Question
QUESTION: Long Island Gardener,

I live in Florida and have Floratam St. Augustine grass. I manage my lawn rather well.  I am however, interested in learning how to manage without chemicals.  I have had problem areas with crabgrass and have tried preemergents on the lawn.  Followed directions, it worked in some areas but not all areas.  This "grass" is taking over one corner of my lawn.  I will probably have to cut out and re-sod that area.  For future reference, do you have a better way of controlling those weeds?

ANSWER: Tell me please what 'pre-emergent(s)' you applied to the Lawn.  The brand/name would help.

It may have been the wrong stuff to use you your Floratam or on your Weeds or both.

St Augustine rarely needs assistance to get rid of Weeds.  This stuff is thick and strong.  Weeds can't possibly wedge themselves between the blades -- most of the time.

But if it is weakened with, say, the wrong fertilizer or the wrong kind of Sun, a blast of very chilly weather, incorrect watering and/or mowing, it will never be strong enough to compete.  And the Weeds will win.

The problem you describe sounds to me like you are not taking care of your Soil.

The basis of all healthy plants, including Grass, is the Soil they are growing in.

Good Soil is the basis of the Nitrogen cycle.  Unless your cultivating Mushrooms or Molds, this is going to be your bottom line.  That's why things like Compost and Organic Fertilizers like Bone Meal are so healthy.  They contribute to the Soil.  There's microbial LIFE in healthy Soil.  The best Grass money can buy, the prettiest Grass in the prettiest Lawn, needs GREAT SOIL.

When you add, say, Crabgrass Killer - something to kill Weeds - you are hitting a lot more things than the Weeds.  There is, as they say in Iraq, a lot of collateral damage.  You my friend are part of that collateral damage.  So are all the beneficial fungi in your lawn, the beneficial nematodes, the Earthworms, the good Bacteria, the balance of Nature.

Your St Augustine Grass needs to WITHDRAW from any and all chemicals you are putting on your Grass.  This is what I think you should do:

1.  Mow, Mow, Mow your Lawn.  Mow it faithfully, often and at the perfect height, at the right time of day.

My favorite retailer, Seedland (www.seedland.com), has this advice about St Augustine Grass: 'Mowing of heat stressed grass in the middle of the day only promotes more loss of moisture and nutrients unless watering systems are used shortly afterward.'

AND they add: 'Warm season Grasses can withstand the shorter Mowing if done on a regular schedule and actually respond by better root development and thicker foliage.'

See that?

Healthier Grass JUST BY MOWING IT RIGHT!

The Better Lawn and Turf Institute recommends a mowing height of at least 2 inches for Grass growing in Full Sun, or 2 1/2 to 3 inches in less Sunny sections:

www.turfgrasssod.org/lawninstitute/southern_lawns.htm

2.  Replace any dead patches.  The Better Lawn Institute advises all St Augustine plantings should be done in Summer - NOW! - when temps are above 65 degrees.  So if you have any brown spots you want to fix, now's the time to do it.

St Augustine is sold as plugs or sod, as you probably know.

3.  Get a Soil Test.  The USDA website posts a map that you can just click on to find out where your Coop Extension is:

www.csrees.usda.gov/qlinks/partners/state_partners.html

Or you can send me your zipcode and I will give you the contact information.  This way you will really find out what your Soil HAS and what it DOESN'T HAVE.  This is the ONLY way you will be able to make intelligent decisions about your Soil -and your St Augustine Grass.  It is a pain in the neck, it is the step people skip, and it is really a SHORTCUT to great Soil and perfect Grass.

This sounds like a lot of work.  It is just a foundation, so that you can do the right things for your lawn and yourself.  Compost Tea will replace all the gazillions of microscopic flora and fauna that you wiped out for years with Lawn care products.  They have to go in there.  God
willing, you don't have enough residual chemicals to keep them from growing any more.  If you want to know how to make Compost Tea (the real stuff HAS to be homemade, and NO you do not drink this) let me know and I will furnish a recipe.

This is the key to your future Lawn.  St Augustine never looked so beautiful.

After you soil analysis comes back, read the recommendation on Soil additives.  This is stuff you only put down ONCE.  Every once in a while, you put something else down.  Benign neglect - the Lawn grows itself.  St Augustine is GOOD at that!

Water carefully, and don't do anything crazy.  rsvp please with your zipcode and any questions.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Long Island Expert,

Thank you for the valuable info. I will definately do a soil test and in the meantime would LOVE for the Compost Tea.  Thank you again for your help. I will keep you informed and updated on my lawn.

Answer
Nice to hear from you again so soon.

Let me explain what this 'Compost Tea' is supposed to do.

When your population of microbes is damaged, or wiped out, you lose the mini-machines that decompose Thatch, break down organic matter, feed the bigger fish, etc.

Although people don't like to believe it, the reality is that concentrated Fertilizer is, by definition, SALT.  And Salt kills things.  Some people chase their Slugs down with little Salt shakers.  You don't like to get it on a cut or in your eye.  If you put down too much concentrated Fertilizer, it will kill your Grass, because it's Salt.  You may not put it on your French Fries, but chemically speaking it is a perfect Salt with all the effects of Salt on anything you put it on.

So Fertilizer (and I do not like to admit this myself because it certainly makes things a lot more complicated) damages or destroys microbes in the soil.  Of course Pesticides and Weedkillers do that too.

Compost Tea is home-grown cultures of beneficial microorganisms.  I suspect that most recipes you'll see for Compost Tea may be of marginal value because they don't contain enough Oxygen to support the microbes we want.  Although they may be there in the beginning, they're gone by the time the brewing is over.

An organization called Soil Foodweb Inc., which runs a half dozen soil analysis laboratories around the world and specializes in microbiology of soil and related fields, has a website that includes a little basic information about the microbes you'll find in good, effective Compost Tea:

http://www.soilfoodweb.com/01_services/faqs_c_tea.htm

They state: 'anaerobic liquid does not contain the organisms that would normally be in compost. In addition, anaerobic liquids may contain highly toxic materials as a result of anaerobic metabolism.'

Best results are achieved when temps are microbe-friendly, outside of heat waves, but well above freezing: 'Perform soil drenches during mild weather when the soil temperature is above 40 degrees.'

Elaine Ingahm, Soil Foodweb Director, was interviewed by National Public Radio about her technique for making Compost Tea.  It is posted at the NPR website and includes pictures:

http://www.npr.org/programs/talkingplants/features/2002/compost/

Ingham, they declared, is 'not entirely thrilled with some of the commercial brewing kits on the market.'

Many of the nation's Golf courses have been moving away from chemicals for years.  Believe it or not, those that do often include Compost Tea applications on their Grass to prevent Fungus attacks.  Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, California, announced a few years ago that it was  using Compost Tea on its Golf Greens and its Greenhouses.  A study of turf treated with Compost Tea for a year at the Presidio Golf Course in San Francisco recorded longer Grass roots and lower incidence of 'Microdochium Patch', a Fungus also known as 'Fusarium Patch' or 'Pink Patch Disease'.

Finally, for a quick pitch on Soil Testing, see this University of California at Davis websheet.  It's aimed at small farmers, but the advice holds true for everyone:

http://www.sfc.ucdavis.edu/Pubs/Family_Farm_Series/Veg/Fertilizing/soil.html

Now to answer your question!

There are as many recipes for Compost Tea as there are recipes for Apple Pie, Michelle.  Here's one using Alaska Humus, which is special because it brings to the table 35,000 species of Bacteria and 5000 species of Fungi - a VERY good thing.  You can buy it online

http://www.alaskahumus.com/more_info.htm

You can use another Humus, even one from a local garden center, but you will get different microbes.  Excuse the expression, but the price difference is a drop in the bucket compared with what Scotts charges for its Weed N Feed and other unChristian Chemicals.  Me, I prefer doing things once, and doing them right...  But there's nothing wrong with doing things the Easy way - if it works, who cares?

1. Put 1 shovel of Alaska Humus in a 5-gallon bucket of
Water, preferably rainwater.

2. Let Humus + Water mixture sit outdoors for a week.  Stir daily.

3. Optional: Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar: Molasses, Brown Sugar, Corn Syrup or another simple sugar.

4. To this you can add a few cups of:

(a) fresh fruit,
(b) corn meal,
(c) Epsom salts,
(d) green weeds,
(e) a can of fish,
(f) garden or woods soil,
(g) apple cider vinegar (1-2 Tablespoons only), and/or
(h) alfalfa meal.

Stirring occasionally adds Oxygen.  Even better, pick up an aerator at your local Aquarium Supply Store.  I did!

Although the sweetener Step 3 is optional, you should know that sugar products are mostly Carbon.  The micropopulation LOVES Carbon.  This is NOT Table Sugar, Michelle.

Molasses also usually contains Sulfur, and Suffur is a mild natural fungicide.

The Compost Tea is ready to use when foam begins to float on the surface.

Pour or spray straight or diluted.

This formula is the best possible fertilizer you can put on a Lawn or any flowers you grow.

Thanks for asking.