How to Plant St. Augustine Grass Plugs for Best Results

St. Augustine grass is a great choice for any lawn in a transition zone or warm area. It’s low-maintenance and easy to get started. Plugs are an easier, faster way to get a lawn started than seed can be and they’re much less expensive than sod. With just a little preparation and by following the tips below you can have a thriving, complete St. Augustine lawn created from plugs in just 4 to 10 months, depending on the size of your lawn and your budget.

How to Plant St. Augustine Grass Plugs – Tips for Success

St. Augustine is a fairly easy grass to grow from plugs. It’s not finicky and, as long as it isn’t allowed to sit in water, has few pests and diseases that might harm it. With the following tips, you should be able to have a full, healthy lawn in just a handful of months, once the plugs have been planted. The following tips can help you get there with less stress and guesswork.

1) Decide How Far Apart to Plant St. Augustine Grass Plugs

Before you begin, you’ll need to know how big your lawn is going to be. Measure all sides of every area you want to cover and come up with how many square feet of St. Augustine you want to end up with. As a general rule, one plug will spread to cover about 2 square feet. This means that the hole for each St. Augustine plug should be 12″ from the edge of your new lawn and 12″ from every other hole.

St. Augustine grass plugs can be planted closer together, in 6″ or 8″ increments, for example, but should not be planted more than 12″ apart for best results. The faster you want your lawn to look “finished”, the closer you may want to plant your grass plugs. In my experience, 8″ or even 10″ plant spacing can result in a fully covered lawn in as little as 6 months of warm weather.

2) Find a Vendor and Decide on a Variety

St. Augustine comes in several cultivars or varieties. For example, “Sapphire” St. Augustine grass is great for hot, sunny yards with loose, sandy soil but isn’t ideal if you have any type of shade or a soil type that retains much moisture. “Seville”, on the other hand, does well with shade and only needs half as much sun as any other type of St. Augustine. It also has a finer texture than other types. If you’re looking for something that needs fewer resources, including water and fertilizer, to maintain a good appearance, “CitraBlue” St. Augustine was developed by the University of Florida to do just that.

Not all of these types will be available in all areas. It’s a good idea to first contact a local vendor or two and see what’s on hand. Ask what they would recommend for your specific area and why. Then, do a little research of your own and make a final choice.

3) Prep the Soil for Planting the St. Augustine Plugs

In addition to drilling or digging you should prep the entire yard by killing weeds, adjusting the pH, and adding some compost or another slow-release, low-potency feed. Then the first 4″ to 6″ of soil should be loosened to provide a zone where it is easy for your new St. Augustine plugs to root.

4) Drill or Dig the Holes for Your St. Augustine Grass Plugs

The holes for your St. Augustine grass can be dug by hand, using a specialized tool rented from your local hardware store or lawn care company, or using a drill attachment meant for making these types of holes in the ground for plug or bulb planting. Each hole should be spaced according to your plan, 6″ to 12″ apart. Each hole should be about 6” deep, or deep enough to allow the top of the plug to be flush with the surface of your yard.

5) Plant the St. Augustine Grass Plugs

St. Augustine grass plugs should not be buried and the soil beneath them should be loose. Each plug should be placed into the hole and fill dirt should be packed around it so that the plug is held firmly in place. The top of each plug should be the same level as the surrounding soil. If the holes are too deep, more fill dirt or extra garden soil can be added to the hole to make up the difference.

6) Start Watering on a Schedule

St. Augustine plugs should receive daily, light watering for at least 7 days or until firmly rooted in the soil. You can test this by lightly tugging at the plugs. If they resist, you can start transitioning to a once-a-week watering schedule. This should be done gradually and will encourage further spread and rooting.

7) Monitor for Pests and Diseases

Now that your plugs are planted and you have a watering schedule in place, it’s time to sit back a bit and keep tabs on things. This is especially important if you have any heavy rainfall. Ensure that there is proper drainage and that no water causes parts of your yard to dip and create pools. If this happens, fill in these holes as soon as possible and level out your yard to encourage even drainage.

8) Keep Up With Regular Maintenance

After the plugs have been firmly rooted for 2 months, you can go ahead and apply a light fertilizer for the season. The lawn can be mown once your St. Augustine grass reaches 3.5” in height and is firmly rooted. After 4 months, you should see that your grass plugs have quadrupled in size, width-wise and you are well on your way to having complete coverage.