Centipede Grass Lawn Guide

Buy Centipede Grass Seeds

This web site was designed to give you all the information you need to plant and maintain a centipede grass lawn. Centipede grass is considered the, "lazyman's grass" as it takes less mowing, less fertilizer, and less overall maintenance to keep a nice looking lawn. Centipede grass usually is offered in both "coated" and "raw" seed. You get twice as much seed per pound with raw, but coated seed spreads easier and germinates better.

Centipede grass is a low and slow growing, medium textured, but aggressive grass that can produce a dense, attractive, weed-free turf. It is more shade tolerant than bermuda grass, but less shade tolerant than St. Augustine and zoysia grass. St. Augustine is not available in seed so it has to be purchased in plugs, sod, or springs. Centipede grass only produces only surface runners; therefore, it is easily controlled around borders of flower beds and walks compared to bermuda grass which can be very invasive and hard to get rid of. Centipedegrass does not enter a true dormant state during winter months and is severely injured by intermittent cold and warm periods during spring. Hard freezes kill the leaves and young stolons of Centipede grasses. The grass usually recovers as soon as temperatures become consistenly warmer in the spring. Cycling of warm and then cold temperatures in the winter months depletes its energy reserves and is makes centipede grass susceptible to extreme winterkill. Due to this fact, centipede grass should only be planted in warmer climate zones where harsh winters are not encountered.

Centipede Grass Characteristics:

• Texture: medium
• Cold tolerance: fair
• Shade tolerance: fair/good
• Rate of establishment: slow
• Mowing height: medium. First mowing, do not mow Centipede close before the growing season begins.
• Aeration: may be aerating any time during the growing season, except for during drought conditions. Avoid aeration during the green-up phase in early spring unless you are using a liquid soil aerator.
• Winterization: Centipede grass does not need a late fall application of fertilizer, often referred to as a "winterization feeding." Centipede lawns may be overseeded in the fall with a cool-season grass to create a temporary green lawn over the winter. Typically, perennial ryegrass is used for this application.

Centipede Grass Seed

Centipede
Grass Seed