How do I take care of my centipede lawn through the summer?

With the first half of the year already behind us, the question that’s on most people’s mind is “How do I keep my centipede lawn looking good for the rest of the year?”

Centipede lawns are what most consider to be a “lazy man’s grass,” meaning that less is usually better. Too much of anything is usually a bad thing when it comes to this variety of turf. So, keep it simple!

The first thing that you want to do is get a soil test sample. Your soil sample test results and recommendations will help you implement the following key points regarding this type of turf:

One: Centipede likes a more acidic soil.

Two: Centipede likes less nitrogen than other grasses. This is where many lawn keepers make the mistake of putting too much nitrogen as part of a fertility program. This is a major reason why so many lawns die out in the winter even though they go into winter looking like the best lawn in your neighborhood. Bad Idea.

Start with a soil test, and follow the recommendations:

• • Collect and send in your soil sample.
  • Look over your soil test results report. It will let you know what elements are sufficient in your soil and which are deficient that you will need to add through an amendment.
  • Calculate how many pounds of fertilizer per thousand square feet you need from your results from the soil kit. Alternatively, if you're using a SoilKit test, we do the calculations for you, so you just need to follow the instructions in your results report under the "Treatment Recommendation" tab.
  • Do not put your fertilizer out when the grass is wet.
  • Mid-summer your soil test will likely tell you to put some iron out with your soil fertility recommendations.
  • Remember the mid-summer and fall application of fertilizer can be combined into one application or broken up into two applications.

Many times, if you are low on micronutrients, these "minor" elements play a major role in the health of your lawn. Make sure that your soil test kit provides results of the levels of minor elements in the test results. The minor elements help your lawn uptake the proper amount of nutrients to keep your lawn beautiful and healthy. They are also extremely important for reducing winter kill, which is turf damage due to various factors over the cold months of the year.

Most of the growth of your centipede lawn in the second half of the year should be mainly seed heads. They are easily mowed off with your weekly mowing. If you are getting heavy vegetative growth, it is likely caused by too much nitrogen in previous fertilizer applications. That is typically not good. If you are getting a lot of vegetative growth in the mid-summer to late fall, you will need to remove the excess thatch that is building up. Thatch is a major problem with centipede that adds to the winter kill in your lawn.

With proper care, your centipedegrass lawn should give you years of pleasure and very low cost of maintenance.