Question
I want to put St. Aug grass in my yard. I have a fescue and weed yard now. The irrigation system is going to be put in next week. My property is on .98 acres with some large natural areas. Do I really need to kill all the fescue and weeds with grass killer? Can I just install the plugs in the lawn after I just kill the weeds?  

Answer
Hi LA Jones,

St Augustine turf-grass is recommended for the far south coastal and gulf areas, most of Florida and parts of California.  It does best in   Hort-Zones 9+.

Only Use plants and grasses rated for your climate-zone.
HORT ZONES from ZIP CODES:
http://www.arborday.org/trees/whatzone.html
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I recommend that you do eradicate all vegetation in an area which will be a future lawn area.
Without this step, the old grasses and weeds and their seeds will just be more of a weeding chore later on.

Use a glyphosate formula herbicidal chemical such as Monsanto's "ROUND-UP" to spray kill all weedy vegetation and old grasses. In a few days all the vegetation will be dead and can be raked up and composted, leaving bare top-soil to prepare for  new lawn. Removing the old weedy vegetation can do much to also remove any weed seeds which might make more weeds later.

Next, you may want to work to improve the top-soil to guarantee fewer lawn-care problems. Adding or working-in (roto-tilling) better top-soil and soil amendments like compost and humus will always help any soil.  Add some sand to improve drainage if you have a compacted or clayish soil. Under-tilling the top-soil in these processes to improve and aerate the top-soil and root zone also helps to kill weed seeds that can sprout later to cause weed problems in the new lawn. Local trucking companies will sell cubic-yards of top-soils, composts and custom top-soil 'Rich-Mixes' you can add to your existing top-soil to make it more fertile, friable, moisture retentive and better for greens-keeping.

After this, you can install an irrigation system.  Get everything to grade and level as you want it and then you should be ready to seed or sod the areas for starting the lawn.

With either seed or sod, you will need to monitor the areas for watering for several days.  With warm windy days, the plugs or seedlings could be killed by dehydration in a matter of hours and sometimes you may need to water more than twice a day until everything gets well rooted (this is another good reason to prepare the top-soil).  So, try not to seed or sod areas too large to keep well hydrated.  Use hay, peat-moss or straw or a commercial mulch to protect the new grass plants and help prevent having things dry-out.

A product to protect seedlings and new lawn sprigs or plugs is STRAW-NET:
HTTP://www.strawnet.com/photos.asp</b></A>
(available from some garden centers and landscape suppliers).
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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, an healthy root-zone ecosystem...almost anyone can have an excellent lawn with a minimum maintenance effort.

I Hope this has answered your question(s)!
Have a Great Summer!

Visit my Lawn & Gardens webpage for more facts and links:
http://hometown.aol.com/eilatlog/lawnol.html

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