St Augustine Grass

St. Augustine Grass

St. Augustine Grass, photo from Cuyamaca College, CA, via Wikimedia

COMMON NAME: St. Augustine Grass

BOTANICAL NAME: Stenotaphrum secundatum

PRONUNCIATION: sten-no-TAY-frum seh-coon-DAY-tum

TYPE: Warm season, Sun to part shade, Solid sod

MOWING HEIGHT: 2 – 4 inches

HABIT: Wide-bladed grass, spreads by stolons, most shade tolerant of our warm season grasses. ‘Raleigh’ is a hybrid resistant to St. Augustine decline (SAD), and is more cold hardy than hybrids ‘Seville’ and ‘Floratam.’

CULTURE: Any well-drained soil that is fairly fertile. Not as tough as Bermudagrass. When killed by hard winter freezes like in 2021, pamper it with the organic program to bring it back, or plant plugs or sod. Light organic fertilizer can go under the sod before putting it down.

USES: Lawn grass, shade.

PROBLEMS: Chinch bugs, grubworms, diseases.

NOTES: Native to Africa and the Gulf Coast.