# Newbie w/ Centipede lawn (much help needed)



## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

New here. Found the site watching Connor Ward's videos on YT. I'll go ahead and admit I have little to no knowledge about lawn care besides keeping it mowed.

We built/moved in our house back in October 2016. I wanted to have a zoysia or bermuda lawn but we showed up one day to check on the house and had centipede. :| Anyways i just decided to roll with it because didn't want to deal with anything else with our builder than what we already were. Our first year (2017), I didn't have a mower so i paid a kid that cuts several other yards in our neighborhood to cut ours. Towards the end of the year i traded some work out with a client of mine for a Honda HRC216. I finished the year cutting it myself.

2018 I will admit i got behind on the first cut and doing any kind of weed prevention. I know I have problems with Bahia and it drives me nuts. I have sprayed some MSMTurf and it did seem to help but stunted it more than anything.

Looking for and appreciate any advice going into the fall months and what to do from here on out because like i mentioned i am a complete newbie!

Front yard



The one healthy looking green spot


Thin bare spots




Low spot beside driveway going towards back yard


Not sure what this weed is but have this big spot and few small spots


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

Back yard





Continuation of low spot from front yard along side driveway



Bare spots and weeds


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

I did do one of the at home soil tests and it showed low nitrogen and over 7 pH. One question I've had would it be possible to seed in bermuda next year and try and let it take over?


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## Foxhound (Jul 20, 2018)

Hello and welcome to the forum. I also have a centipede lawn here in south Ga. I wish I had better input for you but my knowledge in this area is minimal at best. I have been checking out a guy on YouTube who seems to be fairly knowledgeable about these kinds of things, and he's also in Alabama. I'll link one of his videos that talks specifically about common weeds in centipede lawns. You may want to check out some of his other videos as well as he talks about how to get rid of them too. Hope this helps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0hyBCYAxLg


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

Thanks for the response. I actually found that video awhile back and was how I came about ordering MSM. Not a lot of info out there for centipede. May actually try messaging that guy in the video.


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## Rockinar (Jul 21, 2017)

I dont know anything about centipede. But it looks like you get tons of sun. You can dominte. Id start with a soil professional soil test from a lab. Bottom picture almost looks like an armadillo has been digging in it. The thin tall bladey weeds are nutsage. I dont know about the others. the thin bare spots are probably just neglect or maybe from disease. I dont know what diseased Centipede looks like so I cant comment.

Good news is the lawn gets tons of sun and its not filled with trees. You have a lot to work with and options.


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## Jacob_S (May 22, 2018)

Looks like it could use a good dethatch to start, my cetipede portion of my yard was looking not great but after a dethatch it filled in amazingly. I spray mine with celsius same as I do my bermuda and treat with dimension Pre-e. This year I fertilized twice, once in Aprilish with Milo and again last month with GreenTRX, I also sprayed FEature to give it iron boosts thoughout the season. Mowing I mow once a week, twice if it really needs it (not sure what my HOC is) and I mow with my rotary, next year I plan on using my reel.

As for overseeding bermuda and having it take over, I tried this a few years ago and catered to the bermuda(lots of N and mowing low and often) all it did was hurt the centipede and make the yard ugly. I do now have spots of bermuda mixed in but would advise against that type of project unless you're willing to wait years for the results. I have had decent results on a smaller portion of the yard where I used Celebration bermuda plugs and it has really intermingled strongly. I suspect next season with using my reel/doing a sand level/and fertilizing for bermuda, this area will become predominantly bermuda.

@Brodgers88 might be able to chime in, as owner of arguably the best looking cetipede lawn in existance.


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm a competitive person and cant stand having such a poor yard compared to few in our neighborhood which are spectacular.

I know i could greatly benefit from a good aeration as the ground is super compact. Should i go ahead and do it this fall or wait till in the spring?

Some more info is a mow at 1.75" HOC and water on Monday and Thursday morning around 5am.


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## ENC_Lawn (Sep 9, 2018)

cjackson0314 said:


> Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm a competitive person and cant stand having such a poor yard compared to few in our neighborhood which are spectacular.
> 
> I know i could greatly benefit from a good aeration as the ground is super compact. Should i go ahead and do it this fall or wait till in the spring?
> 
> Some more info is a mow at 1.75" HOC and water on Monday and Thursday morning around 5am.


Im still learning a lot when it comes to turfgrass...so hopefully others will chime in...but I "think" you are suppose to hold off on aeration this time of year do to weed seeds...but I could be wrong.


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## TN Hawkeye (May 7, 2018)

ENC_Lawn said:


> cjackson0314 said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm a competitive person and cant stand having such a poor yard compared to few in our neighborhood which are spectacular.
> ...


Weed seeds are only a concern if you have already put down your pre-emergent. The issue with aerating now, depending on where you live, is that you are putting a hurting on the grass. It gets beat up pretty good in the process. You want the grass growing at its most vigorous so that it rebounds from the damage as quickly as possible. In some parts of the country there is enough growing season left to aerate. In others the temps are cooling off and the grass won't have enough hot days to recover.


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

Where does everyone send their soil samples to?


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

Put down some 21-0-0 in the back yard and seemed to get a decent response in color. Thought about getting some more and putting down and app to the front as well


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## lambert (Sep 12, 2018)

A healthy Centipede yard can look really nice. Go easy on the nitrogen, Centipede doesn't like much, and try to get your PH down to the mid 5s. Some suggestions here for acidifying soil: https://thelawnforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=2901


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## Colonel K0rn (Jul 4, 2017)

cjackson0314 said:


> Where does everyone send their soil samples to?


Check in the Soil Fertility subforum. Ridgerunner's Soil Test Thread is a great thread that will give you the ability to nerd out on everything tested in soil tests. The main point you want to take from that thread would be to find a laboratory that participates in NAPT Programs, which is how I found my lab to send my soil to. Soil Testing Services.

First step you'll need to take on your journey is to get yourself set up with a PreEmergent program, and decide on what you'd like to put down so you won't be battling weeds during the winter, and it'll set you up for success next Spring.


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## Brodgers88 (Feb 26, 2017)

@cjackson0314 sorry I'm late responding to this. I would definitely dethatch that centipede by the looks, but I would hold off until spring at this point in the season. Dethach using a metal hand rake or a light pass(not too deep into canopy or severe injury will result) with a power dethatcher. After dethatching try to mow it as low as possible without scalping or cutting down into the stolons. Without a soil test for more specific nutrient needs, fertilizer with 0.25-0.5lbN/1000 (21-0-0)per month(be careful not to over fertilize centipede with too much nitrogen. Try to aim for 2-3lbs of N/1000 for season total) and about 1 lb K/1000(0-0-50) per month during the growing season. To achieve a darker green, apply iron. There are many options for iron. A few are granular ironite, iron sulfate (has to be dissolved in water then sprayed on), FEature(also dissolved and sprayed on). For weed control in centipede, I use Celsius as my post emergent and prodiamine for my pre emergent. Hopefully some of this is helpful.


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## cjackson0314 (Sep 12, 2018)

Thanks man for replying. That's great info. I ordered a greenworks dethatcher yesterday. I'll let it sit in the garage till spring.

I did lower my HOC down my last mow to ~1-1/2. It looked better to me.

I'm going to order some prodiamine for a fall pre-emergent too and get it down soon as hopefully it'll start to cool off soon.


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## TigerKnight (Apr 13, 2019)

Have you used the Greenworks dethatcher this season on the centipede? I'm curious to see your results as I need to do a little dethatching myself.


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## SCGrassMan (Dec 17, 2017)

I'd wait another month and then aerate the crap out of it. Top dress with sand.

I don't know which one offhand but there are fertilizers that will help lower pH. You want to be around 6. You can also get elemental sulphur as pellets.

4 lbs/M will get you from 7.0 to 6.5 - I'd do that in combo with some fertilizer.

Centipede is a bit more sensitive to herbicides than say, Bermuda so be careful. Use low or middle rates on everything and measure carefully.

My personal mix is MSM and Speedzone Southern or Fertilome 3 way. For MSM you want 0.002 Oz/1000 sq ft or so - be careful as the measuring cup is marked off at 0.01's. A gram scale is best.

You can tank mix Prodiamine or Isoxaben for a pre emergent weed control - February and September are when we do it in my area, but it's never too late.

Nutsedge is a challenge. "Image kills nutsedge" is a popular product for that.


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