Should I fertilize the soil before or after planting new st augustine grass?

Answer 1

You should put on fertilizer on after you have spread your seed. You have to be very careful, though. I don't know what climate zone you are in, but you my burn it up if it is excessively hot in your area. Best time to sow grass seed is spring and fall.

Answer 2

I'd recommend fertilizing the soil before you plant the grass. I would stick with fertilizing with a more potassium based fertilizer at first to help the roots take hold better. Potassium is the last of the three numbers listed on the fertilizer blend. Then once the grass has established good roots go with a fertilizer that has about equal amounts of potassium and nitrogen (nitrogen is the first of the three numbers).

Fertilizing with potassium before you plant the grass will allow the potassium to get to the roots easier and help establish good roots. Potassium also has a positive charge and will stick to the ground better than the other two (nitrogen and phosphorous) because they both have a negative charge and so does the ground. Golf courses normally use a lot of potassium on their grass.

(Nitrogen %) - (Phosphorous %) - (Potassium %)

Answer 3

Are you installing sod, or plugging areas? If so, I would put down potassium (an 0-0-62 should do the trick) before you lay the sod. This will help encourage root growth so the turf has a better chance of establishing. You don't really want yo put down a lot of nitrogen, and fertilizers in FL do not contain phosphorus because it is abundant in the soil already. The main goal for newly put down sod is root growth and establishment, potassium helps with that.

You can buy a bag at any Lesco.

Also check out the Florida Lawn Handbook for more information.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/TOPIC_BOOK_Florida_Lawn_Handbook