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While pulling the zillion crabgrass sprouts in my yard, in between posting from my wonderful screen porch, I noticed these running shoots of grass with shortish blades coming out sideways. I looked it up and it looks like Centipede grass shoots or possibly St. Augustine grass shoots. Is anyone aware of this growing on its own without planting it? I am thinking it may be a good thing, as it will provide ground cover for my dirtish back yard.
centipede is a running grass as compared to clumping fescue. also planted by seed as most hybrid fescue is sod only since seed doesn't breed true. I have successfully mixed both with medium success. Centipede likes sun and goes dormant in winter.
But it creeps into flower beds and everywhere else so I prefer fescue sod for better look. just yank it up before it comes too invasive. Are you sure it is centipede? not every running "weed" is centipede grass. there are lots of running grass like weeds and I have some now to deal with. I don't care what it is I just don't want it in my beds. After all the definition of a weed is anything growing where you don't want it.
good luck-try the gardening forum as you sometimes do and post a picture.
It's highly unlikely that you have centipede wildly growing in your yard. Most likely it's common bermuda or "wire grass". It, like Centipede, spreads by stolons and rhizomes. It is very common in this area. Unfortunately, the only way to get rid of it is by spraying it with glyphosate (the active ingredient in Round-up). Round-up is expensive but you can go to an agriculture store (Tractor Supply, Agri-Supply, etc.) and buy a generic brand for less than half of what you'd pay for Round-up and has a higher concentration of glyphosate. A yard can look very nice with common bermuda. I wouldn't fight it and just let it take over since it will take years to fully spread and it will just come back eventually anyway.
Hard to tell what it is without pics, but if you want to fill in your dirt back yard, plant centipede. It really will fill in within a season or two (most likely two). It's very common among new builders in SC. If you don't have a lot of beds and places to edge it's not bad, but if you do, prepare to edge every 2 weeks.
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