Live oak tree "dead zone"

[midwayhorn]

I live in Central Texas. I have a live oak tree in the front yard, surrounded by St. Augustine grass. The tree is healthy; however the grass within the dripline of the tree slowly fades away and dies.
We have treated the area with fungicide, we have fertilized, we have added landscapers soil, we have put down cotton burr compost, we have turned the dirt and added peatmoss. We have planted grass after several of these steps; it does well for awhile then fades away. The St. Augustine outside the dripline does well, as does the St. Augustine around another live oak in the front yard (the grass under both trees gts plenty of afternoon sun). It's as if this tree is sucking the life out of this area of the yard.
Any help/advice would be appreciated.

 

[Evan629]

its probally the shade, same with my norway maples. try planting shade dwelling plants under it

 

[treeseer]

Yeah Dan that sentence reddened my eyes too.

Ferns grow well under live oaks. How do you think hosta would do in TX? Bake?

Save yourself some stress--mulch and plant groundcover to get the green yard you seem to be ready to kill for!

 

[midwayhorn]

The grass under this tree gets plenty of 'shine, as does the deep, beautiful grass under the other live oak in the yard. So shade is not the problem.
We used fungicide because we thought we might have disease in the St. Augustine. When I turned the ground and mixed peatmoss in, I turned it with a pitchfork so as not to go deep enough to damage the roots.
I have 1 live oak with nice St. Augustine under it. I have 1 live oak, which actually allows MORE sun than the 1st, where the grass slowly fades away and dies.

 

[TreeWizard]

If you haven't done it yet, have a soil test done and add what you need. Also remember the grass is competing with the Oak for moisture and the Oak may be winning.

 

[BayouTree]

The grass under this tree gets plenty of 'shine, as does the deep, beautiful grass under the other live oak in the yard. So shade is not the problem.
We used fungicide because we thought we might have disease in the St. Augustine. When I turned the ground and mixed peatmoss in, I turned it with a pitchfork so as not to go deep enough to damage the roots.
I have 1 live oak with nice St. Augustine under it. I have 1 live oak, which actually allows MORE sun than the 1st, where the grass slowly fades away and dies.

A picture could help us see what is going on. How bad do you want grass under the trees? There are many options other than grass that you can have under the tree. A nice ring of mulch around the area that is not growing grass could look good and be beneficial to the tree.

The roots of your tree and the grass roots often occupy the same zone in the soil so any disturbance to the soil can also damage tree roots.

 

[treeseer]

If you turned the soil under a live oak with a pitchfork...was that added, fill soil you were turning?

Pictures are easy to post.

 

[midwayhorn]

I added canadian peat moss to the turned soil, hoping to loosen it up a bit and allow more moisture to penetrate. The soil under the tree was like concrete. If St. Augustine will not survive under this tree, will groundcover?