If you have a thin and dull lawn, it is not attractive to anyone. Even you yourself don’t like to sit in it.
If you are planning to install St. Augustine plugs on your lawn, you must have the knowledge about how long you have to wait before the grass spreads and covers your lawn with its beautiful lush green color.
Are you looking for the best advice to spread St. Augustine grass quickly on your lawn? If yes, then it is the right place for you.
How to make St. Augustine grass spread quickly?
The best answer to this question is….
First of all, you have to prepare the soil properly. Each grass needs a good amount of oxygen to grow up fast and thick. You can oxygenate your lawn before planting. Secondly, planting seeds is also important as the quality of seed will affect the growth of grass. Thirdly, if you want to make your lawn covered with St. Augustine grass very fast, you should take great care of your grass. Regularly check out the weeds and pull out unwanted plants that will stop the quick growth of St. Augustine grass.
When you are looking for the solution for St. Augustine grass to spread faster, plant it during summer and choose a well-aerated soil type. Also, check the Ph test of soil.
Want to know more about the St. Augustine grass growth, just read this piece of art with great care.
Hopefully, this article will take you to the step by step process of making St. Augustine grass spread quickly.
The faster it grows, the sooner you will reach the success of getting the thick, healthy, and lush lawn that you always dreamed of.
If you want to make true your dreams, dive deep into this article and discover more words.
3 Steps To Grow St. Augustine Grass Quickly
St. Augustine grass belongs to one of the excellent varieties of lawn grass that grows in warmer conditions. It starts spreading soon after its growth. Some lawn owners often face the difficulty to grow it properly.
It is not possible for some gardeners to use expensive artificial methods to spread grass quickly. Here we discuss the step by step process to make grass thicker.
Step 1: Preparing The Soil
Roots Of St. Augustine grass spread faster if the soil is prepared properly. Oxygenate your lawn before planting as hard and compact soil will make it tough to take roots and spread quickly. Good drainage and sandy texture in the soil are necessary to get the best results.
A soil test is also important to make your lawn thicker and fresh. You can use a home soil testing kit to check the pH of your soil. If Ph of soil is very low or very high, you can use the lime treatment. Must use this ph up and down kit to make it low and high.
Make sure that your St. Augustine grass will be planted in well moisture soil. It will save your time, effort, and money.
Step 2: Planting Seeds
When your soil is ready for planting, it is time to make a decision about the seeds you plant. As you know St. Augustine grass is unique in growing, it would not be planted using seeds. If you want fast results, start your lawn with greensward. However, it can be expensive.
The result will not come instantly in this process. But if the environment and treatment are best, you won’t have to wait for a long time.
The higher density will help your lawn be covered soon with St.Augustine grass. Lower density and low cost will slow down the growing speed.
Use the corona sod plugger to plug your grass in the proper way.
Always take high-quality grass seed for the thicker and fresh lawn.
A complete guided video is given for you to plug plants easily.
Step 3: Care For Lawn Regularly
If you want to make your lawn lush and green with St.Augustine grass, you should take care of your lawn in better ways. Here are some important tips to follow:
- Water is an essential part of plant life. In the early few weeks, your grass needs a strict watering schedule per day. After two weeks, damp your lawn up to half an inch. Continue watering many times a week until the grass is established enough to need water only in hot and dry conditions.
- When the grass starts to grow, it needs proper care and growth. Don’t cut your grass very short. If you want to make it grow very fast, St. Augustine grass needs to grow at least 2.5 inches before you cut it.
- Your lawn needs water as well as nutrients. Each grass grows up with the help of fertilizer but it must be of high quality. When you want to fertilize St. Augustine grass, always use a starter fertilizer for best results. This will help new roots to get the right amount of phosphorus to make the root system solid and strong. Nitrogen is also an important food for a thick and fresh lawn. But you must take care of the amount given to it.
- If you notice thin spots appear on your lawn, always try slow-release nitrogen-rich fertilizer. You can use it when your lawn is ready to grow fast.
4 Reasons To Slow Down St. Augustine Growth
If you have followed all the above tips to make your grass thick and grow quickly, but you find no proper result you must notice the reasons behind it.
You just try to identify the problem. Only then you will be able to solve it. The main problems that your lawn is facing mostly, are given below:
Weeds
Some weeds on a lawn can not be seen. They can be harmful to the growth of your grass. If you give space to these fast-growing weeds and grasses, they will move over the spaces that you have made for the growth of St. Augustine grass.
This is the main reason to slow down the growth of your grass. To avoid this problem, try a pre-emergent herbicide that will remove these problem weeds from your lawn.
So, remain attentive and notice each and every movement of your grass.
Gray Leaf Patches
One of the exposed diseases of St. Augustine grass is Gray Leaf Patches. It will stop down the growth of your established lawn. This is commonly found in hot and moist climates. Such as the Gulf States and Florida face problems of this kind of disease.
Another reason for gray leaf spots is overwatering. It is a type of fungus that loves moisture and spread very fast. You can distinguish them by small spots appearing on the blades of grass and soon they take over all the blades.
If you want to control this issue be sure about the proper amount of water. Avoid overwatering your plants.
St. Augustine Diminish
The most problematic virus for the growth of St. Augustine grass is Panicum mosaic virus. It is the cause of St. Augustine grass diminishing. It is mostly found in Texas but some surrounding areas are also reported about the presence of this virus.
The grass affected by this virus will not spread actively but an iron-rich fertilizer can help to cure this. You can identify this when you notice light spots and discoloration on leaves. It will kill your lawn within 3 years.
To avoid this virus plant a variety of St. Augustine grass that is resistant to the virus.
Chinch Bugs
Though tiny insects definitely slow down the growth of grass. These are chinch bugs. They will stop the quick spreading of St. Augustine as it tries to move up. The most common pests are Southern Chinch Bugs as it is an ideal environment for them.
You can see them with a naked eye upon closer inspection. They leave behind yellow spots after eating leaves. It will look like dry damage but actually, it is a sign of insects that attack the grass.
Proper lawn care is the best way to get rid of chinch bugs. The building of too much thatch will make it easy to settle them in their ideal home. You can prevent this by collecting lawn clippings when you mow.
There are many chemicals and insecticides that will help you to prevent chinch bugs.
This video will help you to understand and remove chinch bugs.
How To Keep St. Augustine Healthy And Spreading
The best turf for warmer climates is St. Augustine Grass. It can survive in both heat and shady areas as well as it tolerates heavy food easily.
Usually, it may take a long time to get your desired lawn full of lush green St. Augustine grass. But here we discuss some easy ways to follow that will help you to spread your grass in a quick way. Let’s have a look at them:
- Select the right type of soil.
- Maintain a proper schedule to follow during lawn care.
- Choose the summer season to grow St. Augustine grass.
- Check out the weeds regularly and control them.
- Use high, typical, and low density to plug installation.
After following these instructions you can make St. Augustine grass thicker and spread quickly.
How Long Does It Take for St Augustine Grass To Spread
Do you have a question roaming in your mind about how much time a plug of grass takes to spread?
Don’t worry! We will tell you.
Usually, it takes 7-14 days for newly planted St.Augustine grass to start spreading and establishing its roots firmly in the soil.
However, once the rapid growth starts, the time of its filling up the bare spaces depends upon the distance you have made between each plug.
Below we discuss various plug installation methods that will clearly determine the quick growth of St. Augustine grass:
High Density: In this method, space will be 6-11 inches, creating room for healthy root development. If all conditions are perfect, you will get your thick lawn in one year.
Typical Density: This method requires a space of 12-18 inches. In this density, the speed of plugs growth will be slow and you have to fill up the bare spaces during this process.
Low Density: This density requires 13-24 inch spacing and it is best for lawns that have low foot traffic. Typically, it takes one year to spread St. Augustine grass and fill in over a regular-sized lawn in the backyard.
Related Articles: How to Kill Crabgrass and Prevent it In Summer & Spring
Frequently Asked Questions (Faqs)
Will St. Augustine grass spread?
It is a rough-textured grass that will spread with the help of stolon.
Can we water St. Augustine grass on a large scale?
Very little and too much water can damage your lawn and may cause many health problems for grass. So, a proper amount of water is essential for grass.
Does St. Augustine grass spread fast?
Yes, it does as it has a dense growth pattern and spread fast in comparison to other warm-season grasses.
Final Words
In the end, we come to the conclusion that St. Augustine grass is the best variety of grass that grows in warm climates. It has the ability to grow fast which will make your full lawn beautiful.
We have also learned all possible ways about how to make St. Augustine grass spread quickly?
It is clear from the above discussion that we can get the quickest and best results when we plant plugs close together.
Here in this article, we also come to know about the reasons behind slow down the speed of grass growth and its solution.
If you find it informative, share it with your friends who love gardening.
