St. Augustine Grass
St. Augustine grass is a lawn grass that is popular in subtropical climates. It originates from North America, both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, some pacific islands, and many other places. Being native to Texas St. Augustine is a suitable choice for Houston yards. It is a dark green grass with flat board blades. It is thick and forms a carpet style look. Being thick and aggressive it will crowd out most weeds and other grasses. It can grow in a wide range of soils with pH between 5.0-8.5. Also, it is salt tolerant making it capable to survive in coastal regions. It is not used on golf courses or ball fields due to low ware tolerance. It naturally spreads by above the ground runners (stolons) which form a dense layer. The most common application is by sod, although seed is available.
St. Augustine is known as a lush green grass that keeps its color basically year round. That is as long as the temperatures is above 60 degrees. Below 55 degrees grass becomes dormant brown and yellow, and growth is stunted. St. Augustine as with all plants, growth increases with temperatures i.e. grows faster in spring and summer. The problem with St. Augustine is that it requires a relatively large amount of water to maintain its green color in the summer months. Due to this fact, St. Augustine falls into the medium to high water requirement category. In short, St Augustine is the most common choice for yards in Houston because it is readily available, low cost, and attractive. However, it requires the most amount of water compared to other common lawn grasses such as Bermuda or Zoysia. The reason that St. Augustine grass requires more water than others is the anatomy of the grass. It has wide blades which hold more water because of larger volumes, also these wide blades act as heat sinks for sunlight. Because the blades absorb more sunlight they hold more heat which increases evapotranspiration.
When cutting St. Augustine grass do not cut more than ⅓ of the length which will damage the grass and cause yellow or brown spots. Also make sure the lawn mower blades are sharp, dull blades will shred the grass and cause it to turn brown.
An irrigation system is necessary to keep this grass green, unless you have the time to hand water your yard. You may be wondering, with this grass native to Texas why would it need water through a sprinkler system? The simple answer is we like it to look that way. In nature there would be periods of dry and wilt or lush, vibrant grass all depending on the weather. There would be no one to think it looked bad, therefore it did not matter. Irrigation systems are great and we install them, but it is important to understand that we should conserve the water we have. You should only water plants and grass when they need to be watered. This promotes vegetation to root deeper, and prepares the plant to survive better on its own. If you overwater a plant it will never bore deep roots, and will be more susceptible to drought. With St. Augustine grass there are two rules of thumb to know when watering is necessary. If the grass turns bluish green, or if you walk on it and it does not spring back easily (leaves footprints). Flourish Irrigation suggest using a smart controller that uses Your Wifi to gather weather data to control the amount of water being used for your landscape.
St. Augustine is known as a lush green grass that keeps its color basically year round. That is as long as the temperatures is above 60 degrees. Below 55 degrees grass becomes dormant brown and yellow, and growth is stunted. St. Augustine as with all plants, growth increases with temperatures i.e. grows faster in spring and summer. The problem with St. Augustine is that it requires a relatively large amount of water to maintain its green color in the summer months. Due to this fact, St. Augustine falls into the medium to high water requirement category. In short, St Augustine is the most common choice for yards in Houston because it is readily available, low cost, and attractive. However, it requires the most amount of water compared to other common lawn grasses such as Bermuda or Zoysia. The reason that St. Augustine grass requires more water than others is the anatomy of the grass. It has wide blades which hold more water because of larger volumes, also these wide blades act as heat sinks for sunlight. Because the blades absorb more sunlight they hold more heat which increases evapotranspiration.
When cutting St. Augustine grass do not cut more than ⅓ of the length which will damage the grass and cause yellow or brown spots. Also make sure the lawn mower blades are sharp, dull blades will shred the grass and cause it to turn brown.
An irrigation system is necessary to keep this grass green, unless you have the time to hand water your yard. You may be wondering, with this grass native to Texas why would it need water through a sprinkler system? The simple answer is we like it to look that way. In nature there would be periods of dry and wilt or lush, vibrant grass all depending on the weather. There would be no one to think it looked bad, therefore it did not matter. Irrigation systems are great and we install them, but it is important to understand that we should conserve the water we have. You should only water plants and grass when they need to be watered. This promotes vegetation to root deeper, and prepares the plant to survive better on its own. If you overwater a plant it will never bore deep roots, and will be more susceptible to drought. With St. Augustine grass there are two rules of thumb to know when watering is necessary. If the grass turns bluish green, or if you walk on it and it does not spring back easily (leaves footprints). Flourish Irrigation suggest using a smart controller that uses Your Wifi to gather weather data to control the amount of water being used for your landscape.
