St. Augustine lawn rehab advice

I don't have advice specific to your concerns, but I had a similar problem. I hired TruGreen to get things under control, and it was a huge mistake. They killed my entire lawn. So, I'm posting here just to make sure you don't make the same mistake I did.

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CrawDude: Its roughly (8) 50-60sqft areas in a ~9000sqft front lawn. After killing the existing vegetation, would attempting to transplant plugs from healthier areas in lieu of sodding be a waste of time?

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I wouldn’t say it’s a waste of time, it will work and I’ve, and many others have done it, but I’ll be honest, you’ll continue to fight weeds on a larger scale until the areas fill in with St Aug. Given the cost of herbicides and your own personal time, is it worth it? Only you can answer that.

8, 60 sq ft areas is 480 sq ft, is for all practical purposes really 1 pallet of St Augustine, 450 sq ft. It’s been about 1 1/2 years since I bought some St Augustine and then it was $250 a pallet, I suspect somewhat higher today. If you have access to 1/2 ton pick up, you can put a pallet in it to avoid a delivery fee.

You won’t/shouldn’t use pre-emergent, and very limited use of post-emergent herbicides for 3 or 4 months while either sod or plugs are becoming rooted and established (that info is clearly stated on just about all herbicide labels) which again provides an opportunity for weeds to be present. They’ll be fewer weed issues with full coverage sod compared to plugs. But plugs will be better than letting the areas fill naturally from surrounding lawn.

I bought one of the "pro plugger" devices this year for the same reason. It let's me transplant from the good areas of my yard to the bad pretty easily, and for free. I got the wife and kids in on the job, so I've been increasing the density of the plugs. Can't comment on long term success, but the plugs are doing well so far, and beginning to "run".

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Kill all weeds with heavy dose of glyphosate, multiple sprays if required, lightly till area(s), complete leveling with mason sand, and place St Augustine sod in bare/leveled areas.

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how long do you have to wait before sodding? tia

As said, if you want it done this summer you can have a nice sodded lawn in 30 days. Otherwise you are realistically looking at a 2-3 year project. Drop some pre emergent, get some post emergent spray, and round up with a paint brush for the bigger/ hardier stuff.

The best way to allow St Aug to outgrow everything is to cut your yard long 3.5-4 inches and get your St Aug healthy. It will eventually start to crowd everything out. You gotta be patient though.

Nothing wrong with plugging also. I’ll buy 2-3 pieces of sod and use a machete or hand saw and make 20-30 plugs per piece of sod. Lot cheaper then buying actual plugs.