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St. Augustine lawn care, the short version

Four steps to set up your lawn the right way, then the six habits that keep it green. Start at step one and work down.

Your first four steps

Set up your lawn the right way

  1. 1

    Confirm it's St. Augustine

    Wide, flat blades and thick runners. Different grasses need different care.

    How to tell ↓
  2. 2

    Test your soil

    Find out your pH and what nutrients are low or already plentiful, so you only buy what your lawn needs. Do this before you spend a dollar on fertilizer.

    How to soil test your lawn →
  3. 3

    Measure your yard

    Your square footage decides how much product to buy and spread. Takes two minutes in Google Earth.

    Measure it →
  4. 4

    Build your plan

    Get a 12-month plan sized to your yard, then print the fridge calendar so you never miss a window.

    Build my plan →

Is it really St. Augustine?

St. Augustine has wide, flat blades with rounded tips, and it spreads by thick above-ground runners called stolons. It feels coarse and spongy underfoot. It's the most common lawn grass in Houston, across the Gulf Coast, and in Florida because it handles heat, humidity, and more shade than Bermuda or zoysia.

If your grass has fine, pointed blades, it's probably Bermuda or zoysia (how to tell), and much of the advice here (especially mowing height and weed killers) won't apply.

What St. Augustine wants

  • Height. It does best mowed tall, at 3½ to 4 inches.
  • Deep, infrequent water. About an inch a week in the growing season, delivered in a few long soaks.
  • Steady feeding. A few planned fertilizer rounds instead of random products.
  • Prevention. Fungus and chinch bugs are much easier to prevent than to repair.

It can't be grown from seed the way most grasses can. You fill thin areas with sod or plugs, and the runners spread to close the gaps.

The six habits that matter most

  1. Mow high. Keep the mower around 4 inches and never cut more than a third of the blade at once. Mowing height guide
  2. Water deeply, not daily. Short daily watering grows shallow roots. How to water St. Augustine
  3. Keep the blade sharp. A dull blade tears the grass and leaves brown tips. How to sharpen a mower blade
  4. Feed on a schedule, guided by your soil test. Four rounds a year: late winter, spring, early summer, and fall. Let your soil test decide the formula. Fertilizer numbers explained
  5. Prevent weeds and fungus. Pre-emergent and preventative fungicide at the right times do most of the work. Safe weed control
  6. Check your sprinklers. A single broken zone can brown out a whole section before you notice.

Where to go next

Build your free lawn plan for your yard size and area, open the lawn calendar to see what to do this month, or take the lawn quiz and read up on problems like large patch and chinch bugs if something already looks wrong.

Build my free lawn plan