Centipede rookie looking for some help

djhurayt – posted 11 October 2002 08:25

This is my first experience with centipede grass, bought a used home jan02, don’t know jack about this kind of grass, could use some advice with basic maintenance. lawn located in northwestern part of SC sod, approx. 5yrs ago good condition, thick, deep, mover set at 2-3/8″ color isn’t as nice as I’m used to with fescue but green some crabgrass, but not much, few patches 2-3’ dia., others single clumps randomly scattered some clumps of thick fescue like bladed grass, remains green when centipede turns brown, looks bad in winter auto sprinkler system normally bagged when cut, not religious enough with cutting intervals to mulch

1. What should I be doing right now for fall/winter?2. How about attacking the crabgrass? I put down some “crabgrass preventer with balan” a couple of weeks ago. What else should I do to get started eradicating this stuff?3. How about getting rid of those clumps that stay green in the winter. They are supper dense and the ground under them is almost humped up. Like you are standing on a dirt clod. Any ideas or suggestions?4. How about thatching? Spring, fall or not with centipede? Should I cut short first? How short?5. The grass is green but shows a lot of brown right after cutting. Then in a few days the brown is not as obvious. Am I cutting to short? Has the grass been mowed to high for to long of a time? On the other hand, is this just centipede grass?

I know this is a lot, and any help with any of it will be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to e-mail me if the answers are to in-depth to cover here. TIA

George777 – posted 11 October 2002 18:33

Cent turf is a Native of China. It is light green in texture and dense. It is a low maintenance turf grass with low fertilizer requirements, only 2 lb per 1,000 per year.

Cent has a good spread rate but has poor wear tolerance. Likes acid soils with ph in range of 4.5 to 5.5.

Most homeowners will overfert because they want a dark green turf. Cent’s natural color is light green.

You can apply a pre-Emergent herbicide for your crabgrass control. The crabgrass you got now will die with the first frost. Most Pre-M will also prevent hembit, wild onion, and poa anna if timed right. Must be careful with a post-emergent herbicide because many burn it slap up.

When soil temp reaches 50 cent will go to sleep. Does best with temp 80-95.

It may show chlorosis of the leaves, which may indicate to little Fe and too much potassium.

Performs best with 1.5 inches of irrigation per week.

Recommend you take a soil sample.

I maintain cent turf about 2” the text says 1-1.5”. May be a problem if you have some dips in your lawn.

Insect problems common with cent, ground pearls

If overfert might get brown patch

If browning after a cut you might be removing more than 1/3rd of the grass blade.