Ornamental · Poaceae
Centipede Grass
Eremochloa ophiuroides
Feed it little, lime it never, and centipede grass keeps its apple-green blades through the season.
Full sun
Every 5–7 days
42–56 days
USDA 7–9
Overview
Up close, centipede grass reads as a low, apple-green carpet, the blades packed shoulder to shoulder into a dense mat that hides the soil beneath. It crawls outward on pale, jointed runners called stolons that lie flat along the ground, rooting as they go, and it is those segmented runners that give the grass its centipede look. Across the warm Southeast, that mat closes into an even sheet of soft green.
The blades themselves sit short and close, which is the whole character of the plant. They grow slowly, so the surface stays tight and even rather than shooting up in coarse tufts. There is a limit to how much cold the foliage will take, down to about 10°F (-12°C), which keeps this grass to USDA zones 7 to 9, since deeper cold burns the blades and thins the mat.
The color is the tell, and it ties straight to the roots below. Centipede grass holds its apple-green tone only on poor, acidic soil with very little nitrogen, and heavy feeding pushes the green out of true and weakens the stand. Keep the ground lean and acidic and the blades stay that clean, even green.
Care
The short version: full sun keeps the blades dense, deep and infrequent water deepens the roots, acidic soil holds the green, and light feeding keeps the color true. The mowing stays low, the lime stays off, the growth stays slow.
Light
Centipede grass keeps its densest, evenest mat in full sun, though it holds together in light or partial shade better than most warm-season grasses. In deep shade the blades stretch and the stand thins, so the more open sky the blades catch, the tighter the carpet stays.
Water
The blades hold best on deep, infrequent watering rather than a daily sip. Established turf wants about 1 inch (2.5 cm) a week, soaking the soil 5 to 7 inches down, and letting the leaves wilt a touch between waterings sends the roots chasing moisture deeper. Water before sunrise so the blades dry off fast.
Soil
The roots run best in infertile, acidic, sandy ground that drains freely, with a pH of 5.0 to 6.0 keeping the blades their truest green. Heavy clay and soggy, poorly drained spots leave the roots wet, and wet feet are where the disease that spots the blades begins.
Temperature
The blades hold their color through heat up to about 95°F (35°C) and survive winter lows near 10°F (-12°C), which is the cold edge for the foliage. Past that point the cold burns the blades and thins the mat, which keeps the grass in the warmer southern zones.
Humidity
Ordinary outdoor humidity suits the blades, so there is no number to chase. Drainage and airflow matter far more to the foliage, since a mat that stays muggy and slow to dry is where large patch and dollar spot mark the blades.
Feeding
The green stays true on a light diet. About 1 pound of actual nitrogen per 1,000 square feet a year, split into small feedings from spring green-up through fall, is all the blades need. When the color pales on higher-pH soil, the blades want iron, not lime, since extra lime washes the green out further.
Pruning
Mown at 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm), the blades stay short and even, and taking off no more than a third in one pass keeps the leaf tips from shredding. In heat or drought, a slightly higher cut leaves more blade standing to shade the crowns and roots below.
Repotting
none
Size & spacing
The mowed blades stay low, around 1 to 2 inches (3 to 5 cm) tall, while each plant throws stolons outward to cover 1 to 3 feet (30 to 100 cm) of ground. Those creeping runners root down as they go, and that is how scattered plugs and sprigs close their blades into one unbroken mat.
When to plant
Centipede grass is a warm-season grass, so the blades only push and the stolons only run once the soil has warmed and the season runs long enough to settle them. Planting from April through July gives the young runners a full warm stretch to root and knit. Fall planting is risky, since the tender new blades take winter cold hard.
Northern hemisphere
Southern hemisphere
Typical months for a temperate climate: start earlier in warm zones, later where spring frosts linger.
- Plant: Seed, sod, plug, or sprig from April to July so the grass establishes over a full warm season; avoid fall seeding due to winter cold injury risk.
- Harvest: Inconspicuous seedheads on slender spikes in summer; grown for turf, not bloom.
Hardiness
USDA hardiness zones: 7–9
Temperature: down to -18°C
Troubleshooting
Most of what goes wrong on a centipede lawn shows first in the blades and the roots. Overfeeding, liming, and daily watering pale the color and loosen the mat more than any pest does. The look you see below points to the cause, and the cure is almost always less rather than more.
Faded spring patches that peel up like loose carpet
When the blades green up unevenly in spring and then yellow and die back in patches that peel up as a loose mat, the plant is showing centipedegrass decline, the slow collapse that follows years of overfeeding. Heavy nitrogen thickens the thatch under the blades, high soil pH locks up iron, and the roots stay shallow until whole patches let go. Ease the feed to about 1 pound of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet a year, hold the soil acidic near a pH of 5.5, and dethatch lightly so the roots can dig back into the ground.
Fix:
- Stop heavy feeding; apply no more than about 1 lb nitrogen per 1,000 sq. ft. per year in small splits
- Correct soil pH toward 5.0-6.0 and base phosphorus and lime only on a soil test
- Reduce thatch with light vertical mowing and core aeration, and raise mowing height during stress
Blades washing out to pale yellow as the season opens
Blades that pale to a washed-out green all over while the mat still stands thick are showing iron chlorosis rather than hunger. Once soil pH climbs above about 6.5 the roots can no longer pull iron from the ground, and cold spring soils leave the blades paler still. A foliar spray of ferrous sulfate brings the deep green back to the blades within days, but the lasting fix is acidic soil and no lime.
Fix:
- Apply ferrous sulfate at about 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons of water per 1,000 sq. ft., repeating every 2-4 weeks as needed
- Lower soil pH over time with sulfur per soil-test guidance
- Avoid lime and high-phosphorus fertilizers
Threadbare patches whose runners peel free of the soil
When the blades thin and the mat pulls up loose and slow to recover, the damage is on the roots below. Ring nematodes and ground pearls both feed on the roots, the ground pearls showing as tiny round pearl-like cysts clinging to them, and neither answers to anything sprayed on a lawn. A soil and root sample sent for a nematode assay confirms it, and the blades stay strong on the right light feeding, steady moisture, and core aeration to loosen the packed ground.
Fix:
- Improve overall vigor with proper low fertility, correct pH, and good watering since no rescue treatment cures nematodes or ground pearls in lawns
- Relieve compaction with core aeration
- Reduce thatch to encourage deeper roots
Ring-shaped brown patches spreading through humid summer turf
Roughly circular spots where the blades turn brown or yellow and spread through humid weather are the mark of large patch, a Rhizoctonia fungus, sometimes with smaller silver-dollar-sized dollar spot among them. The fungus feeds on excess nitrogen and on blades that stay wet overnight. Watering before sunrise dries the blades fast, light feeding through spring and fall keeps it in check, and a labeled fungicide is for severe damage only.
Fix:
- Water early in the day so foliage dries quickly
- Avoid excess nitrogen, especially in spring and fall
- Apply a labeled turf fungicide only if the problem is severe
Toxicity
Centipede grass is safe. The blades and the slender summer seedheads carry nothing toxic, so pets, livestock, and people are all in the clear around it. The one caveat is the grass pollen those seedheads shed, which can bother someone prone to hay fever.
Safe for
People · Cats · Dogs · Horses · Rabbits · Livestock · Birds
Cats Safe
A cat can nibble the blades of centipede grass without harm. The most you might see is the odd hairball, or a little vomiting after a long blade goes down, which is the blade coming back up, not poison going down.
Dogs Safe
Dogs graze on lawn blades all the time, and centipede grass is one of the safe ones. A dog that gulps a big mouthful of blades may bring them back up, but the blades themselves carry nothing toxic.
Horses Safe
Horses can graze the blades freely, with no risk of poisoning.
Rabbits Safe
Rabbits can crop the blades as part of their forage without trouble. New green goes in slowly, as with any fresh grass, so a sensitive gut has time to adjust.
Livestock Safe
Cattle, goats, and sheep can graze the blades of a centipede grass lawn safely, since none of it is poisonous to them.
Birds Safe
Backyard hens and other birds can peck at the blades and the slender seedheads with no harm done.
People Safe
The plant poses no danger to people. The one thing to note is that the grass pollen from its seedheads can set off hay fever in someone already sensitive to it.
Pets may nibble grass and occasionally vomit, and grass pollen can trigger allergies in sensitive people or animals, but the plant itself is not toxic.
Varieties
Two types account for most lawns, and they show small differences in color and habit. Here is how the blades and growth set them apart.
TifBlair
An improved cultivar whose blades take cold and freezes better than the rest, with runners that fill in faster and a green that holds well into fall.
Common centipede
The standard type whose apple-green blades creep low and slow along the ground, and the one most people lay down for a hands-off lawn.
How to propagate
Centipede grass starts cheaply from seed or faster from sod, plugs, or sprigs of established blades and runners. Either way takes patience, since the stolons creep outward at their own slow pace.
SeedModerate
April to July · Slow; full coverage from seed can take 2 to 3 years
Seed is the cheapest start and the slowest to show. Sown from April through July, the first blades push up in about 2 to 3 weeks, but a full mat of knit-together blades can take 2 to 3 years to close in.
DivisionEasy
Late spring to summer · One season for sod; longer for plugs or sprigs
Sod, plugs, and sprigs of established blades and runners root in faster and more reliably than seed. Laid from late spring through summer, sod knits its blades down in a single season while plugs and sprigs take longer to close. The blades spread outward only on above-ground stolons, with no underground rhizomes to push the runners along.
Myths
To hold its green color, centipede grass has to be limed and fertilized as generously as any standard lawn.
The blades hold their color on the opposite of the usual lawn routine. Centipede grass thrives on low nitrogen and acidic soil, and the heavy feeding and liming that green up other turf are exactly what pale the blades into iron chlorosis and the slow collapse known as centipedegrass decline. The green comes from less, not more.