How to Care for Your ProVista St. Augustine Lawn: A Season-By-Season Guide

Your ProVista St. Augustine lawn is fully established. You’ve graduated from the “new parent” phase of constantly hovering over your sod, and now you’re ready for the long haul.

The good news? You picked ProVista for a reason. It grows slower, which means less mowing, and stays greener with less fuss than traditional St. Augustine grass varieties. But even the best lawns need a routine to stay the envy of the neighborhood.

Here is your simple, season-by-season game plan to keep your turf thick, green, and happy.

The "Easy Button": The Annual Maintenance Bundle

Before we dive into the calendar, let's simplify your shopping list. Instead of guessing which bag to grab from the shed, we’ve curated everything you need into one kit: The  ProVista St. Augustine Annual Maintenance Bundle. This curated bundle, designed for lawns between 8,000-10,000 sq. ft., includes the lawn food and protection for each season, shipped all at once.

Spring: The Wake-Up Call

When the frost clears and you see green popping up, your lawn is waking up from its winter nap. It’s hungry and ready to grow.

Mowing

Dust off the mower and sharpen the blade. Once your St. Augustine grass is actively growing, you’ll need to start mowing more regularly to maintain your desired lawn height and appearance.

Feeding

Spring feeding is a two-step process to jumpstart the season:

• Early Spring: Once your lawn is out of its winter dormancy and you’ve started mowing regularly, apply a southern weed and feed. This will help nourish your lawn and control early season weeds.
• Late Spring: About 6-8 weeks later, follow-up with an application of lawn food formulated for southern lawns. This will continue to nourish and strengthen your lawn before the heat of summer arrives.

Watering

Aim for about 1 inch of water per week. If Mother Nature brings the rain, you can keep the irrigation system off. Be sure to check your soil moisture on a regular basis and adjust your irrigation schedule as needed. Always follow and obey any watering restrictions in your area.

Spring Pests

As the soil warms up in the spring, nature’s little annoyances wake up too. 

• Disease: In spring as the soil starts to warm (64–75°F), a preventative application of a lawn fungicide helps stop Large Patch disease before it starts.
• Insects: Keep an eye out for chinch bugs and grubs. If you’ve battled grubs before, mid- to late-spring is the ideal time to put down a grub preventer for season-long peace of mind.
• Weeds: With regular feedings, your ProVista St. Augustine lawn should stay thick, healthy, and largely free of weeds. For any weeds that do manage to pop up, spot-treat them with a lawn weed control product labeled for use on St. Augustine, including Floratam, lawns.

Summer: Cruise Control

Summer is when your ProVista St. Augustine lawn shines staying dense and manageable in the summer heat.

Mowing

Keep your mower deck high—3 to 4 inches high is the goal. Taller grass shades the soil so it can hold on to water better, keeping it cooler. Bonus: ProVista St. Augustine grows slower, so you won’t be sweating behind the mower nearly as often as your neighbors.

Feeding

A third feeding with a southern lawn food in early summer (at least 6-8 weeks after your late spring feeding) helps strengthen your ProVista St. Augustine turf so it can withstand the heat and drought conditions that summers in the South are famous for.

Watering

Stick to the 1 inch per week rule. Deep, infrequent watering is better than a light sprinkling every day. It encourages the roots to dig down deep for moisture.

Summer Pests

• Disease: Gray leaf spot can appear in summer, especially when your lawn is overwatered or fed too much nitrogen. A second preventative application of a lawn fungicide in early- to mid-summer can help protect your ProVista lawn from summer disease pressures.
• Bugs: Summer is prime time for sod webworms and chinch bugs. If your lawn looks “thirsty” even after you water it, inspect the grass blades for chew marks or tiny bugs. If you spot them, treat them with a granular insect killer for lawns.
• Weeds: While the presence of weeds in your ProVista St. Augustine lawn should be minimal, continue to spot-treat any that do pop-up with a lawn weed killer labeled for use on St. Augustine Floratam lawns.

Fall: The Prep Phase

Mowing

Keep mowing your ProVista St. Augustine lawn at 3 to 4 inches tall until the grass goes dormant.

Feeding

A fourth and final feeding of the season with a southern lawn food in mid- to late-September will help your ProVista lawn recover from summer stresses and build a strong root system before the dormant winter period. Make sure you make this application at least 6 weeks before the first expected fall frost date in your area.

Watering

Continue giving your lawn about 1 inch of water per week either through irrigation or Mother Nature. Check the soil moisture regularly to prevent overwatering. The changing seasons may mean adjusting your irrigation schedule.

Fall Pests

• Disease: As the nights get cooler but days continue to stay warm and soil temperatures begin to cool, lawn fungus loves to strike. One final preventative application of a lawn fungicide can help prevent a fall attack of large patch disease in your ProVista St. Augustine lawn.
• Insects: While insect pressure usually declines in the fall as the temperatures cool, sod webworms and fall armyworms can still be active and damage your lawn. Continue to check for them and apply another application of a lawn insect killer, if necessary.
• Weeds: Continue to spot-treat any weeds that may pop-up in your lawn.

Winter: The Hibernation

It’s time to hang up the “Do Not Disturb” sign. In many areas, your ProVista St. Augustine lawn will go dormant (turn brown) or semi-dormant. This is a natural process, and your lawn’s way of protecting itself from the cold. Mowing and watering should be reduced to an “as needed” basis. Lawn weed, disease, and insect problems should be minimal, but keep an eye out for problems and treat as needed.