The Grass Doctor

Is this thatch or did our landscaper lie to us?

Last summer we hired a landscaper to rebuild our front lawn. He laid centiped sod. It was beautiful all summer and felt like carpet when we walked across it. This is in NC. We were afraid to do anything to the grass except water and cut. I asked him to put us on a maintenence schedule. He came back in the fall while it was still beautiful and green and "winterized" it. Not sure what he did but we trusted him. This spring we had planned on him doing our back yard. I started noticing that all of our neighbors have green grass and the grass on the side of our lawn where it was not sodded is green. Our front yard is BROWN and crunchy. He came last night. First he tried to say it was not dead until I had him look at the other grass. Then he asked me what WE did to it!!! I told him nothing. He said it was thatch and we needed to have someone de-thatch it but he didn't have that machine and couldn't do it. He then said, I don't know what to tell you, got in his truck and left. What do we do?

Public Comments

1. Thatched means it has all intergrown together tightly and you need to arerate it either by walking on it with spiked shoes or with a machine that does the same thing. This doesn't sound like that...it sounds like your grass is dead. You may have underwatered it if it is thatched...the roots come to the top to get the moisture. Lawns need a good soaking drink at least twice a week....most people only sprinkle the top which causes problems. It sounds to me like the sod he laid was not right for your area seeing that you already have grass growing there. Some can tolerate dry or shaded or wet conditions better than others. I would call another couple of landscapers and ask their opinions.
2. It may be that your grass had not had enough time to establish itself and get roots that get deep enough to reach water. I'd give it a couple of waterings before I got too excited.
3. Thatch is rarely a problem with Centipedegrass. I personally wouldn't have recommended that particular variety of grass for NC. SC is usually considered the northern most extents of its range. It is a warm season grass, and extended periods of 5°F or less can kill Centipedegrass. If it gets down to 15°F, it can be damaged quite a bit. NC is a transitional area, and a warm season grass generally doesn't do as well as a cool season grass. Centipedegrass is moderately shade tolerant, but grows best in full sunlight. It is not as salt tolerant as St. Augustine or Bermudagrass. Centipedegrass thrives on moderately acid soils, pH 5 to 6. Above pH 7.0 iron becomes a limiting factor and supplemental applications of iron may be required. Centipedegrass does not enter a true dormant state during winter months and is severely injured by intermittent cold and warm periods during spring. Hard freezes kill the leaves and young stolons of Centipedegrasses. The grass usually recovers as soon as temperatures become favorable. Recurring cycles of cold / warm during the winter months depletes its energy reserves and is susceptible to extreme winterkill. Thus, its adaptation is limited to areas with mild winter temperatures. If the weather was fairly cold this past winter and you had a lot of freeze thaw in the spring, with it being brown and dry, it probably winterkilled. It may come back when it warms up, but likely it will not if it got too injured. Sorry I don't have better news. The website I've included below gives more information about care for centipedegrass and also has info and tips on which type of grasses may be best for you and your area.