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Centipede grass is native to China and parts of Southeast Asia and was brought to the United States in 1916. It is also found in South America, the West Indies and parts of Africa.
It is a coarse-leafed creeping perennial grass that has short stems growing upward about 3-5 inches. (The resemblance to the centipede insect is how it got its name.) It is medium in texture with a pale to medium green color. It is a slow-growing but highly aggressive grass that can be depended upon to produce a good, dense, uniform, relatively weed-free turf. In spite of its aggressiveness, Centipede is easily controlled and usually requires edging only once a year around walks and flowerbeds.
Centipede has been adapted for use as a low maintenance, general-purpose turf. Being a low growing grass, it is a favorite of busy lawn growers with a much longer period of days being added to the mowing cycle. Low fertilization (with low phosphorus) requirements can be met by a yearly application. However, too much nitrogen can produce growth but cause problems with insects or disease.
It grows well in full sun but exhibits fair shade tolerance. Centipede is rather drought tolerant and, when healthy, is aggressive enough to choke out weeds and other grasses. It does not tolerate traffic, compaction, high-phosphorus soils, high pH, low-potassium soils, excessive thatch drought, or heavy shade. It survives in mild, cold temperatures, as long as there aren’t several hard freezes, since it doesn’t go into a true dormancy. With light freezes, centipede will turn brown but as soon as the temperature rises it will recover and re-green. In the south, it will generally remain green throughout the year. Although the roots are not as deep as Bahia or Bermuda, its close to the ground growth allows for better conservation of water and helps fight drought.
Although Centipede usually produces a good turf at low fertility and with little management, it responds nicely to good care. It is incapable of producing as high quality turf as the Bermudas and
Zoysias, but it frequently looks better than either because the “high-brow” grasses are not getting the more exacting care they need.
Centipede’s characteristics are basically:
· easiest of all the grasses to cut
·
reel or rotary mower, if sharp, does an easy and attractive cutting job
·
does not look scalped when cutting is delayed too long and excessive growth removed
·
greens up rapidly after a brief drought with irrigation or rainfall
· suited to acid soils (pH range of 5.0 to 6.5)
· should be fertilized very sparingly
· generally more trouble-free than other grasses if watered properly and fertilized sparingly or
not at all
The best time to plant Centipede is in late spring/early summer after soil temperatures are 70+ degrees and all danger of freeze or frost is past. This generally takes 80+ consistent day highs in temperatures to achieve this temperature. Centipede is a warm season grass and should NOT generally be planted in late fall.
With a worldwide reputation for providing attractive lawn cover with the lowest maintenance requirements of any grass grown, Centipede is the lazy man’s grass of preference and has become one of the most popular grasses in the southern states. |
