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If you’re looking for ways to make centipede grass spread, you’ve come to the right place. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about planting, maintaining and spreading your centipede grass.
A lot will depend on your unique lawn and how you care for it. Getting to know your lawn can help you learn how to make centipede grass spread and thicken so you can ultimately have a beautiful yard.
In this article:
- Centipede grass basics
- Background on centipede grass
- How to plant centipede grass seed
- How to get centipede grass to spread
- How to grow centipede grass
- Centipede grass maintenance
- Centipede grass pests and diseases
- Centipede grass decline
- How to revive centipede grass
- Our top recommendation for DIY lawn care
Centipede grass basics
Here are some of centipede grass’ most important characteristics. Read through them to discover if centipede grass is right for your lawn.
- Drought-tolerant
- Semi shade-tolerant
- Low maintenance
- Warm-season grass
- Color of a Granny Smith apple
- Needs daily sunlight
- Shallow roots compared to other grasses
- Doesn’t tolerate heavy foot traffic
Background on centipede grass
Centipede grass is a warm-season grass, which means it grows well in the Southeast and in other warm climates. It’s native to China and Southeast Asia, and it was introduced into the United States by USDA plant explorer Frank Meyer in 1916.
If you don’t live in the right climate, it can be a tough grass to grow. Centipede grass needs at least six hours of full sun per day to grow in thick and lush, and it can’t tolerate full shade. The grass grows best in well-drained and acidic soils. But under the right conditions, does centipede grass spread? You bet it does. Centipede grass spreads by runners, though it’s generally slow growing.
Related: How to Reduce the Size of Your Lawn
If you want your lawn to be a dark shade of emerald, you shouldn’t pick centipede grass. Other warm-season grasses like St. Augustine, zoysia and bermudagrass are all darker shades of green. In contrast, centipede grass has a lighter green color like a Granny Smith apple.
There are some good reasons to choose centipede grass over other types. For instance, it’s a low-maintenance variety. It has actually been used in cemeteries because of that. The grass prefers infrequent watering and mowing, and it doesn’t need much fertilizer to grow well. In fact, it’s so low-maintenance that its nicknames include “poor man’s grass” and “lazy man’s grass.”
How to plant centipede grass
Starting a centipede grass lawn takes some care. The best time to start a new lawn is between May and July since centipede grass seeds need warm soil—at least 70 degrees—to grow. Below are a few different ways that you can plant centipede grass.
Plant centipede grass from seed
- Choose and purchase your desired centipede grass seed product.
- Remove any excess thatch and loosen the top of the soil with a rake.
- Spread 0.25 to 0.5 pounds of grass seed per 1,000 square feet. To make the process easier, you can mix one pound of grass seed with one gallon of sand and use a spreader.
- Keep the soil moist until the sprouts are about two inches tall. You might not see grass for 10 to 30 days—that’s normal.
- If you are reseeding an area, make sure you haven’t used pre-emergent herbicide within the past two months.
Plant centipede grass sod
- Using sod is a bit more expensive than the other methods, but it is the quickest way to get a green lawn.
- Since sod is mature grass, you can lay it down between April and September.
- Till the soil first to break it up and encourage root growth.
- Add a lawn dressing or organic compost to provide extra nutrients.
- Lay the sod strips down end to end, staggering the rows to form a brick pattern.
- Water one inch right after you lay the sod. Keep the first inch of soil damp for the first few weeks.
Plant centipede grass plugs
- If you have a small area to plant with new grass, you can buy centipede plugs and get them shipped to your door.
- If you want to plant a large area, you should first plant a section of sod and then take plugs from the sod—this will save you money in the end.
- Follow the instructions above to plant a section of sod and wait three weeks to take plugs from it.
- Till the ground where you are planting new grass and remove any old grass, debris and weeds.
- Water the sod and bare ground the night before you start removing plugs.
- Use a plugger with a two-inch depth ring to create holes six inches apart in the bare ground. Put the dirt somewhere else—you won’t use it for the lawn.
- Take plugs out of your three-week-old centipede grass sod. Take the plugs three inches apart. This allows you to cover an area twice the size of your sod with plugs.
- Gently transport your plugs and plant them in the holes you made earlier.
- Fill up the holes in your sod with soil mix.
- Water the new grass as you watered the new sod before.
How long do grass plugs take to spread? Healthy centipede grass plus can spread 6 to 12 inches in one growing season.
How to make centipede grass spread
Centipede grass spreads through stolons, which are above-ground runners or stems that sprout new blades and roots. As you edge your lawn, you can collect the stolons that you cut. Lay them over the area where you’d like more grass, and cover them in a bit of soil. Let the blades poke through to absorb sunlight. The stolons will sprout and help to thicken and spread your lawn.
Another way to make centipede grass spread is to use the plug method mentioned above. You can harvest plugs from the healthy parts of your lawn and insert them into bare areas. Just be sure to follow the rest of the directions for tilling the ground and watering.
You can also overseed your lawn to thicken it up. Avoid overseeding in the winter months since the seeds only germinate in warm temperatures.
Centipede grass maintenance
Here are some tips on maintaining centipede grass. Keep in mind it’s always a good idea to consult a local professional since your situation may call for different maintenance techniques.
| Mowing | Set your mower to 1 to 1.5 inches and mow frequently. If you cut off one third or less of the length of the grass, you can leave the clippings on the lawn. As they decompose, they will reintroduce nutrients into your lawn. Use a sharp mower blade to avoid damaging the grass. |
| Fertilizing | There are several natural ways to fertilize your lawn, starting with using grass clippings from mowing. Leave them to decompose on top of your lawn, where they will reintroduce nutrients into the soil. Cow, horse and chicken manure can also act as fertilizer. Blood meal, bone meal, and cottonseed meal are other good alternatives. |
| Watering | Water infrequently to encourage deep roots. Water the lawn only when it shows signs of drought stress: when leaves wilt, when footprints stay on the lawn or when the color shifts to a bluish hue. During the winter, water occasionally if conditions have been dry and windy. |
| Aeration | Aerate once per year with a core aerator at the start of the summer. |
| Dethatching | Keeping fertilization to a minimum will help prevent excessive thatching. If you notice thatch an inch thick or more, break it up with a soft rake and remove it from your lawn. |
Centipede grass will reseed itself naturally. To allow this, stop mowing in the early fall. The grass will grow to about four inches and then produce flower spikes that make seeds. The wind will disperse the seeds around your lawn (and the rest of your yard).
Centipede grass pests and diseases
While a centipede grass lawn requires lower maintenance, you do have to watch out for a few things:
- Brown patch: The Rhizoctonia solani fungus causes patches of brown and thin grass to spread throughout the lawn. The effect intensifies in hot and rainy conditions. Reducing shade can go a long way in getting rid of Brown patch, as does making sure your fertilizer is nitrogen-rich.
- Dollar spot: The Sclerotinia homeocarpa fungus causes small brown patches about the size of sand dollars. Neem oil is a natural fungicide you can use to kill off the dollar spot.
- Fairy rings: Different types of fungi can cause dark brown crescents that start out small and grow to huge sizes.
- Nematodes: These microscopic pests feed on centipede grass root systems and turn the lawn’s color from green to yellow. Wormwood is a plant that can kill nematodes naturally. Tear up some wormwood leaves, till your dirt, place the leaves in the soil, and water to help get rid of nematodes the natural way.
Other pests include mole crickets, grubs, spittlebugs, ground pearls and chinch bugs. Out of these, ground pearls are the hardest to treat. You might have to switch to a hardier type of grass or even switch to shrubs and trees if you find ground pearls under your centipede grass.
Centipede grass decline
Centipede grass decline is the term used to describe brown patches that form in the early spring. It’s a common problem, and the patches often form because of over-fertilization. If you have centipede grass, it’s imperative that you don’t over-fertilize it.
Excess fertilization prompts the plant to send out new stolons above the soil. Healthy stolons are vital to your lawn, but they are also delicate. When too many stolons are exposed, your grass will suffer from fluctuations in temperature during the fall and winter.
How to revive centipede grass
As long as at least 50 percent of your centipede lawn is healthy—without too much thatch—you can revive centipede grass. First, you need to perform a soil test and make sure it has a pH level between 5.0 and 6.0.
Next, check if your grass is browning because of cold weather, a pest problem or disease. If it has been damaged by the cold, the patches that failed to turn green in the spring will stay the same size throughout the summer. Brown patches that grow in size through the summer are a signal that a pest or disease is at work.
To fix a lawn that was damaged by the cold, rake and remove all the dead grass. Till the topsoil, dress it and sow new seeds. You can also use the sod or plug method mentioned above. It’s best to do this in the late spring or early summer.
Getting rid of a pest or disease is another story. If you suspect that something is going on underneath the surface, it’s best to hire a professional to analyze your soil. Some pests are microscopic, and it’s good to know exactly what you’re dealing with. We recommend Aptive, which holds a reputation as one of the most eco-friendly pest control companies in the industry. For a free quote from Aptive, call 855-904-0143 or visit the company’s website.
