Home Landscaping Lawn How To Revive St. Augustine Grass: You Can Do It All by...

How To Revive St. Augustine Grass: You Can Do It All by Yourself

November 16, 2023

Revive St Augustine grass successfully by yourself using methods such as watering consistently and improving the quality of your soil.

Read on as our lawn experts divulge their secret tips on finding out exactly what is wrong with your grass and how to rectify it.

This article will solve all your St Augustine grass problems in no time.

How To Revive St Augustine Grass?

Keeping grass safe, watering consistently, and improving soil quality are effective methods to revive St Augustine grass. It is very easy to get St Augustine grass to grow back after it has gone through a period of stress.

All you have to do is follow this well-researched guide in which our experts reveal the secrets to getting your grass back to its former glory.

– Keep Your Grass Safe

Casually disturbing your St. Augustine lawn by letting kids and pets play on it, parking or cycling on it, or allowing pets to urinate on it will lead to dead patches forming on the grass. Try to keep your lawn and grass as undisturbed as possible by protecting them from unnecessary trampling.

– Water Consistently

Adhering to a regular watering schedule is a must for reviving St Augustine grass. Always use clean filtered or reverse osmosis water for your lawn grass.

How can you tell if you are watering your grass adequately enough? Stick a pencil or a screwdriver into the soil, and if it pushes through easily, that’s great. If it finds resistance sliding in, then your grass and soil both need more and deeper watering. Water at least two or three times per week because ideally, water should penetrate the soil to a depth of at least 6 inches.

Deep watering is a technique that works wonders for your grass. Make sure that the watering depth is at least 1 ½ inches on all parts of your lawn. In a couple of weeks, your grass will turn green and fresh-looking again. If you keep St. Augustine grass in the form of turf, you can revive it by watering it on a regular basis.

– Improve the Quality of Your Soil

Poor quality of soil will most definitely lead to the death of your precious St. Augustine grass. Luckily, it is possible to bring back dead St. Augustine grass by improving the quality of your soil. Here is how you can do this.

Perform a Soil Test

A soil test should be your first step to improving the quality of your soil. Buy a home-testing kit and send it to a lab for testing. You can also hire a company that will come and test your soil for you. Soil testing is important as it will tell you exactly what nutrients are missing or in excess in your soil.

Improve the Organic Content of Your Soil

The higher the organic content of your soil, the better. If the organic content is less than five percent, you should definitely work towards improving it.

The Top Soil Should Be Nutritious

Adding nutritious topsoil is another great trick to aid in the revival of your St. Augustine grass. This can be done by simply adding a layer of compost of hummus to the soil.

Increase the Volume of Your Soil

St. Augustine grass needs an increased volume of soil in order to grow back. Add in more soil to your lawn if you want to revive it again.

A Much Sought After Grass

St. Augustine grass is a very popular type of grass all over the world. It can tolerate and grow well under high temperatures and humidity levels, and also grows and spreads quickly, its blue-green blades making it a beautiful sight for the eyes.

Why Is It Dying?

Before you begin to revive your dying St. Augustine grass, you need to figure out what killed it in the first place. Only then can you employ the right techniques to bring it back to life. Continue reading below to find out the main reasons behind all your St Augustine grass problems.

– Over Fertilizing

Fertilizer is food for plants. It provides your grass with all the nutrients that it needs for growing healthily. However, if you get too carried away with fertilizing, it can lead to your grass suffering from severe fertilizer burns. Here are some of the most common reasons why your St. Augustine grass might be suffering from fertilizer burns.

Fertilizing too frequently.
Using a fertilizer that has a very high nitrogen content in it.
Poorly draining soil that tends to retain the salts in the fertilizer.
Poorly maintained grass that can get fertilizer burns even from regular fertilizing.

– Diseases

Certain diseases might be responsible for the dead patches in St Augustine grass. Some of the most common ones are listed here.

– Brown Patch Disease

This is a fungal infection that can rapidly take over entire patches of your St. Augustine grass.

It occurs under conditions of high humidity and moisture. The primary culprit here is poor maintenance by homeowners, because watering your grass in the evening doesn’t allow it enough time to dry under the sun, thus leading to the development of the fungal brown patch disease.

Overwatering the grass is another reason why your grass might be suffering from this disease.

– Root Rot

Root rot is another fungal disease that results from over-watering and poor soil drainage. This condition will cause the grass blades to turn brown, wilt, and eventually die. It also weakens the entire root system of the grass.

– Attacks by Pests and Insects

Attacks by common garden pears and bugs on your grass can also kill it if kept unchecked for long. Grubs and chinch bugs are among the most common insects that you should be on the lookout for.

– Low Quality of Soil

Poor soil quality will prevent your grass from growing strong roots and gaining access to water and nutrients. Perform a yearly soil test on your lawn to find out whether its pH is adequate enough for your St. Augustine grass.

Dethatch Regularly

Thatch is the layer of organic matter that is found decomposing between the soil and the blades of St. Augustine grass in your lawn. If it is allowed to build up over time, it will eventually restrict your grass access to essential nutrients and water from the soil.

Thatch also acts as the breeding ground for insects like chinch bugs and grubs. These bugs will also cause damage to your grass.

Inspect your grass and soil for the presence of thatch. If it is more than half an inch long, it should be removed. A dethatching rake is easily available and can be used to get rid of the decomposing layer in very little time.

Mowing Should Be Done With Care

Fix dead spots in St Augustine grass by refraining from cutting it too low. St. Augustine grass should always be cut at a height of only 2.5 to 4 inches. This way, the grass blades are not cut more than one-third their length. Grass cut too low will die quickly.

The setting of your lawnmower should be at the highest or the second-highest. Cutting grass higher allows it to grow taller blades, stronger roots, and compete with weed for nutrients.

Remove Weeds Regularly

Weeds will grow very rapidly if your lawn is kept unchecked for long periods of time. They compete with the grass for nutrients and water, leading to St Augustine grass dying in patches. You must kill these weeds on a regular basis if you want to grow healthy-looking grass on your lawn.

One successful way to get rid of weeds preemptively is to use a pre-emergent herbicide on the soil at least one month prior to the installation of St. Augustine grass on the lawn. You can also use a manual weed remover to get rid of the weeds that keep popping at random times of the year.

St. Augustine Grass: How to Replant It?

Sometimes, the damage to your St. Augustine grass might be too much for it to be revived back. You will need to replant it all over again. While this might seem daunting at first, learn how to do it easily below.

– The Best Season to Plant

St. Augustine grass is best planted in spring and early summer when the weather gets hot. Ideally, temperatures should be around 80 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.

Give your grass at least 90 days before the first frost of the season to give them plenty of time to establish their roots in the soil.

– How To Plant

Remove the sod and the previously planted grass using a sod cutter.
Use a pre-emergent herbicide or weed killer two weeks or one month prior to installation of new grass.
Apply a lawn repair product that is high in mulch and fertilizer to help the newly planted grass pick up water from the soil.
Water the soil plentifully before planting new grass.
Dig holes in your lawn that are at a distance of at least 12 inches from each other.
Place the plugs of fresh St. Augustine grass in these holes.
Water daily for one to two weeks. New roots take up approximately this much time to take hold.
Water regularly and keep up maintenance. In a few weeks, your lawn will fill up with fresh, healthy blades of St. Augustine grass.

FAQ

How do you fill bare spots in St. Augustine Grass?

For bare spots in St. Augustine Grass, consider reseeding or sodding the area with St. Augustine Grass plugs or runners.

What is the fastest way to green up St. Augustine Grass?

Rapidly green up St. Augustine Grass by applying a balanced fertilizer with nitrogen and iron, and ensuring adequate watering.

Can mulching help revive St. Augustine Grass?

Mulching can aid in reviving St. Augustine Grass by conserving moisture, suppressing weeds, and improving soil conditions.

Conclusion

We have now covered everything on how to revive St. Augustine grass once it starts developing dead patches on it. Let’s sum it all up so that you can do the best possible job of caring for your grass.

Reasons why your St. Augustine grass might be dying include: over-fertilizing, low-quality soil and attack by insects and pests.
Fungal diseases might result from overwatering and high humidity levels and also lead to your St. Augustine grass dying.
It is very easy to revive dead grass if you know what is causing it to die.
Always deep water your grass. Water twice or thrice each week and make sure it penetrates at least 6 inches deep.
Do a soil test on your lawn to improve its quality. The organic content of soil should be greater than five percent.
Add in nutritious topsoil and more volume to it. This can be done by adding compost and humus to the soil.
Thatch buildup between grass blades and the soil will also cause your St. Augustine grass to die. Regularly dethatch with a rake.
Always mow this grass at no more than 2.5 to 4 inches in height. Cutting more than one-third the length of the blade will lead to its death. Set the mower at the highest or the second-highest setting.
Weeds are always a menace for this grass. It is best to use a herbicide on the soil four weeks before planting new grass.