A St Augustine turf grass lawn is perishable - if you fail to water, feed and protect your lawn it will perish. The good news is that it is not complete death - a remnant of your old lawn will remain. With proper watering, fertilization and pest control, the once ugly lawn can be nurtured back to a healthy St Augustine turf grass lawn. How long will it take? Depends! Depends how much of a remnant remains and the time of year you begin nurturing. I have nurtured nearly dead lawns back to healthy lawns in six months. To nurture a lawn back to health, fix, repair and maintain the irrigation system, mow as high as the mower will go, maintain the fertility and keep the bugs and weeds under control and soon you'll have a healthy St Augustine turf grass lawn.

Due to the mild Florida winter, the Sod Webworm activity has started early. Sod webworm chew on the leaves of the lawn. The damage is often circular in appearance, can be any size from a few inches to an entire lawn with a distinct grey or tannish color. The most distinct symptom is the lawn appears mowed in the damaged areas – due to the sod webworms chewing the leaves off at the leaf base. Sod Webworms are easy to cure but hard to prevent. Ridding your lawn of sod webworms can be done with any off the shelf insecticide from a home improvement store.

If healthy lawns are so beneficial and irrigation critical for a healthy lawn, why does SWFWMD restrict lawn watering (irrigation) for lawns and landscapes? I recently wrote SWFWMD to find out the answer to this question. Their answer is simple: To reduce the use of potable water, they restrict ALL irrigation. But restricting self-supplied irrigation systems – those with wells or pond sources for water – does nothing to reduce potable water usage.  So I asked, why restrict self-supplied irrigation? Their answer was maddening!

Dr. Trenholm reveals an 8 year study that clearly showed that a healthy lawn reduces nitrate and phosphorus pollution. Dr. Trenholm uses the term “healthy lawn” to refer to a vigorous and thriving lawn as demonstrated by the graphics used in the video. She describes a healthy lawn as a lawn that is well managed – proper watering, mowing height, fertility levels, pest control and design. The research proves that “A Healthy lawn is Good for You and Good for the Environment”. And a good part of a healthy lawn is hiring a good lawn spraying company to provide the best in good management practices. APL Lawn Spraying will provide the best in advice and services for your lawn so you can have a healthy lawn.
Yet SWFWMD seems to believe the only good lawn is a dead lawn – one that is under watered and under fertilized. SWFWMD claimed that watering and fertilization of lawns significantly contributes to nitrate and phosphorus pollution of our waterways and banned watering and fertilization of lawns! It has been reported that SWFWMD dismissed the 8 year research because it was paid for by the “Turf Industry” and therefore was invalid. Yet all the research performed by SWFWMD favorites like the Sierra Club is considered valid.
Watch the video and choose: A Healthy lawn (University of Florida) or a Dead lawn (SWFWMD).