Grass not well under oak trees

First it has been a dry year so I would assume you need to increase your watering. I’ve heard differing opinions that the trees stealing all the water rather than lack of sun kills the grass under live oaks.

Second, under my tress I cut 3” high and never apply any kind of herbicides. Whatever decides to grow, I roll with it. My yard is a hodgepodge of grasses and weeds but it looks great from the street. Several people have stopped over the years while I’m outside to ask how I get so much grass under my trees.

Good luck!

sap from oak trees kill grass, the total and complete shade also keeps grass from growing

if you have large oak trees expect bare dirt under them because thats normal and just part of having oak trees.

maybe winter grass might grow there for a while if you water it religiously but the sap that rains down from those trees will kill any grass

or solve by putting down mulch or some sort of desert land scaling around all trees

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sap from oak trees kill grass, the total and complete shade also keeps grass from growing

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What Sap do oaks have?

OP, nothing will do better than St Aug cut long. End of story. Most poeple probably 90% of residential lawns I see cut their St Aug too short. It thrives at 3.5 inches plus tall and most cut it 2 inches or less. It needs long blades to collect the sunlight.

Also, as said you can trim your trees back but its expensive and can be hard dangerous work yourself. I do it myself with some chain saws and extension ladders but its hard to recommend to others without experience.

Stop trying to grow grass. Go with a combination of mulch and shade tolerant ground cover plants. Ardesia, Asian jasmine, mondo grass, etc.