Good Morning,

We moved to Westreek in 1999, shorthly thereafter I began planting a couple extra trees.CENTEX had planted toe Oaks, I planted a Japanses Black Pine that is now 18-20' tall.
The tree is more ornamental than anything else with its tall curving shape and it also produces small pinecones.

I have been told that the Afghan Pive does well here in this area. I cannot remember where we bought ours. Milibergers, Rainbow Gardens, The Garden Center should al be good places to buy.

All of our trees thrived. I feel a lot of it was the slow /trickle deep root watering that I did for sometime until they were established. I have noticed many othe Pines (I don't know what type /variety) here in Westcreek.

[MockingbirdHill]

Originally Posted by scuba steve

How'd you get pine trees to grow in San antonio?

These are afghan pines... very draught resistant! I planted them as little 3 footers about 5 years ago. I bought them at Home Depot at Christmas time. I love them to pieces.

[MockingbirdHill]

Originally Posted by Chaka

if it's St A, kill it, put some cardboard down or newspaper, then cover with mulch.

Also ask on gardenweb forums. Excellent source of info.

Right; it's St. Augustine.
Chaka, thanks for the gardenweb forum tip. I trust this is the one?

[Chaka]

That's the one. Sorry I didn't have the link handy. Try the landscape design forum.

[majormadmax]

Originally Posted by dmmjsm

I hate our SA grass. Sorry, but I cannot understand why they plant this grass. It does not rain enough here to support it. (at least not in the three years I have been here) I know its been an exceptional drought, but I get sick of fighting to keep it alive. We have it in the front yard, and its struggling to survive. It looks pretty sickly. Almost all of the yards in my subdivision have SA, and the only ones that look good are the ones that either have very shaded fronts or the people cheat and water with sprinklers at night. I would replace the grass, but I share grassy areas with my neighbors.

I replaced the dead Bermuda in my back yard with St Augustine for several reasons. First, two-thirds of it is heavily shaded, and Bermuda needs sun. Secondly, there is a slight slope to the yard, and when we had the heavy rains in the summer of 2007 a lot of the Bermuda washed away. It apparantly doesn't have deep roots. Lastly, with two kids and two dogs, we get a lot of traffic in our back yard. Bermuda doesn't hold up as well as St A to heavy traffic.

Now, in that area where my yard gets direct sunlight the St A is taking a beating; but that is another positive attribute in that it will come back once we start getting some rain (and believe it or not, it will rain one of these days! ).

And my front yard--where I kept Bermuda as it gets direct sunlight and has little traffic, but is still on a slope--is also taking a beating this summer. It does get watered once a week and it was fertilized; but most of the Bermuda in our neighborhood isn't holding up much better than the St Augustine!

With the record temperatures and drought, all grasses are going to take a beating!