re: I'm giving up trying to get a full lush lawn....

To echo others, bermuda is basically idiot proof. Seems like Centipede and St Augustine is just a headache. Curious to why more of you guys further south don't just go Bermuda or Zoysia?

Had been contemplating Sod but using Ronk and Crawdude's advice, my front lawn is looking like a fairway. Back is solid but 2 GSPs are just never going to allow it to be great.

Managed to control Dallisgrass (I won't say how) and also have celcius for later when it gets hot.

Bought the house last April and it was a jungle of winter weeds and then crabgrass. Minus the random small patches of fescue that should get squeezed out this year, its pretty incredible how much this lawn has turned.

Saved around $5k as well avoiding re-sodding and the overall hassle. Will post pics later in the summer to give appreciation to this board once my sand spots have totally filled in.

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Builder put in centipede

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Is it cheaper or something? Just seems like such a headache from everything I've read here with how sensitive it is etc.

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Is it cheaper or something? Just seems like such a headache from everything I've read here with how sensitive it is etc.

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Centipede about half the price of the other warm season grasses. It can also be seeded whereas St Aug, most Zoysias, and sodded Bermuda cannot.

As mentioned, Centipede is the lazy mans grass. It grows slow and doesn’t like a lot of treatment. Perfect grass for 90% of people. It looks decent enough as well.

13-13-13

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How much sand we talking about here?

Assuming a yard in leveled, how much cubic feet of sand per square foot of grass would one use to fill in their yard?

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I’ve always heard to add sand in a low spot and rake it level about an inch or so above the grass. Once the grass grows in you repeat until the spot is filled in. Just dumping it and leveling it all at once doesn’t give the grass and roots a chance to push through to the new surface.

I'm planning on doing a sand level next April/may for my front. General rule that I've read is about about 1 cubic yard per 1000sq/ft. But really it depends on how unlevel your yard is. You really shouldn't be putting down more than 2inches at a time.

Usually trying to achieve a perfect level is a multi year project and not just a once off project.

A cubic yard of sandy loam will cover 1,000 sq ft at .5 inches of depth

That’s gonna be a no. You have someone spray for weeds, ornamentals, and fertilizer (I’m not exactly what the company does). Water. Someone mows. You suggest that he cuts his own grass and it could be perfect.

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Get a soil test to see if you need to change your PH

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I ignored this step and set myself back 3 years.

To me it’s the most important part of the process, until the pH is right nothing else worked, at least for my fescue.

Fixing that took me from mangy yard to near golf course with no other changes in maintenance and the areas that are still off are the only ones lagging.

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If you have a fairly robust/healthy turf already and just unlevel you'd be surprised what Bermuda will push through. Some people really "beach" their lawns and itll push through in a few weeks.

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My princess 77 steady pushes through my 12” garden beds. It’s a battle to keep it out.

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ETA: I have centipede as well. If my grass ever completely dies, I'll never buy centipede again. This is my 3rd house with it and is the most pussy grass ever.

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This was my experience as well. What really killed me was after I learned to stop messing with it, it took so damn long to grow back. I ended up putting st aug plugs and it steadily took over.