Grass question...tilling St Aug

Usually take some riversilt and spread some over time. Grass comes up through the riversilt.

You can go up to 1/2" on top of your St. Augustine.

As wet as it's been, I would probably wait until April or later if you're going to cover much of it.

Seems like river silt is dangerous these days, as for the danger of Torpedo Grass. That's not a battle you want. I'd look for some topsoil, or maybe even straight sand, as your base is probably heavy clay.

What's your goal? Why do you want to till it?

Plow it and start over.

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With 400 yards, you could cover about 1.5 acres, 2 inches deep.

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1.4 as it sits in the truck, but by the time it packs back down you’ll be lucky to have an actual 2” coverage over 1 acre. But the yard is probably actually 3 acres that I cut that I’m needing to work. Plus, I’m needing to move some around. I’ll be taking some out of some areas and moving it to others. It’ll just be much easier if I can till the whole thing and totally redo the way it drains and everything. Getting dirt in here isn’t a big deal. I can dig it on my property. Problem is that it won’t do what I need really so I’m thinking that option isn’t really an option.

If I till it, is the st aug history???

If you till it enough to be able to reshape the yard, the roots and all will be pulled up and cut up. I believe it will begin to rot long before it could even try to re-establish.

My parents have the same issue. Dad has been putting it off for a few years now because he's dreading having to start the lawn all over again


I would start top dressing with white fill sand. Last I checked it was around $200 for a 24yd truck. If you can get your hands on a core aerator, use it several times during this growing season as well. If there are any areas that are really bad at holding water, dig one or more holes with a post-hole digger as deep as you possibly can. Fill with sand to create a French drain, and put the grass plug from your first stab back on top. This will allow the water to wick down deep.

If you till it, you're going to have a serious mess on your hands and it will be a pain in the butt to try to level it. All those roots and balls of grass will frustrate the hell out of you.

If you do till it, dig a hole in your hard with a dozer or something to bury the top layer of mess. Then you can level your yard much easier (and add dirt if you like). But then you'll have to seed or sod to start the grass over.

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You can rent a sod cutter and cut strips of st aug grass out to put back. It will take a while but will grow back eventually.

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This is solid advice. It would help you avoid the hassle of tilling, and you can have your sod ready to go for when you level your yard.