# South East Louisiana Lawn Renovation Updated



## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

I am in the middle of doing a total renovation on my lawn. However I have about 4000 sq ft of centipede that is in the shady part of my yard that I laid down last year after having 5 truck loads of dirt brought in to fill the yard. I have an area up by the house about 5000 sq ft that is mainly weed and with remnants of the centipede that was sodded when the house was built. I have two young children that love to play in the yard. They are rough on the turf with the power wheels and trampolines being put out in the yard and baby pools for weeks at a time. I think it has hurt the centipede to the point of no return. Now that they are getting a little older I can put more time into maintaining the yard.

To the renovation part. I have a 2000 sq ft area that I have killed and removed all the grass from.

I have decided to go with celebration bermuda instead of seeding the zoysia like I had planned. I bought one pallet for the 2k sq ft area that I have graded and removed all the existing grass.



I spaced the pieces of sod out about a foot apart. I intend to fill in the gaps with sand in two weeks. I did this for two reasons. I didnt want to buy 4 pallets of sod and I needed to add some sand into the soil because may yard is horrible for drainage.



I took the last 10 pieces of sod and broke them up into springs or small chunks. I spread them out in the remaining area and then covered them with peat moss and threw down some tacifier that I was going to use for seeding so it all dont wash away... Hopefully everything will take.







One Week


Two Weeks


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4 Weeks


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

Sounds like you've got some things in your favor, and some working against. Good luck to you on the seeding project haha. Centipede seed is ridiculously overpriced, and it's much less work and quicker to go with sod. If you've got the seed, I say be sure to kill off everything with a few rounds of glyphosate, prep the surface (DO NOT TILL) as in level it as best you can, make sure you have an adequate way to water it while you have the seed down, and go for it! You got this.


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## RaginCajun (Aug 1, 2017)

See my thread for seeding bermuda in SE LA. whatever you do you need to do it soon.


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

I have had some health issues and been busy at work trying to make up my missed time. So I have changed my plan. I already have removed all the grass off the area. After doing a lot more research I have decided not to seed the zoysia. I am going to buy a pallet of celebration bermuda. I have 2k sq ft to cover so I intend on spreading some of the sod out and breaking some up and springing the rest. From what I have read about celebration it should spread quickly enough to get coverage in a by the end of summer. I am going to spread the sod out this weekend I have leveled the area and blanketed sprayed the weeds that started growing with glyphosate.

I intend on updating my post on Monday with pictures and am going to try to document the whole growing season and keep the thread updated.


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## Jacob_S (May 22, 2018)

Celebration does spread good. This area was started with literally one sprig in summer of 15.


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## FRD135i (Oct 15, 2017)

Welcome! I have some properties in Mandeville. Good to see someone close on here! I'm just over the border in Carriere.


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

Glad to see that there are some folks on here from around my area. 
Thanks guys for the help.

I also updated my original post.


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## balistek (Jun 5, 2017)

where did you get the celebration. do you have irrigation? looks great so far, and hooray for anther cajun eh


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

balistek said:


> where did you get the celebration. do you have irrigation? looks great so far, and hooray for anther cajun eh


I got the Celebration from Simpson Sod in Covington.

I put down a bag of milorginite down on sunday. When should I apply the starter fert and how how much? 1/2 lb or 1 lb of N per 1k


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

Here are some updated pics of how its going. Weeds are starting to grow in the gaps which I expected. I plan to fill in the gaps with sand this weekend to help level the area before its start spread too much. I bought some celsius and certianty for weed control while the grass is spreading. When do you think it will be safe to put down some prodiamine or should i just wait till the fall?

I put a some starter fert to it last week. 



My sprigging experiment seems to be doing well.


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## Iriasj2009 (Feb 15, 2017)

lrw_3 said:


> Here are some updated pics of how its going. Weeds are starting to grow in the gaps which I expected. I plan to fill in the gaps with sand this weekend to help level the area before its start spread too much. I bought some celsius and certianty for weed control while the grass is spreading. When do you think it will be safe to put down some prodiamine or should i just wait till the fall?
> 
> I put a some starter fert to it last week.
> 
> ...


First of all, it's looking great!
I would skip the prodiamine until it is all filled in and just hand pull as much as you can and you should be able to use celcius and certainty if weeds get out of control. As for fertilization, starter fertilizer 24-25-0 will be your best friend. Apply it at .5lbs every 2 weeks and watch your celebration spread like crazy. Good luck!!!!


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

Here is the pictures from this week. I filled in the gaps with sand to help level the area a bit. I intend on releveling a couple more times but I want to let the grass establish before I put to much more foot traffic on it. I put down a bag of milorganite down and a 1/2# N starter fert. I also cut the grass to try to promote lateral growth.



Here is the area I sprigged it seems to be really taking off.



Let me know if there is anything that I should be doing to help this grass spread faster.

thanks for all the help


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## Iriasj2009 (Feb 15, 2017)

lrw_3 said:


> Here is the pictures from this week. I filled in the gaps with sand to help level the area a bit. I intend on releveling a couple more times but I want to let the grass establish before I put to much more foot traffic on it. I put down a bag of milorganite down and a 1/2# N starter fert. I also cut the grass to try to promote lateral growth.
> 
> Here is the area I sprigged it seems to be really taking off.
> 
> ...


The thing about celebration is that it loves to spread even with low inputs of fertilizer. Just keep doing what you're doing and it should fill in quickly. As for mowing, Ive noticed that it did spread slower the shorter I mowed it but again I was keeping mine between .25-.5". I have a section where It gets a lot of shade and all you see is runners spreading like crazy and I haven't had to mow that area at all.


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

Iriasj2009 said:


> lrw_3 said:
> 
> 
> > Here is the pictures from this week. I filled in the gaps with sand to help level the area a bit. I intend on releveling a couple more times but I want to let the grass establish before I put to much more foot traffic on it. I put down a bag of milorganite down and a 1/2# N starter fert. I also cut the grass to try to promote lateral growth.
> ...


I have noticed that it doesnt look as healthy since I have been mowing it, but it is still growing. I am mowing it no where near .5" and the area is still pretty bumpy. I do see alot of runners most of them are 3-6" long right now but there are more and more showing up every day. Thanks for the advice.


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

Here are the pictures from this week. I really haven't done to much to it this week just water and sprayed some Celsius and Certainty on some of the weeds popping up. The sprigging is looking really good. I think that breaking the sod out into sprigs is way better than spacing the sod out and waiting for it to spread. I saw that @Movingshrub was talking about putting the pieces of sod into a wood chipper to make the sprigs. I thought about doing it when I was laying the sod but I didn't have access to a wood chipper. That route would have given me more even coverage now and a better leveled yard. Thanks for all the ideas and help I really like reading all the info on this forum and seeing the results you guys get.


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## Movingshrub (Jun 12, 2017)

lrw_3 said:


> Here are the pictuThat route would have given me more even coverage now and a better leveled yard.


My option is that you get the above benefits, along with lower cost, at the expense of the immediate satisfaction of sod, for vegetatively propagated only cultivars. Plus, sprigging seems like WAY less work to me than installing sod.


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## lrw_3 (May 9, 2018)

I have update my pictures for week 4.

Does anyone know why these pieces aren't doing well? They are receiving the same amount of water and fert as the rest however it looks dead... I haven't really been mowing too much maybe twice in a month. Should I mow more and at a lower HOC?
This area receives the most sun out of the whole area. The more shady places actually look better.


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