Critters or fungus in centipede?

rpgman – posted 23 April 2001 08:23

centipede lawn where most of the centipede’s runners have died and maybe the roots, leaving small areas that seems to be dead. How can I tell if it’s an insect/worm/grub or fungus causing the problem. I live in SC and plan on fertilizing the lawn sometime this week. Should I wait to fertilize?

Thanx,Greg

wdrake – posted 24 April 2001 05:46

May be just slow green up for your area. However, take a look at Centipedegrass chapter from UF’s Florida Lawn Handbook.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LH009

You can probably find localized information through your county agent: http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/extension/b_co_off.htm

or Master Gardner program.http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/hort/SCMG/MGprog.htm

Bill Drake Niceville FL

rpgman – posted 24 April 2001 08:20

I’m not sure it’s just slow re-growth….there are patches (like 2 feet by 3 or 4 feet) that look completely dead…the runners look dried out….when I pull on a runner, it’s attached to the root, but it seems it’s not as strong as it should be. I dug around (about 5 inches down) in the patches last night and didn’t see any insects/bugs/worms/etc….a neighbor says that it’s grub worms…but how do you tell?

This is only affecting the sod we put down 2 years ago along the outer 10 feet of our property line in the back and along where the sod meets the established part of our lawn….the established part in the back was seeded 4 years ago, and looks great….I don’t want to treat it unless I know what the problem is….still confused.

Greg

wdrake – posted 24 April 2001 15:31

There are multiple insects that do harm to CentipedegrassLawn caterpillers – Detection is visual. Lokk in health grass adjacent to dead areas. Don’t forget to look at night (as well as day). If they are there, almost any insectidie should control these.

Grubs. Dig a half dozen test holes in good grass next to dead spots. Probably don’t need to dig deeper than 5 or 6 inches. If you find more than a hand full of grubs, treat with Diazinon, Offtanol, Sevin, or (again) almost anything.

Mole crickets. Mix 2 or 4 tablespoons of dishwasher soap in a gallon of water and pur over about 3 or 4 square feet of good sod, next to dead spots. Mole crickets (and some other varments)will surface in 2 or 3 minutes. Make several tests around the yard.

Spittlebugs. look for white frothy mass (spitle) in infected areas. Diazinon is effect against spittlebugs

Brown Patch(a fungus diesease) is also a possibility. Symptoms are much as you describe. I know of no conclusive visual test. You’ll have to collect sames and have some laboratory tests donw to be certain. Treatment is fairly effective. Rubigan, Daconil, and banner are some of the more popular fungicides that should work.

Now for more bad news. Those in the know have coined the phrase “Centipede Decline”for unexplained yellowing and dying of the grass. Some contributors to this decline MAY be: High pH (>6.5) Excessitve nitrogen fertilizer; i.e 36-X-X vice 16-4-8. Thatch

Your best source of help is local (county) extension agent. He is in the phone book.

—Drake

rpgman – posted 25 April 2001 06:43

I treated last night around 6pm the entire backyard and up one side with Diazinon. Using the Ortho product that attaches to a special hose nossil and applies the correct amount….covers 5400 square feet. I didn’t wet the grass beforhand, but late last night/early this morning it rained…not hard, but just enough to soak the grass…so maybe I killed the above bugs and the below bugs at the sametime…we’ll see. I really don’t think it’s an insect problem…so maybe I’ll treat it with Rubigan, Daconil, or Banner…because I do believe it might be Brown Patch. If it’s Centipede Decline, then it might be a high ph, because I always use 15-0-15 fertilzer and there is no thatch buildup…so I’ll get the soil tested to see what the ph level is.

One, other question for ya. If I applied the Diazinon last night and intend to apply either Rubigan, Daconil, or Banner tonight, do you think it will be alright to fertilize this weekend with 15-0-15 fertilizer/weed control?

Thanks for your help.

Greg

wdrake – posted 25 April 2001 07:42

I’m not a advocate of lots of chemicals all at once. If it were my yard and I’d focus on treating the bugs and/or disease and take on the weeds a little later in the spring.If this is to be your first fertilizing of the season, you’re proably on schedule for your part of the world. However, I’d hold off until I’d treated for the bugs/diseases. My thought is to fertilize (without weed killer)for a week or two after application of the fungicide.

Your bug killer needed the rain you got last night to flush it into the soil. However, you probably want the fungicide not to! (wash into the soil) Take a look at the directions on the label and adjust watering accordingly.

—Bill Drake

kiwi – posted 14 May 2001 20:56

quote:Originally posted by wdrake:May be just slow green up for your area. However, take a look at Centipedegrass chapter from UF’s Florida Lawn Handbook.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/LH009

You can probably find localized information through your county agent: http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/extension/b_co_off.htm

or Master Gardner program.http://virtual.clemson.edu/groups/hort/SCMG/MGprog.htm

Bill Drake Niceville FL

One comment for your grass greenup, use Iron to assist in greening up Centipede, not too much nitrogen, use no more than 1 lb of nitrogen per 1000 sq. ft. Also, remember that Centipede is not blue green like most grasses, but the color of a granny apple, pale green.

R

cain – posted 25 April 2002 14:16

Greg,

I’ve been tackling the same problem. I’m in the Pickens area of S.C. and have one area (about 100 sq ft) that looks yellow in areas and dead in others. My soil test (averaged over the entire yard) resulted in a 7.1pH, but they didn’t recommend to correct it. I sent a grass sample to the county agent. No suspect yet, but he has recommended to treat with Daconil in case it is fungus. He said that animal urine could be the problem as well. He has recommeded to do another soil sample in the effected area. Hopefully we’ll get more clues. In any case, I may consider seeding next month with a mixture of centepede and turf burmuda, and let the strongest grass survive. Let us know if you find something that works.

Brent

seed – posted 25 April 2002 16:29

Dear Cain,

We seem to be having a ton of problems this month (April 2002) with centipedegrass showing brown spots.

See this comments about centipedegrass decline, which might be your problem:https://turfgrass.com/ubb/Forum13/HTML/000028.html

Phil

cain – posted 26 April 2002 10:47

Phil,I visited the sites you recommended. The more research I do, the more I think it’s Centipede Decline. I first noticed this troubled spot about 8 to 9 years ago (about 3 years after I placed sod). At that time, we had a heavy winter rain, followed by a freeze. One strip of the yard suffered a lot of the runoff, so I assumed the grass got killed by the freezing water. Last year, I removed a tree, thinking the root system was starving the grass and again laid fresh sod. The centipede did great through the remaining season. This season is a different story. I’m still awaiting information from my County Agent on what to do next. I still believe my pH is too high. Although my back yard has some spots, they tend to fill in later in the season. The pH in my back yard tested at 5.4. Looks like there may be a correlation?!

Brent

sandalshoefighter – posted 19 April 2005 08:57

Sounds like centipede decline. Very hard to treat, best bet is to re-sod the reaally bad spots and then sprinkle peat moss about 1″ thick onto the other troubled area. The peat moss will lower the ph of the thatch layer, haulting the decline fungus, but will not change the ph of the soil dramatically. This takes a month or so to work, but it is the only remedy that will give you assured results.