How to Make St. Augustine Grass Thicker for a Perfect Landscaping

Do you want to know how to make St. Augustine grass thicker? If you want a yard full of thick and greener grass then St. Augustine grass is a good choice. It is also known as Buffalo turf or buffalo grass.

It usually grows in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Therefore it grows properly in warm weather, preferably in summer.

St. Augustine grass has a pattern of growing densely and spreads like carpet. A lawn covered with thin grasses doesn’t refresh your mind. Therefore to enrich your vineyard with lush and green grass, let us learn how to make St. Augustine grass thicker.

How To Make St. Augustine Grass Thicker

How to make St. Augustine grass thicker is not a monotonous task. A smooth densely covered lawn full of St. Augustine type grass is just some step ahead. If you have the intention to grow it fast and thick then definitely you have to study its growth pattern, shortcomings, and advantages.

Then How to make St. Augustine grass thicker will be much easier.

Merits of St. Augustine Grass

It has sufficient merits to be elaborated. These are shown below:

• Augustine grass comparatively spreads faster and thicker than any other lawn grass of the warm season.
• If you want to use it around your patio, backyard, or beside playground it can serve the purpose perfectly. As it has a better tolerance feature of traffic at normal range.
• It has dense coverage capacity which wipes out any potential weed grass building up in it
• Augustine grass has a magical tolerance capability to salt. Therefore it grows spontaneously in large numbers around the coastal areas.

Demerits of St. Augustine Grass

No lawn grass is out of disadvantage and St. Augustine is no different. Let us focus on some key cons of it:

• As being a warm-season perennial grass it turns brown during winter. It requires at least four hours of heavy sun rays to grow in good health.
• A lawn clogged with water and experiences long winter is not favorable to it.
• Augustine grass requires mowing so carefully as cutting to high has thinning effect whereas cutting low makes it spread excessively.
• The worst crisis it brings with its bug and disease vulnerability. Southern Chinch bug can destroy your turf overnight. Similarly, Grey Leaf spot, large patch, and take-all root rot are common diseases suffered by St. Augustine grass.

Tricks and Tips on Thicker St. Augustine Grass

You have to memorize four steps to ‘get’ thicker grass for the lawn. These are; Improvise soil, overseed, fertilize, boost your law. In the long run, if you want to ‘keep’ it then follow three simple things. Irrigation, proper mowing, and weed control.

Soil Formation

You should start with soil testing for any plantation. It is essential to test your soil with any available simple kits or you can take help from garden professionals. Testing will help you to know the exact pH level in soil and components. It would help you to reorganize your soil in accordance with specific grass necessity.

For instance, if the pH level is low it won’t take nutrients. You might add lime or other soil supplements to restore pH equilibrium.

Generally, St. Augustine grasses grow perfectly on sandy soil. It has to be well-drained and unclogged. You may need to use topsoil on an uneven vineyard. The best-measured pH range is 5.0 to 8.5 and lightly acidic soil would not matter its proper thickening growth.

For top layer free-flowing sand or loam sandy soil is favorable.

 Time of Plug Installation

St. Augustine grass grows best in the warm season. If you want a full coverage lawn then decide to install plugs during mid-summer. This grass usually turns brown in winter. So avoid winter sowing if you want the desired yield.

7-14 days is generally required for the spreading process to begin. Full coverage depends on the plug spacing method and the quantity of time. Typical plug installation is done with 12-18 inches spacing with each other. In this process, growth is slower but it’s cost-effective for the medium budget. It takes a whole year to get full coverage.

If you are in a rush to get early coverage then go for a high-density plug installation. This method includes a 6-11 inch placement between each. Despite such close spacing plugs will get adequate space for root development and nutrients.

Contain Weed Growth

Focus on banishing unwanted weed growth at the primary stage. These will compete for nutrients with desired ones and sometimes outnumber the real one. Crabgrass, broadleaf weeds, dallisgrass are some weed grasses.

Overseed

Overseeding refers to sow more seeds within existing grass. It is one of the expert secrets used in thick growing St. Augustine grass. New grass grows in prevalent ones and thus crates a dense and thick surface. Choose the seeds that are compatible with your terrain and climate.

Usually, late spring is the proper time for warm-season southern lawns. Whereas fall and spring are perfect times for cool-season northern lawns.

Fertilization

Regular fertilization throughout the growing period can stimulate healthy growth. It is crucial to use high quality and slow-release fertilizer for thick growth. According to experts Phosphorus enriched fertilizers boost up grass thickening during the initial stage of growth.

For later fertilization, Nitrogen contained fertilizers are good enough. The gross measurement is 0.7lbs of Nitrogen per 1000sq ft. Half Nitrogen in fertilizer keeps boosting the lawn for the initial three months.

The remaining half reduces erosion and less fertilizer is emitted in the environment. This is the perfect formulation of fertilizer utilization.

Irrigation

Moistening of your lawn is inevitable. Daily watering multiple times in the first week of seeding is a prerequisite.  From the second week, your aim is to must irrigate your plugs up to half an inch above the water. Usually, plugs need 1 inch of water per week when yards build up.

Gradually during six weeks, you might develop an irrigation schedule. You may only irrigate when it’s a necessity.  Drought resisting seeds that intake 30% less water can provide you greener grasses up to three weeks.

Mowing

Mowing helps your grass to grow thick and green. Ignore your weekly schedule and follow the requirement of specific grass seeds. You should follow the proper mowing height of St. Augustine grass. Remember to mow only one-third of cutting each session to avoid stress on it.

Use sharpen the blade of mow to cut instead of tearing. Torn grasses have a high vulnerability to disease and insects. Avoid extreme or less mowing that has a thinning effect.

Conclusion

How to make St. Augustine grass thicker is essential to a fancy and lush lawn. Your lawn maintenance schedule will determine how much yield you are going to get. As a turfgrass, St. Augustine is manageable through a combination of all the above-mentioned factors.

A thick and green all covered yard will certainly soothe anyone’s mind and health.