Question
I live in NE Fla and have St. Augustine grass in my front yard that is 1 year old, Palmetto grass in my back yard (same age), and a sprinkler system. Front yard has developed what my lawn service said appears to be drought spots, curled dry blades, looking slightly heat burnt - watering has not helped and the spots are growing - back yard is fabulous... what's wrong with my front yard?

Answer
Hi Lcarzoli,


Given the basics of climate and an appropriate grass-type, enough sun-light, good to mediocre soil and so much water, ALL common turf grasses are easy to grow.  Add some extra water and an occasional nitrate fertilizing event,...  all common turf grasses are VERY EASY to grow.  So, if you have been having long-term lawn appearance problems, then most likely you do not have the basics well established for an optimized greens-keeping scenario at least with the grass-type you are using.


The symptoms you describe for a turf-grass foliage are often indicative of heat-stress and/or inadequate moisture in the top-soil or a drainage problem associated with this.  However, there are other syndromes,... including turf-grass pathologies (fungal, bacterial, viral or physiologic),  that could be implicated.  Without a sample to examine, a complete diagnosis cannot be given here.  


"Palmetto" is a registered cultivar name for a type of St. Augustine hybrid turfgrass. This named cultivar has been around since 1994 and is supposed to be the grass-type used at the Florida Disney-World Park.

So, you really have St.Augustine for both your front and back yard,...but from the way you word your question,.... you may have two distinct cultivars/hybrids of the St.Aug specie in use.  This alone may not explain the differences is appearance of the lawn you describe.  However, some of the old St. Augustine native grass cultivars of Florida are  known to become affected with a genetic disease unique to this hybrid which has no cure.  It's a stretch, but you may have this situation with the front yard. Ideally, you should work to have the same named-patented hybrid grass-type in all your lawn areas IMO.

Florida State University has done much to develop the world's best cultivars of St.Aug for the southern states and semi-tropical climates everywhere.  Perhaps you can log-on to the University's horticultural web-site to learn more about their turf-grass program and work to establish one of the best hybrids for your location.

 Incidentally, North Florida is not always the best area for St.Augustine grasses of any variety because they can be threatened by cold weather in the northern areas of the state.  And once cold-affected, the turf-grass may not do well for the rest of the year, exhibiting the symptoms you describe.  A better grass-type selection for the northern parts of Florida might be a cultivar of Bermuda, Centipede, Zoysia or Bermuda grass.  Of these I recommend Bermuda grass for hardiness.

At any rate, in lieu of the labor intensive process of replacing the problematic cultivar(s) you now have, I suggest you first work to make the top-soil uniformly more able to retain moisture and see how this helps.  You can do this by adding better top-soils, compost and humus.  Start with the dry-drought spots you describe by adding a few inexpensive bags of quality potting soil plus compost.  The grass can be covered with a top-dressing of these soil amendments and it should grow up through it to establish a better healthier turf able to tolerate the heat.  See if or not this fixes the problem with lawn appearance.

If lawn appearance problems persist with regular watering and fertilizing events and TLC with adding better soil year by year, then you may want to do a soil-test to see what's going on with the soil chemistry.  Again, be sure you are using the latest and best St. Augustine named cultivar available.  This can make lawn-care much easier over the years.

Realize that anywhere hard freezes can occur is not an ideal location for St.Augustine grass hybrids.  So, see what you can do to keep things going and growing as is.  And if the problems persist in spite of all the less costly fixes described above,...then you may want to start over with another more appropriate grass-type for the northern areas of Florida, a state noted for its St. Augustine grasses,... farther to the south.
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With a good fertile-loamy well draining top-soil, best quality hybrid grass type(s), 1-3 inches of water per week, plenty of sun-light, ...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.
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I Hope this has answered your question(s)!
Have a fantastic Summer!

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