Written by southernmedia• July 25, 2020• 9:13 pm• Herbicides, Lawn Tips

Centipede Weeds

Nothing takes away the enjoyment you get from your centipede lawn like an infestation of weeds. Ideally, you will have used a winter preemergent herbicide like Drexel Pin Dee 3.3 EC Herbicide or Pendulum 2G during the cold months before the spring green-up. However, if you have not done so, this article is your cheatsheet to the best centipede friendly treatments for common summer weeds.

Spurge

You’ve likely seen this fast growing weed growing between the cracking in the sidewalk or parts of your lawn where there isn’t much grass. Spurge has a reddish brown stem and dark green leaves that are arranged opposite of each other on the stem. The most identifiable characteristic of this plant is the potentially irritating milky white sap that seeps out of broken leaves. If you let this one hang in your lawn long enough, a small white flower will show up on the end of the stems.

Virginia Buttonweed

If not treated and killed at the root, this perennial weed will plague lawns year after year. If not paying close attention, you may mistake this weed as a grass. The leaves are a darker green on the top and connected directly to a slightly hairy stem. Virginia buttonweed flowers have white, star-shaped flowers with reddish-pink stripes. This weed is extremely hearty and cannot be mowed out of your lawn.

Old World Diamond Flower

Old World Diamond Flower is a summer weed with smooth, oblong-pointed leaves that are arranged opposite of each other on the stem. The dainty, white flowers have a long stalk that connects multiple flowers to the weed stem.

Common Lespedeza

This extremely common summer weed has three, oblong leaflets with smooth edges. These leaflets also have distinctive, parallel veins that connect into a midvein. If you let this weed hang around in your yard too long, the stem will actually become woody. Common lespedeza will have a pink to purplish flowers. Since this weed is a legume, its seeds are produced in a bean pod.

Herbicide Recommendation Once Spurge, Virginia Buttonweed, Old World Diamond Flower, and Common Lespedeza weeds have already started growing in your lawn, they are all best controlled with a combination of chemicals found in the weed killer, Gordons Trimec Classic Broadleaf Herbicide. Try to catch early and treat weed spots individually before they get too big. Apply this product directly on the weed in the morning before temperatures get too hot!

Crabgrass

This summer grass will stick out in your lawns like hives from a bad shellfish allergy. This large, wide bladed grass has smooth edges and crinkled at the base. Hairs are also common where the leaves connect. Seed heads will grow throughout the summer and have six long spikes. Weed killers, like Hi-Yield Grass Killer Post-Emergent Herbicide that contain the active ingredient, sethoxydim, are great at killing crabgrass but not hurting your centipede lawn.

Sedges

Resembling a grass, sedges (yellow and purple), will often grow faster than your centipede grass. The easiest way to identify a sedge weed is by pulling up a plant and looking for the tubers or nutlets. Another distinguishing characteristics of sedges is their triangle shaped stem, which differs from the hollow ones of grasses. Since sedges aren’t grasses, standard grass weed killers will not kill it. The best herbicide for sedges is SedgeHammer. Most importantly, it can be applied over your centipede lawn without any negative impacts.