Centipede troubles in Louisiana

timsgtr – posted 02 March 2003 20:51

HI, I am a new member to this forum and a new homeowner with a mess of a yard. My problem is the centipede grass is very new to me. The lawn is about 6 years old and in our back yard is about 1/3 st. augustine and the rest centipede. The lawn in my front seems to be completely centipede. The lawn is full of dollarweed and various other weeds that have grown since late last fall. I have not mowed the first time this season yet but will have to in about 2 weeks. I seem to have large spots of Brown patch starting in my back yard and a smaller area in my front. I have been told so many different things at our local nurserys (in BAton Rouge, La) that I just want to deal with folks that have the grass and deal with it first hand. The lawn gets pretty green but we have a terrible time of standing water in about 1/3 of our property. This is a major concern with this type of grass also. Today I used a scott broadcaster and applied Scotts Bonus S today on my front lawn only to try and help control and kill some of the dollar weed. What would you suggest to do in order to get this grass off to a good start this spring, treat the brown patch and finally keep it green. We are hoping that our rain will get back to normal and not average anymore than 2-3 inches per month. Thank you very much for your time. Timsgtr

vinnyT – posted 03 March 2004 15:58

Have the same issue in the same area “Port Allen” just without the standing water. The predominant issue seems to be clover. Have you gotten any responses back that can be useful?

Dchall_San_Antonio – posted 04 March 2004 00:55

For centepede, do the following.

1. Water deeply (1-2 hours at a time) and infrequently (no more often than weekly during the hottest part of summer). If (when) you get rain, don’t water. Infrequent watering should open up the soil and allow it to drain better. Since you have no control over rain, you might apply one cubic yard of compost per 1,000 square feet to try to reestablish proper microbial colonies in your mushy spots.

2. Mow centepede at the lowest setting on your mower. This will give you the most density to shade out weeds.

3. Fertilize regularly. If you use ordinary corn meal as your fertilizer, you will never get any more fungal diseases. The application rate is 10-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. Get it in 50-pound bags at the feed store for about $5. Organic fertilizers will help keep the wet spots draining properly.