Weed N Feed with Torpedo Grass

i am no expert but in my experience you don't get rid of torpedo grass unless you burn your yard with fire and even then you may not get rid of it.

it took over a section of my yard a year or two ago and I just dug it up and replaced it with fresh sod. I don't think weed and feed will accomplish anything. you just need your good grass to fill in to where the torpedo isn't really noticeable.

If it’s over that big of an area of your yard and you really want it gone, your only chance is to start over completely.

You’ll have to do multiple rounds of glyphosate to kill everything. Scalp and bag to clear all the debris. Then start the new lawn.

Even then you may still have torpedo but at least it will be manageable.

Also, I’d think centipede is slow growing and will keep getting taken over by the torpedo.

i do. No it's starting to. I'm so mad about this torpedo grass. i saw people on TD talk about it for years and felt so lucky i didnt have to deal with it. That luck has ended.

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i do. No it's starting to. I'm so mad about this torpedo grass. i saw people on TD talk about it for years and felt so lucky i didnt have to deal with it. That luck has ended.

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Yeah, I’ve been lucky in past years using river silt to fill in low areas and not had torpedograss, but I’ve followed all these threads on those with torpedo grass and now when I need to fill low areas I’m purchasing mason sand - not going to take the chance - and many on this board are providing that recommendation for those asking about filling in low areas of their lawn for this very reason - to avoid torpedograss at all costs.

Back to the lawn fertilizer, b/c centipede greens up a little later than the other grasses, I usually wait until early April (Baton Rouge) and cutting my lawn twice (cutting actual grass not weeds to tidy up the look) before I apply lawn fertilizer. Actually I’ll fertilize my centipede next week. Personally, I’d be real cautious applying a weed and feed product as these temps are rising.

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I have a question: My front yard is Centipede and my back yard is St. Aug. Mainly the back, but both need to be rejuvenated. I'm aerating this weekend and was contemplating getting a power rake also to dethatch first. Yard needs both. Do y'all think that I'd be alright just aerating this weekend, then dethatch in the fall, or bite the bullet and do both now? I'm not one to let things linger, however I've heard from people I know that core aerating will help break up the thatch and improve the decomposition process also. TIA.

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Just opinion. Certainly aerate both. May want to sprinkler irrigate the lawn a day or 2 before to help soften the soil to help the aerator core tines to penetrate the soil.

On dethatching which I’ve never done, it’s my understanding from reading university written fact sheets that centipede doesn’t respond as well to traditional detaching, perhaps because of the slow growth or people often not to do it properly? Perhaps the aeration/aerification is sufficient on the centipede. Read up a little more on de-thatching centipede, or someone can offer their personal experience having de-thatched their centipede lawn. Or shoot an email to Dr Ron Strahan, turf and weed specialist, LSU AgCenter rstrahan@agcenter.lsu.edu for his recommendation and follow his advice.

On St Augustine, again, I read where that should be done when grass is in very active growth, maybe a bit early, perhaps May/June might be a more favorable time to consider doing that activity. St Augustine because it grows so fast would likely recover and fill pretty quickly.

Ronk, I’m sure has more knowledge on dethatching than me.

Here is a LSU AgCenter fact sheet on de-thatching LINK; another from Clemson. LINK

Man, this thread got me interested. Now I realize I have a lot of frickin torpedo grass.

Quinclorac works but it will be a slow battle. As in you need to spray weekly for a long time and your turf will likely suffer a bit but it's worth it.

Torpedo grass in turf = Bobcat method