St. Augustine Grass Characteristics

Varieties

• Floratine is a fine-textured St. Augustine variety with dense, low growth that permits close mowing, developed in Florida in 1959. It is not resistant to St. Augustine Decline (SAD) or chinch bugs. Floratam St. Augustine appeared in 1972 as a disease-resistant variety developed by the Florida and Texas Agricultural Experiment Stations. Leaf blades are longer and wider than those of original St. Augustine. Seville St. Augustine is a fine-textured variety with disease-resistant qualities. Clemson University reports that Seville is prone to chinch bugs and webworms, and is cold-sensitive. Raleigh is a cold-hardy variety that thrives as far north as South Carolina, according to Clemson University studies. Palmetto, on the market since 1988, is shade- and cold-tolerant.

Propagation

• St. Augustine propagates with plugs or sod, and the stolons or stems extend and attach like runners. This lawn grass can start with 1-foot squares of sod planted in checkerboard style or in 2-inch plugs. Sufficient water will get the entire lawn covered within a growing season. Seed is not available. St. Augustine is particularly suited to warm coastal areas.

Insects

• Floratam has been the most resistant of the St. Augustine varieties, but Clemson University reports that testing has shown that there is a strain of chinch bugs that damage Floratam. Clemson considers the St. Augustine sensitivity to chinch bugs to be its "greatest disadvantage." White grubs are a threat to St. Augustine lawns, as are webworms, armyworms and cutworms. All these insects are controlled with insecticides and persistence.

Disease

• Turfgrass diseases that affect St. Augustine are SAD, rust, downy mildew, brownpatch, gray leaf spot and other fungi. SAD has no chemical control, reports Texas A&M University, and the recommendations are to plant a resistant variety of St. Augustine in areas where it is problematic. SAD has not been an issue in Florida lawns, reports the University of Florida Extension Service. Preventive applications of fungicides control the fungi.