Centipede help South Carolina

ronnquis · Aug 19, 2023

We have been living at this house for a about 2 years. I'm pretty sure we have centipede grass. It's in a development and was built about 7 years ago so we have pretty crappy clay soil and backfill from when they leveled the area and built the houses.

We installed a irrigation system about 1 year ago. In February we put down 00-00-07 +DIM. In April/May we did a 15-00-15 +DIM.

As you can see in the pictures there are large areas of yellow/patchy grass and also areas which have turned brown. Most of the green that pops up is weeds. We mow it regularly and it's watered regularly. It has been particularly hot this summer but the grass seems to have taken a turn for the worse this year. We spread some Scotts disease ex last month thinking some of this may have been fungus.

Not sure what to do to help this grass for the future. I was planning to core aerate in the spring. The ground seems pretty firm and I figured aerating and spreading compost would help.

Any suggestions on what I can do to get the grass to grow better and control the weeds that are popping up everywhere?

GCoco · Aug 19, 2023

To me it looks like it needs some fertilizer. However, when you put fertilizer you need to make sure you give it plenty of water and don’t let stay wet at night or you will get fungus.

Redtwin · Aug 19, 2023

Don't push it too much with fertilizer and I would keep the Phosphorus level super low to zero with whatever you put down.

Chadwicktr · Aug 19, 2023

What’s your Ph level?

NCoastalCentipede · Aug 22, 2023

We had similar situation, new sod at a new build installed in March/April '22, so looked like that most of last year, and this spring. I sprayed 2lbs / 1k N this year over 4 apps.

April 15th '23

July 15th

Darth_V8r · Aug 22, 2023

One of the best things you can do for a centipede yard is to overseed with tifblair and wait three years. Other than that, less is more. You fertilize and the weeds take off. centipede is usually happier as an apple green vs a deep emerald green. With a general yellowing, I would for sure check pH and possibly look into treating with sulfur.

ronnquis · Aug 22, 2023

Darth_V8r said:
One of the best things you can do for a centipede yard is to overseed with tifblair and wait three years. Other than that, less is more. You fertilize and the weeds take off. centipede is usually happier as an apple green vs a deep emerald green. With a general yellowing, I would for sure check pH and possibly look into treating with sulfur.

I was going to wait until the spring to test the pH level in the soil thinking that I would then treat the soil at that point, but I could test it now if you don't think there's a downside. What should the pH level be?

Darth_V8r · Aug 22, 2023

for centipede, around 5.5

ronnquis · Aug 24, 2023

The pH is around 3.75 to 4. Does it need to be adjusted up?

Chadwicktr · Aug 23, 2023

After you determine your Ph level….

When I had centipede, I could push growth with no phos fert. It had no ill affect on thin areas. If you pound it with N on already thick areas, you’ll wind up with excessive thatch which is not good.

If you find yourself with weed issues down the road, three way works great for broad leaf weeds.

ronnquis · Aug 24, 2023

The pH is around 3.75 to 4.

We did 15-0-15 fertilizer in the late spring but it didn't seem to help. Ant opinions on a fertilizer to use ?

We also have an issue with moles I believe which tore up the yard pretty good. I'm assuming that didn't help. Next year I will have to try to remedy the mole issue.

Chadwicktr · Aug 24, 2023

A soil test that shows your buffer is ideal. That way you know exactly how much lime to raise it up to 5.5 Ph. Your soil is too acidic, even for centipede.

Centipede help South Carolina

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