The empty spots of St Augustine grass in the garden are a sign of bewilderment for the home or local gardeners. If you are also included in the list of these gardeners and want to know how to make St Augustine grass spread quickly in your lawn then read this complete article.
You need to follow some guidelines and tips to make your grass spread quickly. These practices involve the right type of soil, installation in early summer, regular watering, proper aeration, and high-phosphorus fertilizers. This blog guide explains all the requirements that will help you create a fascinating look for your St Augustine garden, and everyone will surely appreciate it. Let’s get into the details!
How to Get St. Augustine Grass to Spread?
Anyone can receive a fruitful result only through hard work so, you also need to follow some ways which help you grow St Augustine grass rapidly and spread faster in the lawn. You always need to provide your St Augustine grass lawn with the proper care and maintenance for improved grass growth. The first step for this maintenance is to apply a start-up fertilizer to your lawn. In this case, the starter fertilizers will provide the required nutrients to the St. Augustine grass seeds. In addition, fertilizing the lawn will enhance the ability of grass to grow and spread faster. Here are some tips that will help you to ensure the healthy and fast growth of the grass.
1. Improve the Quality of the Soil
The first basic practice is to ensure that you prepare the best quality soil for improved grass growth. So, it is better if you check the pH of the soil and get an idea about the present nutrients in the soil. Use store-bought soil testers to determine its pH and available nutrients.
If the soil lacks nutrients then you can add nutrients like lime, sulfur potassium, etc so that your St Augustine grass spreads faster.
2. Use a High-Phosphorus Fertilizer
High-phosphorus fertilizer will improve the fast growth of the roots, however, letting the grass spread faster in the entire lawn within a few days is essential. Moreover, you can find many fertilizers in the market that are high in minerals, which help the grasses grow green and spread faster. When you fertilize your lawn twice a year, it will promote better growth of your lawn grass.
Early spring and early fall are the best times to fertilize your lawn grass. When you see the grass covering all the patches or empty spaces of your lawn, stop providing fertilizer high in minerals.
3. Weed Control
If there are weeds present along with the St Augustine grass, they are a nuisance for the grass. These creatures can take up all the resources that your St Augustine grass requires which can result in stunted grass growth. That is why it is better to prevent weeds from growing on the lawn. You can either prevent them from growing using pre-emergent herbicides or can kill them using post-emergent herbicides.
4. Mow Your Lawn
Mowing the grass is a good practice for promoting its enhanced and thick growth. You can mow the St Augustine grass after up to 4 weeks of its seeding. In the initial growth phase, mow the grass so that seedlings to shift the energy of grass from an upward direction to deep inside the soil in root development.
5. Aerate Your Lawn
When you aerate the lawn using an aerator, it will punch the soil and remove dirt. This practice ensures the proper flow of fresh oxygen to the grassroots with these punched holes and later results in impressive spread of grass.
6. Water the Lawn Grass
If you live in an area with dry and hot weather, then frequent watering is a necessity for your St Augustine grass lawn. In such conditions, frequent watering will hydrate the grass and enhance its growth. Although St. Augustine grass does not go dormant easily, if it stays dormant longer, it will die.
Final Thoughts: Making St. Augustine Grass Spread Fast
If you want to fill the bare patches of your St Augustine grass lawn, you have to actively work on some tips and tricks. These tips include promoting the pH of soil by adding necessary nutrients, weed control, mowing and aerating, fertilizer addition etc. This blog guide is of great help to you if you want to create a lush thick St Augustine garden. So, follow these practices and have a thick and fully spread St. Augustine grass lawn!
Frequently Asked Questions
1. How Can You Expand the St. Augustine Grass in The Lawn?
Using the aerator in the lawn will help the grass get enough oxygen to develop strong roots. You can also apply fertilizer through these holes, which will help the grass get the required nutrients and grow rapidly into the lawn. Water the grass frequently until you see the plugs are rooting. The grass will take almost 7-14 days to start healthy growth and spread throughout the lawn.
2. What Makes the St. Augustine Grass Grow Faster?
St. Augustine grass lobes thrive on warmer days; if the temperature is too cold, the grass will stop growing. So, consider growing this grass during the start of the summer season. Various factors like moisture level, nutrients, shade, and temperature changes will affect growth.
3. What Is the Reason for My St.Augustine Grass Turning Yellow?
When the St.Augustine grass remains wet for a longer time due to excessive watering, or rain, it starts turning yellow. This is because the roots get stressed out due to the drainage of nitrogen from the soil due to water.