Question
I had a wonderfully thick lawn of St. Augustine at one time. My lawn area is virtually void of anything but heavy weed growth. I'm not able to participate in a lawn care program. I am interested in inexpensive, organic lawn control, and how I might start to replace the grass w/o re-sodding. Read a response of your's regarding use of white vinegar (hi-acid) and sugar for weed control and soil restoration, was wondering if that would apply in NE Florida, w/ very sandy soil.  

Answer
Hi Frank;
Whatever you are doing is a lawn care program.
If you mean one of those chemical companies that come by once a month and spray all those poisons on your lawn, for a fee, I would love to see all those people go into another business. They are ruining the athmosphere for all of us.
There are enough enimiea to our enviornment, without making monthly runs to spread more.
I did the chemical lawn care for over 40 years, and even though I only used what I "thought" was necessary, I spent a fortune and wore myself out completely, and only had a passably nice lawn.
Now I have the lawn I always wanted, and I hardly do anything to it.
My little toads, lizards and grass snakes east all the harmful insects, and the beneficial microbes, nematodes and other beneficial insects do the rst.
All we do is apply sugar twice a year ( sometimes three, if it stays in the 100+ temps for a long time), and spread cedar bark mulch a couple of times a year, spray with baking soda disolved in water for the blackspot and other fungii, mow and water.
90% of the time we spend is in planting new things, and that is where almost all the money sopent on it goes.
Chemicals cause problems, organics fix them.
It is really very simple, that is the way God designed it in the first place.
For every harmful insect that will be attracted, there are many time that beneficial ones that work FOR you.
All the sugar does is nourish the beneficial microbes that work round the clock, enriching and improving your soil.
The earthworms and other tunneling insects etc, keep it aerated.
Weeds love poor soil and will not thrive in rich soil.
Trees that are seeded in by the wind and other means will still grow. Trees love nice rich soil, so you will still have to pull or dig those out.
If they get away from you and get too large to get out esily, pick a hot time in the summer, and wrap black plastic arount.
The hot sun through that black plastic will literally cook it, and after a few weeks, you can easily pull up the tap root, as all the little feeder roots will be dead, and they won't hold the stub tightly in the soil.
Alfalfa meal is a good boost to the organics, lava sand is full of nutrients, and every time you water, those minerals bleed into the soil.
I don't recommend the white vinegar be used on all the lawn.
I pour straight white vinegar( highest acid content I can find) to kill grass growing in the cracks on the walk or driveway.
Again, when it is a very hot day. The hotter the day, the faster it works.
How the sugar works at soil restoration, is keeping the microbes healthy. THEY do the soil improvement.
If yu have too much sand to hold water long enough to water the grass and shrubs, applying amendments will help that too.
Compost is very good for this.
My husband gets all the neighbors'( that do not use compost)leaves in the fall, and adds them to his compost.
All the raw vegetable and fruit waste from when I prepare meals are added. Sometimes, if he needs more gree matter to make good compost, he will rake grass clippings after he mows, and add that, but generally, he leaves the clippings to turn into compost right where they fall.
If we are away and the grass gets tall enough to make too long clippinmgs to sift down into the grass, he will go over it twice. That chops it like a mulching mower would. I think his lawn mower is about 30 years old. LOl
For st. Augustine, you can buy some pallets of it when they come out in the nurseries, and plug it in about a foot apart, less in very bare spots. Keep it water well and it will quickly spread and cover.
If you have a very thick area of it, you can use a bulb planter. They take out a round plug, and go deep enough to get a good root. Plug into bare areas with that.
The lafalfa meal helps roots get started, and so does a little cidre vinegar.
Cider vinegar is not as acid, and a teaspoonful in a gallon of water makes a good drink that helps the roots grow. A natural root stimulator.
I use 4 to 5 pounds sugar per 1000 sq.ft.
The lava sand and alfalfa mealm, you can just scatter by hand, about the same coverage that the sugar makes.
I apply the sugar in early spring, and early fall, but you can do it anytime you have the time to do it. I apply it again in the summer when it has been very hot. The microbes can suffer from too much heat too.
It will take longer to emend the sand, but you can speed it up a little by adding some good soil.
Lewt the grass get about 5 or 6 inches tall, and add a couple inches of sandy loam, or just loam. ?Water well to settle it. As long as there are grass blades above the soil, to catch the sunlight, it will live, and the coverage with a little soil will spur the roots into growth and spread faster.
I am not sure what questions you have now, so whatever you need me to clarify, explain, or just answer, write me anytime.
I am ery glad to try and help.
Charlotte

With organics, you don't have to hit just the right time.
Also, with the organics, if you get too much in one place, it doesn't burn the grass like chemicals do.