I've been battling a rather large growing section that is killing my St Augustine. The area is completely dead, and put Triacicide and fungus spray down with no help. How do I distinguish between the two and any recommendation of a quick fix? It's about 1/4 of my backyard and growing over the past 2 months. Thanks!

If it's chinch, you need some strong poison like bifen. You can get a cylinder, like a coffee can with the hole cut out the bottom and grind it into a good spot next to the dead and then fill it with water. If little bugs float up its chinch. If not, probably take all root rot fungus. Spread Peatmoss all around if you have that.

If you see moths floating around, you have sod web worms and still need to use bifen.

Thanks! Def not web worms as i killed those earlier in the year on the side of house. Only been in house 14 months and yard is going downhill fast

aggiebrother33 said:

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Thanks! Def not web worms as i killed those earlier in the year on the side of house. Only been in house 14 months and yard is going downhill fast

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It could be. They come back fast.

actually... if its like a small roundish area of dead grass that kept getting bigger and bigger...

thats fungus...

you can get 'f stop' at coop or closed quarters in welborn... it works..

but i take a big propane torch and a tank and wander around and burn the edges.. it stops the fungus from spreading...

nothing else really worked for me...

you can also look for black spot on your st augustine.... its not the same fungus.. another one.. due to overwatering...

the first fungus always shows up in october for me... the black spot and accompanying yellowish grass is year round if i overwater.

post pics..

It sounds like it might be "take all" fungus. The TX Agrilife has posted YouTube videos on treatment. I used the peat moss top dressing (as mentioned above) on my zoysia and it worked well. Sprays were only temporary fixes since they don't do anything to adjust soil pH. Take all and a few other fungi thrive in alkaline soil, and the peat is acidic.

https://imgur.com/gallery/LSfgH

I thought chinch bugs happen when the grass gets dry. Anyway, I sprayed my lawn with a Spectracide product that has both an anti-fungal and insecticide chemicals. It seem that the few brown aread I had have not increased.

Actually, photo looks more like grub worm damage. Either way a good granular insecticide to control lawn insects should work-can purchase at HD or Lowes.

Just in case it is fungus, in a couple weeks start applying corn meal in the infected area to eradicate harmful fungi. I prefer not to use a fungicide, kills the good fungi. Regular corn meal will support the beneficial fungi, who in turn will kill the harmful fungi that are damaging the area.