How to Protect St. Augustine Grass in Frigid Temperatures
St. Augustine is one of the most popularly grown turfgrasses on residential lawns. St. Augustine's popularity is due in part to its ability to adapt to a wide range of soil and climatic conditions, but as a warm-season grass it is still relatively cold-intolerant. If you live a cold climate and want to cultivate St. Augustine on your front or back lawn, you can still take steps to protect the grass from damaging cold. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Cultivate cold-tolerant varieties of St. Augustine. There are many different cultivars of St. Augustine available to homeowners establishing a new lawn, and all cultivars differ in their cold tolerance. Bitterblue, Classic, Delatshade, Raleigh and Delmar are all St. Augustine cultivars with particularly high cold tolerance. Selecting and cultivating one of these cultivars is one of the most important ways of protecting your St. Augustine from the cold.
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Establish the lawn in late fall or early spring, and avoid establishing the grass during the coldest parts of winter or the hottest parts of summer. Establishing your St. Augustine during very cold winter temperatures leaves the grass more susceptible to cold damage. Establishing in late fall before temperatures dip too low -- or in spring before temperatures get too hot -- allows the grass to develop full root structures before cold temperatures set in.
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Follow good cultural management practices such as watering, fertilization, mulching and mowing. This may seem obvious, but a St. Augustine lawn's ability to withstand cold temperatures without damage is largely a result of how well-maintained the lawn is going into the winter; the more well-established a St. Augustine lawn is, the less likely is the lawn to suffer cold damage.
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