UC Verde vs. St.Agustine

Bermuda, St. Augustine, Zoysia, Centipede, Bahia, Paspalum, etc
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GreatUserName
Posts: 5
Joined: March 17th, 2021, 5:54 pm
Location: West Hills, Los Angeles
Grass Type: UC Verde, St. Agustine
Lawn Size: 1000-3000
Level: Novice

UC Verde vs. St.Agustine

Post by GreatUserName » March 22nd, 2021, 3:04 pm

Hello!

I'm planning on tackling my weedfest in the front and backyards and I'm looking for suggestions. I'd love to be able to swing UC Verde but from what I've read so far I'm probably going to be going with some form of St. Agustine on account of some large pine trees just south of the front yard and walls, shed and play sets in the back.

Here's a link to my soil test: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26443. I'm in a UC Verde facebook group and a few members have offered to let me see their lawns once they wake back up so I'll have a better idea of where and how it's growing nearby.

I'll be doing as much of this as I can and I'm looking for any help or advice so far as types of St. Agustine, leveling the two yards, automated irrigation equipment and install recommendations, and ideas as to what to put in the curb easement strip of iceplant/dirt that I'd love to fix up as well.

I'll be taking care of the yard myself and I am sometimes gone for months at a time so ease of maintenance is going to be a huge plus.

Right now my plan is round up, then water and wait. Then round up again, water and wait. Roundup #3 and install grass. Irrigation install and level sometime between now and install. What could go wrong?

Thanks in advance.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3339
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: UC Verde vs. St.Agustine

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » March 28th, 2021, 3:49 pm

Just read your soil test review. You're off to a great start. Would you mind posting a picture of what you have? I'd do at least a street view looking back toward the house, which we don't need to see. I'm just curious about the grass to iceplant to pine tree locations. Also could you take a picture showing the base of the house next to the front entry that shows where the soil level is against the structure?

You mentioned leveling. Do you have a drainage problem currently? Does water pool up near the house without flowing away?

For the iceplant strip, I'm going to preliminarily suggest using Asiatic jasmine. I've come to love it here in San Antonio. I cannot have it where I currently live because deer love to eat it, but we're moving back to SA soon and we'll take advantage of it again. I would suggest leveling the strip (assuming it has too much topsoil already). Scrape it down to the level of the sidewalk, install a metal landscape border so that it sits up 2 inches above the concrete, and plant the jasmine plugs inside. Asiatic jasmine will have very fragrant flowers in the spring for a short time. It can be mowed or trimmed to any height from 2 inches to 20 inches if you train it up. All I did with ours was run a string trimmer vertically next to the metal strip to keep it inside the border. It grew up to about a foot high. It needs water about once a month in our heat. I would check with some local garden professionals to see what they say about Asiatic jasmine. In some climates I believe it might be considered invasive. Yours would be entirely contained.

With the pine tree it sounds like buffalo is out of the question. St Augustine should do very well in your area. You also have access to turf farms over toward Ventura. The lawn I inherited at this house is the Floratam variety; however, that is a special order grass nowadays. Last fall I installed some Raleigh along two strips which we never did anything with. The Raleigh stayed green down to 8 degrees F and below freezing for more than a week. In your area it might never go dormant. All you can get is what is grown at the local farms, so you might start calling around to these locations. Ask if they deliver to homeowners or if you have to buy from a nursery. Go with the nursery who sells the most of the sod you want. They will have lower prices and fresher grass. Where I got mine they were receiving 14 pallets per day, every day, and they sold out by 1pm. Home Depot, on the other hand, had the same 4 pallets for weeks and was more expensive by a lot.

I'm glad to see you are open to organic fertilizers. The shampoo/soap treatment and organic fertilizer should make a big difference in your soil firmness/hardness. When we first moved to this house my wife complained bitterly about the soil and strongly suggested we buy a lot of topsoil. She no longer complains now that it's had several years of organics and the shampoo treatment. It is easy digging now. Beyond the traditional feed stores I wanted to mention Tractor Supply. You have one west of you in Moorpark. They carry animal feeds which make good organic fertilizers. Two in particular are candidates for you. DuMOR 16% Layer Crumble is a chicken feed. The 16% refers to protein content. I have not yet tried it but in the store it looks like it would flow through a spreader just fine. One problem with ground grain type fertilizers is they cake up in the spreader from humidity. This layer crumble is kind of a micro pellet. I just bought a bag of alfalfa and cornmeal so I want to get rid of those before buying more stuff. Another product from Tractor Supply is catfish feed. These are a 32% protein product and should be a much better fertilizer. I have just learned about this product and have not seen it in the store. Since I have an errand to run which takes my right by our Tractor Supply, I'll stop in and see what they have.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
Posts: 3339
Joined: December 17th, 2008, 1:53 am
Location: San Antonio, Texas
Grass Type: St Augustine
Lawn Size: 5000-10000
Level: Advanced

Re: UC Verde vs. St.Agustine

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » March 28th, 2021, 4:55 pm

I just checked the fish food product at Tractor Supply. The pellets seem to be about the size of a black peppercorn. Here is the analysis part of the label.
Image

There is also a Trophy Fish feed with the same or similar ingredients.
Image

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