Question
I am looking for a crabgrass killer for my St. Augustine lawn. Anything that I have found says not to use on St. Augustine. What do you suggest? When should I use it? I live in Rosenberg, Texas near Houston. Thanks!

Answer
Hi Roland;
Yeah, I used ca crabgrass killer once. It wiped out my whole lawn, where i sprayed it. Burmuda. St. Augustime and everything.
The crabgrass came right back, but I couldn't get grass of any kind to grow in those spots for tow years.
An organic program would do it.
I had crabgrass . dollar weed, clover, dandelions, the works.
Here is the organic program I am on.
I just wrote it out for another questioner.
It would work great for you. Give you a better lawn with no weeds, a lot less expense and less work.
I will copy it here for you.
Charlotte
------------------------------------------------------

Answer:  Hi Robert;
You will LOVE organics.
So easy to use and so much better results!
It costs a lot less too.
I have not used any poisons on my yard for over 8 years now, and I have a weedfree, thick, lushious lawn and garden.
Fertilizers kill the beneficial microbes that nourish your soil.
Weeds love poor soil, and when the soil is very rich, they will not thrive, and will start to die out as soon as they come up, if they even get that far.
Sugar nourishes these microbes. They work round the clock, all year, enriching and improving your soil.
Unlike chemical fertilizers, if you get too much sugar in one place, it will not burn your grass, or do any harm at all. All it does is nourish the microbes.
An organic program makes a healthy enviornment for lizards, toads and grass snakes that eat the harmful insects that can invade your lawn.
My lizards keep ALL the aphids off my roses, and toads love slugs, and even though I can't stand to touch a toad, they are my best friends when they eat those vile slugs.
Lava sand and alfalfa meal will further add nutrients to your soil.
In a few years, an organic program turns poor soil into rich topsoil.
Just lightly sprinkle lava sand and alfalfa meal over the yard. I do it a couple of times a years now. I just learned about these two neat things this spring.
I get lava sand at my favorite nursery, and also at Walmart, but I have to go to a feed store to get alfalfa meal.
You can also make alfalfa tea by soaking 1 cup alfalfa meal to 5 gallons of water, overnight, strain and use in a sprayer to folliar feed your shrubs and plants outside, or water your house plants with it.
It helps flowering plants put out more and bigger blooms.
Corn gluten meal has a lot of nutrients in it for the soil, and plants, and is also a natural fuingicide.
In early spring, add cornmeal gluten at the rate of 20 pounds per 1000 sq.ft. water it in and you should not be bothered with mushrooms and other fungii.
You can mix 20 pounds cornmeal gluten, and 4 pounds sugar together, and broadcast by hand or out in a spreader, per 1000 sq,ft., water it in, and that is really all you need to do, for your spring feeding. The alfalfa meal and lava sand are just whipped cream on the dessert.
Treat with sugar again in the fall, for the winter feeding.
Water to a depth of at least 6 inches to establish a deep root system. Deep roots help protect against heat, cold and drought damage, and prevents thatch.
My dollar weeds were among the first weeds to go after the first application of sugar.
I put sugar in the alley where poison ivy had started sprouting up, for three feedings, that spring and fall and the next spring. Haven't seen anymore poison ivy for about 3 years now, so I think I will throw sugar out there again this month, just to be sure.
I strew cedar bark mulch all over in the spring when it is time for termites to swarm, and put a trail of it against the foundation of the house and out-buildings, about 3 or 4 inches wide and a couple inches high. Haven't had termites foir 40 years now, but some of my neighbors have. They just will not go organic.
Cedar repels a lot of insects, including fleas and ticks.
Cockroaches are even beneficial.
They tunnel through and aerate the soil, and they feed on microscopic harmful insects.
We put down insecticides, and kill off their food supply, and they come into our houses to fing food and hide from the insecticides.
I put a sprig of fresh rosemary about 1 inch long( which I grow) in the corner of each pantry and cabinet shelf, and a piece about 2 or 3 inches long under each appliance, in the corners of closets, anywhere roaches can come in or hide, and I have no roaches in the house.
Chopped fresh lemon peels sprinkled in your flower beds or in container plants, keeps cats from using them for a litter box.
I grow a large container of lavender at each entrance. It makes a beautiful entrance accent, and helps keep houseflies from coming in when they doors are opened.
Watering with some of that fresh river water would be good too. All that fish fertilizer would be really good for the lawn, every once in a while.
That is about all I can think of right now.
If you have some sprcific questions, write them to me, and I will address them.
Charlotte