St. Augustine dying under large live oak
Q: I have a huge live oak tree that once had healthy St. Augustine grass beneath, but now it has mostly gone away. The yard man mulched dead leaves onto the grass without raking them up in the spring for the last few years. Would leaving the mulched leaves adversely affect the grass?
A: There is a pitched battle for survival going on beneath your oak. The St. Augustine is desperate for light. To weaken the tree, it grabs every morsel of nutrition and every drop of moisture possible with its shallow root system. On the other hand, your tree attempting murder by starving light from the grass. As you report, the tree is slowly winning. The mulched leaves did not affect the outcome. They didn’t acidify the soil. You now have to make a decision about how far out the tree can spread.
Email Walter at georgiagardener@yahoo.com. Listen to his occasional garden comments on “Green and Growing with Ashley Frasca” on Saturday mornings on 95.5 WSB. Visit his website, walterreeves.com, or join his Facebook page at bit.ly/georgiagardener for his latest tips.
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