Skip to main content

Overwatering St Augustine grass recovery tips DIY(USA)

St Augustine grass peaks after the spring season if you recover it completely in spring. In case of troubles with its recovery and care, St Augustine grass may feel some stress while growing. 

Overwatering or overirrigation is a bad thing for lawn grass especially if it is St Augustine grass. Drought is bad similar to overwatering for lawn grass. Don't worry about Bermuda grass care because things are almost similar while overwatering for long time.

And it is a very common problem that appears in St Augustine lawns often but people either ignore this or buy services in a hurry. In reality, you can troubleshoot overwatering DIY mostly. 

Let's understand overwatering in detail and how one can troubleshoot this problem DIY. 

Overwatered st augustine grass recovery

Overwatering or overirrigation is required when the temperature is too hot and weather conditions are too dry. There is a certain period every year after spring care of lawn grass when you need to increase the timing of watering lawns. 

St Augustine grass overwatering in USA

But doing it in the wrong way and compacted soil, it becomes trouble for lawn grass to grow. 

Signs of overwatered St Augustine grass

  • Footprints

While walking on the lawn, if you see footprints in various sections of the lawn for several days. Then this is a true sign of overwatering in St Augustine grass. If footprints don't appear even after regular daily walking on the lawn then don't worry, it was overwatering but just for a day.

  • Fungus and moss

Long-time overwatering can cause fungus and moss in your lawn. Fungus appears in too moist areas for a long time as moss does. These two are a bad sign for lawn grass to grow further as fungus and moss invade the entire lawn fast. If this stay for long time then you may need to remove moss manually first and then focus on the lawn grass recover.  

  • Grass color change

St Augustine grass can change color over a long period of overwatering soil. It can turn St Augustine's grass color golden at the top of the grass. 

Brown or golden grass color is bad in its ideal atmospheric conditions.

  • Compacted soil

A very decisive sign of lawn grass overwatering is compacted soil in the lawn. You just have to water in the particular areas to check the absorption rate. If soil doesn't absorb water quickly then either it is compacted too much or saturated with water already. It is a clear sign of overwatering in St Augustine grass.

Why overwatering is bad for lawn grass?

There are many reasons that overwatering is bad for St Augustine or any other lawn grass- 

  • It encourages fungus and moss in the lawn which is not good for St Augustine grass as they invade it quickly. 
  • Overwatering for a long time makes soil compacted which makes growing conditions difficult for St Augustine grass as soil goes under a lot of stress. 
  • Overwatering changes the grass color into golden brown at the tip of the grass. It looks very ugly in summer and doesn't get improvement even if you use perfect fertilizers.
  • You will see the brown patches in the lawn in an overwatering lawn. Even if the overmoisture from the soil gets decrease then these spots' visibility increases more. 
  • For a long time, overmoisture can encourage grubs and mites in the lawn. It can also be a habitable medium for mosquitoes. Once your lawn gets these, you need to buy costly services to get its treatment. You can also read Is Trugreen a scam for lawn owners?

Tips to recover grass from overwatering

  • Take action in the early stages

Once you get late in reducing overwatering from the lawn, your lawn may get multiple diseases, pests, mosquitoes, and poor st augustine grass quality. So it is better to examine your lawn and take action in the early stages of overwatering. 

  • Improve lawn drainage

One common reason for lawn overwatering is your poor lawn drainage system. If you can improve the drainage of the lawn then it may solve your 50% problem easily. 

  • Dethatch and Aerate in spring

Dethatching and aeration release the soil stress and compactness from the soil. If you don't do it then there are high chances in the future that your soil will get more compacted. So better to dethatch your lawn first and then aerate it before watering. 

  • Reduce irrigation timings

If you have done every precaution and practice to take care of grass in spring and still it is getting overwatering then you need to reschedule your irrigation timings. For that, just reduce the watering amount and repetition in a day. You can increase watering timings once or twice a week even in summer if the soil has overwatering issues. 

  • Reduce pests and diseases

Although pests and diseases will not appear quickly for long periods of overwatering lawns may have this. Also, it can be a reason for overwatering lawns but mostly it happens post-overwatering. So better to avoid habitable conditions for pests and diseases and it will happen only if you take action on time. 

What you shouldn't do when the lawn is facing overwatering issue?

Let's see what things you should avoid while facing the overwatering issue in St Augustine grass-

  • Remember, don't fertilize your lawn grass if it is getting golden brown or dry in overwatering conditions. Fertilization may increase stress and will be least effective at the time of overwatering.
  • Reduce the timings of irrigation in a week. If possible and suitable to your st augustine lawn, then do it twice a week. 
  • Don't try to mow a lawn while overwatering. Mowing can make your lawn grass messy and difficult to collect and cut grass easily. Wet grass is not easy to mow and collect either. 
  • Don't overseed St Augustine grass in overwatering as it will be ineffective and a waste of time. 

Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Center pivot sprinkler system cost per-acre, 10-acres, 40-acres cost, parts, and maintenance

Precision irrigation is a very helpful way to save water and increase production. In lack of water conditions precision irrigation is a very effective and futuristic method.  Center pivot irrigation follows the precision irrigation principle. We can save up to 40% of water waste and can increase 15 to 20% production through the Center pivot irrigation system. This system is suitable for crops like maize, soybean , sugarcane , vegetable crops, etc.  Although its installation cost and maintenance cost is high but still less than drip irrigation and it's worth it in bigger crop areas.  Center pivot sprinkler irrigation system cost  Flowing water irrigation is a very irresponsible method these days when we are facing irrigation water-related issues. Center pivot systems use sprinklers to irrigate fixed sections.  This system covers a circular field and irrigates through sprinklers. These sprinklers can be adjusted and controlled precisely according to crop water ne...
Read more

Lawn weeds in North Carolina(USA), identification, and common causes

Common weeds like warm climate conditions grow on roadsides, meadows, lawns, and gardens.  North Carolina is a warm climate region that is habitable for various weeds. This causes several species and varieties of weeds in lawns.  Here, I'm going to give you info on such common weeds that grow in lawns in North Carolina.  Lawn weeds in North Carolina(USA)  Lawn weeds can be very different from each other. Some are plant weeds that bloom flowers, and some are grass weeds that look like lawn grass but their nature and growth are different than lawn grass. Also, Ash composting is not helpful to remove lawn weeds, instead it encourages them to grow but sometimes it can help to neutralize the acidic soil. Let's understand every common weed one by one in North Carolina. First, their identification and then their common causes.  Crabgrass weed Identification Size- 5 inches height(max) and grow horizontally Leaves- Multiple leaves in a single stem and multiple stems i...
Read more

Turf comparison of Bahiagrass vs Zoysia grass in USA

In most warm regions in the USA, often people want to know about the comparison of both Zoysia grass and Bahiagrass(paspalum notatum) but because of lots of similarities, they get confused to decide which one is best for their lawns.  Although, with some other lawn turfs, people take these grasses as weeds sometimes it is not bad to have a whole of such grasses.  Here, we discussed almost every valid point of comparison between Zoysia grass and Bahiagrass.  Zoysia grass Vs Bahiagrass Before comparing both turfs, let's first understand why people often choose grasses like Zoysia and Bahiagrass and the thing that why these are different than Crabgrass and dallisgrass . Climate may be a reason, maintenance work, weather-friendly, perennial or annual, are some reasons for those who want to keep their lawns simple with no regular maintenance.  The following factors will help you to understand which grass is best for your lawn-  Identification With the following poin...
Read more

Crabgrass Vs Dallisgrass in USA and weed comparison in lawn

We can use an annual grass-looking weed in a lawn for short-term periods. It is quite beneficial too because of its invasive, similar-looking, and low-maintenance nature.  Crabgrass is one of those few weed types of grass that looks like st Augustine and can work the same as lawn turf for short periods. But considering it as a weed is more suitable in warm season lawns like Bermuda and St Augustine.  Dallisgrass is a perennial weed that looks similar to crabgrass but has different properties. Crabgrass vs Dallisgrass in Lawn in the USA I can understand what things make you trouble distinguishing both weeds. Here, I've covered most of the points to help you with this query. Keep in mind that Crabgrass and Dallisgrass comparison is different from Bermuda and Centipede grass .  Crabgrass is an annual grass that loose life just after a couple of seasons per year. Dallisgrass recovers itself every spring and grows with its seeds and rhizomes. It doesn't need any external caus...
Read more