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Centipede / Bermuda Mix - What to do this spring?

15 years ago

Over the past several years I've been slowly getting my front lawn into better shape. Last spring and summer it really took a turn for the better even though we had some pretty severe drought conditions here in Atlanta, GA.

So now I have a fairly weed free lawn but a general mix of Centipede and Bermuda grass. Each taking up several different locations in my lawn. I'm really must interested in getting to a consistent lawn ASAP, I really don't have feelings either way. So which should I cultivate and most importantly how do I do it?

Some soil stats:

Side 1 (split by driveway) - pH 7.0 - 7.1

Side 2 - pH 6.1 - 6.4

Nitrogen was "Low" on both sides and Phosphorus was "Medium" on both.

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Comments (5)

texas_weed
15 years ago
Well your soil PH is really good for any kind of grass except Centipede, as it loves a very acid soil where nothing else will grow. Centipede also has almost no fertlizer requirements other than drag an empty bag around every spring. Centipede also needs fairly large amounts of water. Centipede is called th eLazy man's grass for those who don't really care.

I think you see where this is going, Bermuda would be my choice. Ignore the nitrogen test results, they will always be low. Right now there is nothing to do for now as both Bermuda and Centipede should be dormant.

IF you choose Bermuda, then when you see it green up about 50% hit with a quality 3-1-2 ratio fertlizer at a rate to apply 1-pound of nitrogen per 1000/ft2, and every 30 to 45 days apply a 39-0-0 Slow release urea fertilizer up till about a month before you expect your first frost.

Water only when the Bermuda grass tells you it needs water, about once a week during the growing season.

Mow twice a week at 1-inch.

Do that and the Centipede will fade away.
dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
If you would be interested in St Augustine, that would be an alternative to either of the other two. Bear in mind that
1. it would be grown much taller than what you have (3-5 inches)
2. if you do not water it weekly in the summmer, it will die - not go dormant
3. it is a much coarser blade than the fine blades of bermuda

If you water St Aug and mow it high, it will push out the bermuda.
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I am located in north central Arkansas, in the foothills of the Ozarks. Last year I had to have 6 dumptruck loads of soil brought in and spread. Our yard was red clay. I spread bermuda grass seed and sprigged even though it was late summer. I think it might have survived if we hadn't had so much rain in the last few months. My yard still has water standing in several places. It has literally drowned the grass. Now all I have are wheat stalks, a very few runners of bermuda and MUD. So my husband said lets just go with sod. Today I measured the front yard and it is 10,200 sq feet. I already have bermuda on a hillside and it done wonderful, but yes it required lots and lots of mowing. My intial idea was to have bermuda and then overseed with a rye grass to keep it green in the winter. So I am really open about what type of grass. I just want grass instead of clay or mud. If you will remember I have four dogs. So having grass will help keep my house a lot cleaner. And I won't have to give so many doggie baths. Also I have a wet weather spring on the upside of the yard. When we built our house my husband dug a ditch and filled it with gravel to keep the water off our house. He connected it to the french drain. Now with the top soil I had brought in, the water runs down toward the house before it soaks down to the gravel. Any ideas on how to cope with this? My husband says we have to remove some of the dirt. Right now I have to much water, but I know this summer will be dry. And then I am going to wish I put in a sprinkler. But that is a whole other topic. Thanks for the help! Sorry so long.
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IÃ¢ÂÂm not in the expert crowd here, so please take this with a grain of urea. I think itÃ¢ÂÂs too late for both fertilizer and pre-m. You want to get pre-m down prior to weeds coming in, so around September. Once that is down, you can add more if you like for longer protection 8 weeks-ish later if you like. Then, like the Bermuda Bible says, put something like Dimension down when the Forsythia blooms, in late Feb to late March depending on temps (soil temps around 50F). As far as fertilizer, you donÃ¢ÂÂt want to push your Bermuda too much when it should be going dormant. That will lead to winter kill and wasted money. My nickelÃ¢ÂÂs worth of free advice is to wait until the early spring. If you are still itching to put something down, grains or Milorganite are good no matter what the calendar says . . .
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It may just look like it's no lateral growth. Your runners are green just like your grass, very hard to see - especially since your are mowing higher. They reach out a little bit, drop roots in the soil, then repeat. In my picture above from 6/30 you can see the stolons if you look close enough. They look completely different from the stolon of the native bermuda I have. There is no browning in our newer grass, so look really hard & you should see them. Did you change mowers? Are you using a rotary mower? Your cut grass look butchered compared to last week's clean cuts.
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Where do you live? What kind of soil do you have? What do you call carpet grass? Carpet is a term used for centipede, St Augustine, and several other grasses. If you still have the bag, what are the seeds listed on the guaranteed analysis part of the label?
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texas_weed
15 years ago
Is your lawn full Sun?
atlawn
Original Author
15 years ago
First thank you for your inital post it was very helpful.

The lawn is full sun with the exception of one spot where a small tree provides some shade in the morning and up close to the house where the roof line comes into play there is shade at different times.

Two follow up quesiton for you then if I do go the Bermuda route. Last year I reshaped and made some of the landscaped area (mulched) smaller and therefore creating more lawn. Most of the "new" area was pretty thin and has filled in nicely but there is one area that was about 1'x 2' that hasn't really filled in. Any recommendations on helping that area? Should I put seed down? Which leads me to my second question you didn't mention the need to overseed. Would you suggest this? What type and when would you recommend?
dchall_san_antonio
15 years ago
If bermuda did not fill an area, it is probably too shady. I would go back and plant flowers or something. THEN the bermuda will fill it in (LOL)

Common bermuda does not need to be seeded. Once it's in, it should fill everything in a very aggressive manner. If it misses some areas, then it is probably too shady.

If you do seed bermuda, wait until late May or June when the soil is much warmer. Bermuda seed likes it hot.

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