I don't know of a discrete way to ask this. WTF happened here? I've never had St Aug. Does it go dormant during the winter or is that all just dead St Aug? IF so, any idea how it got that way?

 

Looks like you have a standing water problem with the black dirt/grass spots. First off i would get the drainage dialed in and make sure that water is not standing. Do you have any dogs running around back there? The issue with St aug is when it gets that bad you just need to go ahead and re-sod.

Are you sure you have st augustine?

Maybe even looks a little like Palisades Zoysia. They both look very similar but they perform differently.

Looks like there is alot of weeds/different strains of grass going on back there and looks like it has been left to fend for itself for a couple seasons now.

 

Definitely St Aug. No pets.

 

What chemicals were applied to that yard?

 

@Movingshrub no chems were applied, probably why it all died.

Just ordered three pallets of sod that's getting delivered tomorrow morning. So what do I apply when soil gets so bad it cracks? I was thinking compost or spray Humic12 or anything that's organic for soil remediation. What would you do if you were me? thanks

 

jumped the gun on ordering the pallets of grass.

scalp with a lawnmower, 3 ton of top soil, level with a ladder and lay the sod down and hope for the best
or
do a LCN cut sod into squares and plug
or
non selective weed killer over the whole lot
1 week later do it again
scalp to the dirt
about 3 ton of top soil
level with a 7 foot flat ladder
pre mixed liquid starter fertiliser
lay the grass

Goodluck

 

Cool thx. Same goes for the cracked soil as in put top soil over it then sod?

 

Give it a loosen with a pitchfork before topsoil.

Could do the old shampoo the grass before topsoil as well

 

I think you're on point on the compost and humic and whatever else. Maybe some molasses also?

Maybe you could rent an aerator and do that before you spread the compost? (That's if it's too big for the pitchfork.)

I'm with the others, that ground looks like it got too much of some kind of chemical at some point.