A Plague On My Lawn

[Tarheel]

Called the lawn service folks that have been "taking care" of my yard for 3 years and got an answering service. My message was as follows: "please have the owner come to my house and convince me why I should continue to use his services.....my lawn looks terrible". Owner calls back within the hour and makes an appointment for this morning. I expected excuses such as drought and heat and was prepared to respond. My luxurious stand of St. Augustine has been reduced to a less than attractive stand of weeds and bare spots and I am not happy.

The diagnosis is piricularia grisea or grey leaf spot in the front and side yard and chinch bugs in the sunny part of the back yard. Some damage is reversible....some is not. He treated with fungicide and insecticide and sprayed for weeds at no charge....accepting the blame for the chinch bug damage only since he should have pretreated earlier. My complaint was that the problems happend on his watch but the only time I see anyone is when they have something in their tank to sell. No check up calls in between.

I asked the farmers supply folks who was the best service locally and they pointed to me. She explained that no one knows your yard and observes it on a daily basis like I do. So the question now is do I dump the service and take the responsibilty myself or give the service another try and hope for improvement?

Any lawn care pros out there? Advice dtel or dtel's wife. Any gurus on St. Augustine?

[LarryC]

My experience is with two "landscaping firms" I've had for several years -- in reality, both are lawnmowing services, with added fertilizing and thrice-yearly yard- and bush/flower bed clean-up services they ask you to sign up in advance for, at a high price. You get a crew that doesn't speak English and doesn't know anything anyway beyond the simple stuff they are supposed to do.

Neither firm ever sent anyone out to look at my lawn or beds, and my service rep from the current firm NEVER returns my calls, though the owner will come out if I raise a fuss. I need to ask my neighbors if any of them are happy with their service and why.

[Tarheel]

"The owner comes out when I raise a fuss". Sounds familiar. He did do the free work himself this morning. Said he has 2000 customers and can't be doing checks in between service. Guess I will be ordering a pallet of sod soon.

[oscarsear]

I am a lawn snob.  Given my physical limitations gardening at a slow pace is an ideal therapy.  When working I used "services" with all sorts of fancy names.  Then the illegals showed up and "mowed, blowed and went".  Weeds went unrecognized until they reached Godzilla proportions and the lawn got cut.  I have time and the interest now.  I use a little battery augmented reel mower made by Brill.  It is light weight and as a reel mower leaves those lovely cut marks in the grass.  I know when to fertilize and when to treat for whatever ails the lawn.  Aerate and thatch periodically.  The only bane I have...female dogs.  The back yard looks like a WW1 no mans land.  Lovely green with craters of dead, un-revivable lawn.  We've tried some products to try and lessen their urine toxicity with little effect.  I think there are reputable services out there.  We had one gentlemen a long time ago who was really very good.  But, if you can do it yourself you know it will get done right and the way you like it.  You'll have more pride in the results and enjoy the benefits of the exercise. 

[Tarheel]

Oscar.....if you are a lawn snob I would be very embarassed for you to see my lawn now[:$] Maybe by the end of september or early october but not now. Thing is....I love a pretty lawn and if I had spent as much time and money on it as I do music/equipment I would have a much nicer yard. Part of the problem I suspect is the lack of air circulation since I am tucked into the woods. I am not that good at diagnosing diseases and sometimes what I treat as a pest problem is actually a fungus.

Now all I can do is sit and wait. Treated the yard today and will water the treatment in tomorrow. Some sod cannot be saved and it will have to be replaced.

[colterphoto1]

Do it yourself and use as little chemistry as possible. I'm of the belief that there is way too much poison poured on Americas lawns. Check with your local county agricultural service and take the Master Gardener course.

I only do a 2-4-d application once in the spring for broadleaf, then spot apply after that when dandelions come out. Roundup can be bought at the farm store in 2.5 gallon containers at about 1/50 the cost of purchasing the diluted spray at the home supply store. I use the farm Roundup at 1 oz per 2 gallons and it does a great job.

Fertilizer is overrated. Most is way overapplied to keep the lawn services hitting you up about every 5th day.

Mow lawn high to shade weeds, don't overwater, keep it naturally healthy and strong.

Remember 'the label is the law' - so follow directions exactly and measure carefully.

Michael

[dtel]

We don't do grass or even cut it. When our job is over we just setup people with sod companies and let them decide what kind they want.

Chinch bugs were a real big problem about 30 years ago, if it was one of the services that sprays fertilizers and other chemicals for fungus and insects you would think it should have been pretreated, if there is a pretreatment for Chinch bugs. If there is no pretreatment they should have seen the problem before it got to that point, It does not kill a whole lawn that fast ( that I have seen ).

Is the grass dead to the roots, because if the roots are still alive ( not eaten ) it may come back fast with fertilizer.

I tried a test for about 3 years in a row, I know it sounds crazy, we live in the country so I could do it.

I burned off our St Augustine grass in the winter after it had all turned brown, to remove thatch from building up. They say the dead grass leaves, if to many tends to keep the grass from really looking nice. After burning all that is left is the roots, it looks bad, thought I really screwed up the first time.

In the spring after I put out fertilizer it came back more full and even had less weeds, seems the grass fills in all the little space where the thatch had built up. Thats the reason I had asked if there were any roots left.

If i remember correctly doesn't Chinch bugs start out making a dead spot in the grass the shape circle ? I don't recall it taking over the whole lawn really fast ? How regular do they come out, you would think they would have seen something , if they were paying attention ?

[Tarheel]

Thanks Michael.....all good advice. I like to do yard work and did it all myself the first 15 years after I built the house. Kind of went down hill when I limited my involvement. I guess I will have to brush up on diseases and take over. The good news is the AG extension office is a mile away.

[colterphoto1]

Dtel, you may be thinking of the sod webworm (maybe it's the same). The larvae from these varmits eats the tender roots off just below the surface of the lawn, leaving brown circles as then enlarge their feeding area. Diazinon used to be the cure in either liquid or crystal form, but I don't think it's legal anymore. You should be able to get em next year with pre-emergent campaign.

I like the 'burn it off' theory. That might be just the thing where you have no winter freeze to kill the bugs off. But thatch buildup can be a problem anywhere, it encourages pests, chokes roots, blocks sunlight. Dethatching and occasional aeration of clay soils is an important step. I never see any lawn services offer these methods.

[Tarheel]

Hey dtel....I was hoping you are the wife would respond. Yes....chinch bugs start off as a brown circle that keeps getting larger unless treated. Chinch bugs suck the chlorophyll out of the grass blades and insert a fluid that is toxic to the grass. I have just never had it spread so quickly. It was pointed out that they like to work in the sun and that is why the shady parts of my yard are not as infected.

Never once did the service blame it on the drought. He took a couple of core samples and said my soil was actually a little damp. He mentioned underground water as I am downhill from my neighbors who have sprinkler systems. I never considered that. The owner promised to come back in 2 week to check the progress.

Circulation as I mentioned may be a problem. I know a golf course where the greens in wooded areas were not doing well so the trees were thinned out and the greens improved. There is not much I can do with the 13 acres of woods next to me.

Michael....you are so right about Diazonon.....I use to use that regularly and it really controlled the chinch bugs. It has been banned here and I do not think the alternative works as well. Kind of like when they banned chlordane for termite treatments.

Second edit.....dtel...some of the roots are dead and you can pull the grass up without effort. Some that is still standing can be saved once treated according to the yard guy.

Thanks to you all for your help.

[dtel]

Even Christy thought I was nuts, she just shook her head, again !

To be safe I went around with a water hose and watered the outline of the trees and beds where I wanted the fire to stop. Then I moved the hose and fired it up, I waited with the hose to make sure it did not get out of control and cross into the neighbors 5 acre field, It worked perfect.

I only fertilize the grass once a year in the spring, to me Scotts weed & feed works best, the nitrogen in Scotts is slow release and does not burn the grass if not completely watered in.

I like to use the Roundup Pro Dry it comes in little boxes premeasured to mix with 1 gallon of water. The percentage of active ingredients ( Glyphosate ) is 71% the highest you can buy, most feed stores (here) have it.

[dtel]

Sounds bad, even when I burned the grass off the roots were still very much well rooted. I would guess the best thing to do is what you said, see what comes back and replace the rest. Down here St Aug is one of the most expensive grasses you can buy, they also say it is the most shade tolerant.

Good luck

[oscarsear]

Lawn pictures .........

[oscarsear]

Lawn pics.........more

[oscarsear]

Lawn pics...last

[dtel]

Nice grass their Oscarear, and of course nice house ! [Y]

[Tarheel]

Very nice Oscar....now I really feel bad. I can see why you enjoy working in the yard.....its a show place. Intricate roof line to frame. Is that centipede?

Thanks for the pictures.

[oscarsear]

I really enjoy my yard.  It is right at the upper limits of what I can do.  I couldn't do it if it were not for the lighter equipment around these days.  I use Scott products on the lawn almost exclusively.  They grow turf grass seed around here (North Idaho) for use in golf courses, etc.....  I've always appreciated a manicured landscape.  The wife thinks I'm anal about the whole thing.  I mow every 3 or 4 days.  It only takes about 45 minutes and I can use the sun.  That back patio faces the 2nd tee on a golf course and it has 4 JBL outdoor speakers.  I'm a lucky man.

[CECAA850]

If St Augustine stays really wet it will develop a fungus. It presents itself like insect damage but pesticides do nothing. I've had it a couple of times and spray fungicide normally kills it. The lawn grows back from the outside in.

[ZAKO]

I dont believe in lawn care,, other than burn off at end of season....Grass should be kept long,,,6 or more inches.... tall grass is natural....Prairie grass is beautiful when at its maximum length....I seed wild flowers for color. Nature knows what its doing. Whe i see some one mowing a lawn it discusts me as to how they are polluting the air.....BAMBI would disaprove.