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#21 ·
Mr BC said:
RAlmaroad,

Thanks for the info. So if I understand correctly, my main issue with timing is related to product efficiency and getting the most out of my money. I was thinking that, esp. since many of the weeds were already starting to show up (such is trying to find time with a new baby..). I think most of what I get are patches of other types of grass. My neighbor takes next to NO care of his lawn/meadow, so I'm sure I'm getting intrusion since he also likes to mow with his discharge facing my yard...arrggghhhh! Last season I didn't do anything and the spring weeds died off once the weather got good and hot. My wife thought the lawn looked fine so I guess that's all I need, eh?.. :)

I'll talk to the Lesco guy about the dimension. Does the yellowing due to chlorine go away as the pre-em dissipates or is there some other, more long-lasting damage done to the grass? I was thinking I'll save the Stonewall for nest season and just stick with fertilizer late this month or early next. I'll try to smarten up on the finer points of product composition. Thanks again.
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Generally it will leave once the chlorine has gone on down. Since centipede is really not a green grass (More Apple Green) the effects will last about two-three weeks. Iron will little effect on this grass color but you could apply some. A better choice would be a micro-nutrient with iron if you can find anything in a granular form. I only use liquid applications. There's something know as split application of pre. Part is put down in early spring and another part in late summer. The most you'll be able to get from a pre-em is about 60 days. Check other posts on pre-ems as it was discussed thoroughly a few weeks ago. My pre-em of choice is "Gallery". It has very little root pruning. The kicker is that there is no chlorisis (yellowing) with it.
The split application will battle all of those summer weed seeds that are brought into your turf by wind or birds.
If you'd like, I suggest a little "Milogranite" to help out the lawn, if you have not put down any fertilize yet. Milogranite has not potassium and should green up the centipede a little more. It is enough Nitrogen to give the grass a kick. But you really need potassium for the roots to spread. I'd try to find some potassium nitrate in a granular form but that will be almost impossible. A second choice would be potassium sulfate. I've never used it and can't comment. But, I do know that Muriate of Potash will slowly decline centipede to just not growing to thinning, to seeing bare soil. It would be a very good thing to have a soil test to see what your pH is. This grass has got to have a pH of about 6.0. Higher calcium locks up the micro-nutrients and you just waste your fertilize. Centipede also has very shallow roots and almost floats on the ground. Therefore it needs a lot of water. Contrary to a lot of thinking, I water about every other day with close to 1/2". Of course we are in sand, and sand will not hold any water so the roots have got to kept moist especially in 115 degree temps in August.
So in the end, keep it moist, give it enough food and it will be fine.
Talking to it and brushing the grass seems to have a profound effect on this type of grass as it is so picky.
 
#22 ·
"RAlmaroad:

I realize this post is very, very old but you posted a link in it that I would like to look at. Unfortunately, since it's so old, that link is no longer good. Would you mind sending it again?

"I've been on the coast for over 30 years, done about everything wrong that you can imagine when taking care of centipede grass, which is not native to the USA."management. However, here is a very good article that sums up a lot of my findings and tests. This guys only has 25 years of development and research; I have a few on him. Anyway: http://www.biggermouth.com/proper-centipede-lawn-care.htm

I always appreciate your posts and insight concerning centipede turf. I've got a big lawn of it and it's driving me crazy. Everything I do to it seems to back-fire on me and it always looks terrible.

Thanks,

Steve, in South Mississippi
 
#23 ·
this thread is dumb. there is no need to ever spray anything on centipede. it will choke out the weeds all on it's own once it starts growing. my brother has centipede and there's not a single weed in his yard right now and this is a slow spring startup this year as far as grass coming out of dormancy is concerned.

if you want no weeds all year long then spray the centipede when it's dormant during the late fall after it goes dormant or spray in very early spring before it starts to turn green.

if you have weeds right now just leave it alone and let it take care of itself.
 
#24 ·
weeze said:
this thread is dumb. there is no need to ever spray anything on centipede. it will choke out the weeds all on it's own once it starts growing. my brother has centipede and there's not a single weed in his yard right now and this is a slow spring startup this year as far as grass coming out of dormancy is concerned.

if you want no weeds all year long then spray the centipede when it's dormant during the late fall after it goes dormant or spray in very early spring before it starts to turn green.

if you have weeds right now just leave it alone and let it take care of itself.
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Wish that was my case. I do battle weeds here in South Mississippi even in the parts of my lawn that are doing well. My biggest problem is prostrate spurge, man, I hate that stuff. Some atrazine early this year seems to be killing it.

My bigger interest in this thread is RALmaroads observations in using muriate of potash; which I've done for two years now. I'd say the majority of the lawn looks much worse now than when we bought this place three years ago. I'm certainly wondering if I've contributed to the 'decline'. My extension service recommend X Lbs of potash but never said what type. Muriate of potash was all my local feed store carried so that's what I used.

I've since quit using that and am trying to renovate the lawn.
 
#25 ·
MSlawnman said:
Wish that was my case. I do battle weeds here in South Mississippi even in the parts of my lawn that are doing well. My biggest problem is prostrate spurge, man, I hate that stuff. Some atrazine early this year seems to be killing it.

My bigger interest in this thread is RALmaroads observations in using muriate of potash; which I've done for two years now. I'd say the majority of the lawn looks much worse now than when we bought this place three years ago. I'm certainly wondering if I've contributed to the 'decline'. My extension service recommend X Lbs of potash but never said what type. Muriate of potash was all my local feed store carried so that's what I used.

I've since quit using that and am trying to renovate the lawn.
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What's your PH?
 
#26 ·
Once the soil is right for Centipede, a lot changes. Most weeds grow better in neutral to alkaline soils. Get a soil acid enough that only Centipede grows, vigor and population of remaining weeds decreases.
 
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#28 ·
greendoctor said:
Once the soil is right for Centipede, a lot changes. Most weeds grow better in neutral to alkaline soils. Get a soil acid enough that only Centipede grows, vigor and population of remaining weeds decreases.
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Thanks greendoctor. pH is 4.8 from numerous pooled samples across the lawn. Test ran by MSU.

I'm learning as I'm going. This is first centipede lawn I've had. I've lived from the West Coast to the East Coast and many places in between. Have had cool season and warm season lawns but never centipede. I would switch to St. Augustine or even Bahia if I could but can't afford to redo 2 1/2 acres. I'm stuck doing what I can with this grass. Thankfully, I have y'all on lawnsite for guidance. It has helped.
 
#31 ·
MSlawnman said:
Thanks greendoctor. pH is 4.8 from numerous pooled samples across the lawn. Test ran by MSU.

I'm learning as I'm going. This is first centipede lawn I've had. I've lived from the West Coast to the East Coast and many places in between. Have had cool season and warm season lawns but never centipede. I would switch to St. Augustine or even Bahia if I could but can't afford to redo 2 1/2 acres. I'm stuck doing what I can with this grass. Thankfully, I have y'all on lawnsite for guidance. It has helped.
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After I read your post and replied, I grabbed my handy, dandy, cheap-o pH meter and stuck it in the ground in numerous areas. It read about 7.5 everywhere I stuck it. I then grabbed my chemical pH test kit and got the same result. Every sample I've submitted to my extension service has come back showing a pH in the high 4 range. I know there methods are better than mine but this has me puzzled.

The last sample I sent to Ext Service was late last year, very doubtful pH could change that much. One possible reason is that I combined samples from all over the property and sent that to extension service. Sampling I did myself today was just from front of property. All areas of the property are pretty similar though... mainly open lawn with live oak trees here and there. And yes, the oaks do provide too much shade for the grass to do well right underneath them but even in those areas the grass grows right up to the trees, albeit somewhat thinner.

I just collected samples from just the front of the property and am bring them to my site one dealer. Will post back when I get the results.

Lastly, plugs I placed here and there in my 'poor' areas are doing great.
 
#33 ·
Cheap pH meters will read high salt content in the soil as acid. That is why I will not use them for my rough estimations of soil pH. I use narrow range Litmus Paper and distilled water for a field check before sending soil to the lab. I never thought to use a pool test kit, however there are probably salts and minerals present in the soil that might make that test less than reliable.
 
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#34 ·
greendoctor said:
Cheap pH meters will read high salt content in the soil as acid. That is why I will not use them for my rough estimations of soil pH. I use narrow range Litmus Paper and distilled water for a field check before sending soil to the lab. I never thought to use a pool test kit, however there are probably salts and minerals present in the soil that might make that test less than reliable.
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Greendoctor: I agree 100%. I'm not sure why I even bought that thing. I have a laboratory grade pH meter which is a little more difficult to use/calibrate but gives accurate results. Now, if I could only remember where I put it . Seriously, I'm going to get my good pH meter out ASAP and retest.

The chemical method I used was one of those soil sample test kits you can purchase over-the-counter. Not sure how much I can trust it either. Also need to let everyone know that I stuck the cheap-o meter in several potted plant holders with several different store bought potting soils in them and got the same reading in all of them. Bottom line, I don't trust the meter but still somewhat surprised with the readings I got.
 
#35 ·
MSlawnman said:
Last soil test indicated pH of 4.8.
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that seems too low. i think 5.5-6ph is more where you need to be for centipede grass.

honestly i think trying to help centipede out by spraying stuff on it can do way more harm than good. that may be what the problem is. centipede is technically a weed. it's not like bermuda grass where you can spray it all the time. most weed prevention spraying can also damage the centipede in the process.

i'm speaking 100% honest here. my brother's lawn was 100% weeds. he put out centipede seed. it took a good 2 years or so before it came up and spread over the entire yard. his yard has very little if any weeds in it now. sure there are some weeds at first when the grass is still dormant but once it starts growing those weeds are history and his yard is all centipede. he never sprays anything on the lawn at all. never has.
 
#36 ·
Thanks Weeze: I agree, everything I've read and heard regarding the correct pH for centipede is in the range you stated.

My current situation though, is that I'm getting (self-tested) readings of pH approx 7.5. 1st test was with the cheap-o stick-in-the-ground meter. 2nd was with a chemical soil test kit (mix soil + distilled H2O and add reagent), then check for color change against a chart. Both tests are showing pH above 7.0. So, I got out my laboratory grade pH meter and tested again, it's also showing a pH of 7.5. Unfortunately, I haven't calibrated that meter in awhile so results are questionable until I recalibrate it.

The strange thing is that previous tests by my extension service showed that 4.8 pH and now I'm getting these results above pH 7.0. The ext. service tests, however, were done on multiple pooled samples from all over the 2 1/2 acres whereas my tests were on only one, smaller area of the yard (an area not doing well that I'm trying to renovate).

Either my home tests are wildly inaccurate (very possible) or some parts of my lawn are very acidic and others are basic and pooling samples together resulted in an 'average' pH that is not representative of the different individual areas. However, my research grade pH meter (even uncallibrated) giving a reading above 7.0 indicates to me that I've got very different pH values across various areas of this lawn. That seems like a plausible explanation.

In any case, I'm in the process of testing pooled samples (using a different soil test laboratory) from smaller, individual areas of the lawn. I'm also in process of recalibrating my pH meter and will do the same testing with it when I'm done.

I've been stymied with this lawn doing well in some areas and poorly in others even though I treat all areas the same. Varying pH values across the lawn may be the answer, at least I hope to determine if that's the case.

Other variables that I've learned on this site is that the source (type) of nitrogen and potash is important when it comes to use on centipede turf. I've been using muriate of potash and need to switch to sulfate of potash. I've already switched to a liquid nitrogen + iron solution.
 
#39 ·
The longer I do lawn care, the more I don't like centipede. Most everyone responding is from SC or GA, including myself. The environment and weather here is a little to harsh for centipede. Towards the coast of SC and Ga it does better, but the midlands and and further up it gets way too cold and the root system is shallow. It causes so many problems with winter kill. I don't like to do much of anything to centipede except fertilize it once a year about this time of year or either cut the nitrogen rate in half and do it twice per year.
 
#40 ·
RigglePLC said:
The scientists at the University Extension service must have screwed up. They probably make the university work-study students do those tests. Maybe they were in a hurry.
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Yep, thought about that too. I'd really hate to think that's what happened though. I just dropped off 1st sample to Site One yesterday, guy said it would take a couple of weeks. In meantime, I calibrated my pH meter and am getting good readings now. I'll get out there ASAP and start testing. Heading out of town for a fishing trip on Monday though so not sure how much I'll get done. I'd MUCH rather stay home and fool with this $&@$ centipede, yeh, right
 
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