Thin St. Augustine and chinch bugs

Lawn mowing is where we see thin St. Augustine, because we are on the lawn every week in summer. The pattern people ask about is irregular dry patches in the sun, often while the edges or a shadier strip still look green. Chinch bugs are a common reason for that pattern on Florida St. Augustine. They are not the only reason. This page says what the crew can see, what we will do, and who you need if you want a treatment.

Green Haven is not a spray company. We do not sell chinch treatments, weed killer, or a fertilization round. On a mowing visit we flag what we see: a thin spot, a dry zone, a weed flush after a scalp. The work we actually sell for this problem is the right mowing height, or sod installation where the turf is dead and the ground is dirt.

What the patches look like

The patches sit in the hottest, driest part of the lawn. They start small and irregular. The grass looks drought-stressed even when a nearby zone is green. That is the picture associated with chinch bugs, which feed in hot St. Augustine and leave the lawn looking thirsty. A broken irrigation head in the same sunny corner looks similar from the street. So does a lawn that was scalped and then baked. We will not point at a patch from the sidewalk and name the insect as if we had counted it.

If you want a confirmed treatment, hire a licensed spray company or talk to the county extension. That is the specialist this crew is not. Bring them the question. Do not expect our mowing invoice to include a chemical. If they treat, we can keep mowing around their schedule. If they tell you the grass is already dead, then we are useful again.

What to look at before you buy anything

Part the grass at the edge of a dry patch, where the green and the straw meet, on a hot afternoon. Chinch bugs are small and quick, and a homeowner often needs a specialist to confirm them. A dry, crusted spot with no insects and a sprinkler head pointed the wrong way is a water problem wearing the same costume. A uniformly short, yellow lawn is a scalp, not an infestation. Take the noon photo and a close photo of that edge. Send them if you want us to say whether the next step is a mowing correction or a replacement of dead turf. Do not send them expecting a chemical recommendation. We do not make one.

If a spray company treats, keep mowing at 3.5 to 4 inches and keep the water in the morning. Treatment plus a scalp is how the lawn stays thin. If they tell you the area is dead, we can cut that piece out, grade it, and lay Floratam, provided the sun and the irrigation are actually there. Replacing the whole yard because one corner is straw is sometimes right and often wasteful. We will say which, on site. The sunny side of a North Port lot in July is where this shows up. The shady side under an oak is a different article. Do not treat a shade failure as bugs, and do not sod a bug patch that still has no water.

Do not fertilize your way through a mystery patch, and do not ask us to. We do not sell the product, and a push of growth on dying stolons does not fill a dead spot. Water in the morning, mow at 3.5 to 4 inches, and get a real identification if you want a treatment. If the identification comes back as "the grass is gone," we are the crew that pulls that square and lays new sod, after the water is confirmed. If it comes back as a missed head, fix the head first. The order matters more than the speed. A new roll on a dry, buggy, sunny corner is a second bill for the same view. Fix the cause, then replace what is actually dead.

What we will do about it

First, stop scalping. St. Augustine at 3.5 to 4 inches keeps a canopy. A short cut stresses roots in this sand and opens weeds in the same spots that are already thin. Weekly mowing in the wet season keeps each cut modest. Morning water on an established lawn beats a soak at night. We can tell you if a zone looks like it is missing the patch. We cannot repair the irrigation.

Second, replace what is actually dead. If the stolons are gone and the area is sand and weeds, new Floratam is the job, after the old mat comes out and the grade is right. Sod does not kill the next generation of insects, and it does not fix a zone that never runs. Laying grass into the same dry corner without water is how the new patch matches the old one. Shade is a separate mistake: if the thin area is dark under an oak all day, chinch bugs are unlikely and Floratam is the wrong plant. Use the shade guide for that yard.

Tell us whether you want the mowing route corrected or the dead area replaced. If you are still deciding, photos of the sunny patches and of a green edge help. The mowing page is where the route starts: lawn mowing.