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Crabgrass damage in Centipede Lawn

12K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  Gibby  
#1 ·
I resodded this area along the sidewalk in early May of this year. The sod came in great and was looking great in mid-June.

June 6


Then I went out of the country for 2 weeks and came back and crabgrass had taken over the whole area. I let the crabgrass linger for a week or so, debating what to do with it. Afraid that the crabgrass would choke out the centipede, about 10 days ago I decided to apply Sethoxydim,, at label rate, to kill the crabgrass.

Prior to applying Sethoxydim:


With the area looking horrific now, I am left wondering what to do and where did I go wrong.

Yesterday


Today
I decided to rake out some of the dead grass.


How could I have prevented the crabgrass? It was new sod and I thought you were not supposed to apply pre-emergent to new sod? I applied Simazine Pre-Emergent to this area in late February, but that was before I dug this area up to replace the old sod.

What can I do not to help bring this area back to life? I have the following products at my disposal: Milorganite, 8-8-8 all-purpose fertilizer, 33-0-0-12 ammonium sulfate fertilizer, N-Ext RGS, Humic 12, and Micro Greene.

Should I have just left the crabgrass alone and waited for it to die off this winter?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. It really sucks to put a ton of effort into my lawn this year only to have this happen.
 
#2 ·
It's entirelly possible there was an over application. I haven't used vantage but did see that it's allegedly safe with centipede. You may have been able do another app of simazine depending how much you applied to the soil previously. Tenacity would have been a consideration since it's safe on centipede, controls crabgrass, and lingers in the soil. Plus, no root pruning impact.
 
#5 ·
@Jrich What was the label rate you applied at? I get no more than 1.5 pints per acre. In small quantities, I approximate that to 1/2 oz per 1000 sq ft. The label rate listed for spot spraying from a hand sprayer is intended for treatment of flower beds. That is all the way up to 2 oz per gallon. I have never seen stress or damage on Centipede using Sethoxydim at 1.5 pints per acre.
 
#6 ·
I have done damage to my Centipede with different herbicides and I always just baby it back by maybe spoon feeding some fert but at a very very low rate. Also since you have the GCF stuff I would just hit it hard with that stuff. RGS/Microgreen in particular. I burned my yard pretty good early in the season and I just went out weekly and sprayed some GCF stuff at various rates and it came back like a champ. I didnt loose any grass like you did but with some babying you should be good. Remember Centipede doesnt like alot of fert thats why I say to spoon feed small amounts. Shouldnt go much over 2lb of N per year with centipede or else you will have problems. I typically push that number pretty hard and keep it between 2-3lb/1000/year.
 
#8 ·
1 oz per gallon is probably a 4 X overdose for the area covered. I never think of herbicide applications in terms of amounts per gallon. it is amount per 1000 sq ft or amount per acre . Unless someone has some research grade equipment, they do not have an easy time applying a gallon, never mind 1/2 a gallon per 1000 sq ft. I can do it, but I have spray equipment similar to what is used on research plots.
 
#11 ·
@Jrich you could try a heavy cocktail of RGS, Humic12, Micro Greene and Detach from GCF. Each mixed at 18oz/gallon. I did that about a month or so ago on some of my struggling/damaged centipede and it bounced back great in 2 weeks.

As far as what I use as a post emergent, my go to is Celsius or Celsius spiked with a little MSM.