# Leveling Centipede



## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

Hardly ever see centipede talked about here so I just wanted to ask some of the experts like @Greendoc what's the best material to use to level uneven centipede lawn.

This is year 4 since I bought this new construction home in Fayetteville NC. Was in terrible shape because the house been on the market for a year prior to me buying with no care to the turf.

Year 1, irrigation by hose added lime and Scott's Bonus S weed n feed (didn't know better about the lime, it was based off the big box store rep recommendations for centipede in our area. Didn't hurt too much based off my last test). Tons of bare areas and hard compacted clay. With no knowledge and only a push mower (10,000 sq ft killed me that year) and Scott's spreader, the lawn looked better at season's end.

Year 2. Got a ride on with dump cart and pull behind aerator and had irrigation installed. Discovered all the YouTube personalities and forums. Didn't act much on the lessons (scared to anything after learning how sensitive centipede is). But with the better quality of cut with the right equipment, core aerating and irrigation, the turf started to take off. Closed out the season on a low note losing the battle against weeds, mainly Lespezeda and crabgrass. Also had die back from what I learned over the following winter was fungus. Lost all my turf gains to weeds and disease and suspect some incest activity too. Back to square 1 with all the bare spots.

Year 3 started off bad as I didn't prep the irrigation for the winter and busted my back-flow preventer. Wasn't in the budget to repair so no irrigation at all last year. Luckily we did get plenty of rainfall last summer and fall. Got control for most of my weeds with atrazine. Held the fungus at bay with propiconazole. Bifen took care of the insects and used triazicide For mature mole crickets. Put down a few rounds of the N-Ext bio stims. Seemed to help a ton. Got good color response and growth as well as improvements with my compaction and drainage issues. Battled crab grass again so put down some prodiamine in the fall to help with winter weeds and be prepared for the following spring pre em round. The season ended with lots of uneven turf from using D-thatch so it worked but now have to level this out? Also got a soil test done at the end of the season.







Year 4 and current season. Got the quickest and best spring green up ever without putting a single thing down. Must be the bio stims. Got the irrigation fixed so won't be an issue this year. Got my 1st round of a split app of pre em down late this year in the 1st week of April. Busy with work. Tank mixed Air-8 @6oz per, Humic-12 @3oz per and prodiamine spiked with Atrazine @4oz per and Celsius @3.2g per and used MSO. This combo knocked back 98% of my weeds and I had tons of them. It also helped maintain my color following green up for 3 weeks leading into this weekend without fertilizing. Still have room left before I reach yearly max rates with the Atrazine and Celsius to allow for spot treatments in the summer. Took a stab at leveling out some low areas. Some of them were at least 4-6?inches deep. Those were caused by erosion from lack of gutters when we bought the house that has since been installed in year 2. Never got around to leveling till now. First attempt was a 50/50 mix of sand and potting mix. That did ok but starting to sink again after a couple of weeks. Second round of leveling I used a 70/30 ratio of sand and potting mix. It's been almost a month and this seems to hold up much better than the 50/50 mix. I have tons of leveling to do and I'm considering getting a dump truck delivered since I already have a level rake all I would need is a drag mat for my mower.

Here's the lawn today just before a combo app of D-thatch, Green Effect and Micro Green, all at 6oz per 1000 sq/ft. The 1st 3 pics is one mystery brown spot that I think is caused by a fungus. Same exact spot 2 years in a row. The rest is just of the lawn.

Sorry, no before pics.



























Edging around flower beds need work, lol.

Is pure sand a good option in my situation to level centipede given my soil type? Will it fill in over the sand like Bermuda does in all the lawn leveling videos?

Any feedback is will be greatly appreciated.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Sand is good. But, and this is a big but, that sand must not be derived from limestone or any other alkaline materials.


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## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

Thank you sir for responding. What source or type of sand should I get? Also, do I top dress with soil after leveling with sand? I have runners in my back yard that still have not filled in to some bare spots where sand is exposed.


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## Greendoc (Mar 24, 2018)

Hard to say because sand sources vary by region. Do not topdress with soil. Sand only. There is a belief that grass does not grow on sand. False. Sand is not poison for grass. Conversely, clay can be a hinderance to growing elite warm season grass.


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## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

June 5th update....

We had 1 rain, which was last week of less than a .25 inch here in North Carolina in the past 5 weeks. Sprinklers been running overtime in this high heat we been having. Here's the same lawn today 10 min before a rain storm today of about a .25 inch.









I tried everything from more watering to an app of propiconizole and no changes. I even supplement my sprinklers with hand watering in the afternoon with a hose and no changes.


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## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

Here it is 10 minutes after the storm:















The last pic is from a healthy section from a different part of the lawn for comparison.


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## mre_man_76 (Aug 4, 2018)

The only thing I did since the 29th of April was an app of Bayer advanced fungus control spiked with my second insecticide app and D-Thatch @6oz per in the middle of May followed by 18-0-1 green punch in the last week of May. What could be going on?

I am planning drop some elemental sulfer @5# per and CarbonX @3# per next week. Week after will spray potassium with air-8 and rgs. Does this sound good?

Any help is appreciated!!!


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