TifBlair Centipede Grass Seed (5 Lb.) Direct from The Farm

OVERVIEWI am reseeding 14K feet of front yard and discovered Centipede grass when I was researching southern grasses that are low maintenance and somewhat shade tolerant. I am now at week 3 after planting these seeds and thought I would share my experience so far. I will update this review as the growth progresses.I knew getting into this project that Centipede germinates very slowly and that its entirely possible to see nothing at all for 2 months. I planted these seeds in July right before the Florida rainiest months and in the middle of hurricane season. I did not want my lawn or these seeds to wash away in the torrential downpours so I mixed these seeds with Brown Millet which germinates in 3 days and is 12' tall in 60 days. Admittedly, I also didn't want bare dirt for a front yard for the next 4 months and I knew the Brown Millet would fix that too.So for the 14K sq ft area I put down 5lbs of Brown Millet and 18lbs of TifBlair Centipede.THE PROCESSI tilled the lawn to prepare the ground, then I used a Scotts spreader at its lowest setting to spread the seed. I spread the Centipede first then the Brown Millet. I used the lowest setting for both.I then raked the dirt over the seed and tried to evenly rake until I couldn't see any seed on the ground. The Tifblair is nice because it is coated purple so it is easier to see if it is not covered.I then setup a system of hoses, hose timers and Melnor sprinkler heads and tested and tuned until I was sure I had 100% coverage for the entire lawn. I planted in July, one of the hottest months in FL, so I set the sprinklers to run 4x a day. Early morning, mid-morning, midday, and evening. All of the cycles were set to run at 15min each except the midday cycle which I set to run for 30min. My biggest concern was the seeds drying out so I decided to err on the side of overwatering vs underwatering.I did not use any topsoil, hay, or fertilizer since I read all of these things have downsides, and instead I counted on the Brown Millet Tifblair mixture to work as nature intended.Since planting, I cut the grass every single week to keep the Brown Millet at no more than an inch high. If I let the Brown Millet get any taller it would choke out the Centipede or block too much of the sun. The grass clippings from the Brown Millet provide further protection for the Centipede and natural fertilizer. In the winter the Brown Millet will die out and the Centipede will be competition free next spring with natural fertilizer from the Brown Millet and organic matter from the Brown Millet's roots.THE GOODSo far everything is working out perfectly, the brown millet popped out of the ground in 3 days right on cue, and within a week it was sprouting all over the lawn. A downpour of rain happened around the 5 day mark and I think I lost a little dirt and seeds but it did not rain again like that for another 2wks. By the 2wk mark the Brown Millet was growing like wildfire and I already had a decent green lawn albeit a bit thin and patchy as is to be expected.The Centipede germinated within 2wks and I can see the little fine blades of grass all over the lawn. It is definitely growing quite slowly but I have a green lawn from the Brown Millet so it doesn't bother me one bit.THE BADAll is not perfect, as I previously mentioned, these seeds need a ton of water and for months on end. I will probably keep the current watering schedule for the first two months, then cut back to 2x a day at 30min each until the end of October. Going into November I will finally be able to remove the hoses and timers as the Centipede goes dormant for the winter and the Brown Millet dies.The other thing is the Centipede seeds are tiny. I used a Scotts spreader at its lowest setting and it still spread the seed way too fast. The spreader went through 8lbs of seed in only 8000 sq/ft. I had to overnight order 10 more lbs of seed which is way more than the recommended amount for that size of yard yet even with 10 more lbs, it almost ran out again.OTHERI saw a few reviews complaining about the bags of seed only having 47% seed. The seeds are tiny and they are coated, if you think these seeds are expensive you should check out the raw seed prices...way higher. So yes most of the bag is the seed coating, but that's not the manufacturers fault and I would rather a seed with a higher germination rate (coated) than to get more seed (uncoated).Also, so many people on here are complaining about the seeds not germinating. In my opinion, most people aren't watering enough. I thought 4x a day was too much, but I am getting good results and a great germination rate, I think most people just don't water enough or don't spread out the watering cycles properly which is not the seed's fault. All it would take is a single day with not enough water to kill every seed you paid for so I went way above the manufacturer's recommendations.A last thing is that you need a soil test before starting a project like this. Without a soil test you have no idea what is down there and it might be something that will never help your seeds grow. A soil test is far cheaper than all of the other costs associated with reseeding a lawn and its not something you should skip out on.I did the test and know exactly what fertilizer I will need once the grass is growing.CONCLUSIONSo far everything is working perfect. The Brown Millet though is growing so fast and so much that I won't really know how much of the Centipede germinated until next spring. If the lawn is still patchy I will probably do an overseeding cycle in the spring just because I don't want to wait 2yrs for a full lawn.

Got very good germination in less than two weeks. Just water and heavy

Got grass seed from the local Home Depot, and Lowe's both. I bought Pennington seed. It was terrible. I purchased centipede grass seed in a very small 5 pound bag. After I planted it , fescue grew. Not centipede. I called Pennington because Home Depot wouldn't help. They told me they put a starter seed in with the centipede. I will never buy Pennington again. I will only buy this brand. I have used it several times with amazing results.

Water water water, keep the top layer moist. Month and a half in and it’s really taking hold. I add half a bag of triple 13 after a month. Doing so every 2/2.5 weeks. Keeps it growing and spreading. Really good product.

Growing grass when all other products have failed. THANK YOU!!!!!

I’m a regular customer of Amazon and for the first time I feel like I’ve been ripped off. Not so much by Amazon, but more specifically the Centi-Seed by Patten Seed Company.I recently purchased 5 lb. of centipede grass seed (at a cost of $194.75 plus tax) after reading Patten’s ad. The ad says “This product is 100 % pure seed (no mulch) you get actual 5 lbs. of seed”. When in fact the seed bag shipped stated “Pure seed 49.86%”, “Inert Matter 49.94% (Includes 49.87% coated matter)”. In fact the product shipped included so much “filler” that it chocked up my broadcast spreader. So in reality I got less than 2.5 lb. of seed at a cost of $194 (or over $77.00/lb.).Further, the Amazon ad says “Each 5 lb. bag covers up to 20,000 square feet (0.45 Ac). Each 1 lb bags (5 sent) said covers 2,000 to 4,000 square ft. Speaking from experience 1 lb. would hardly cover 2,000 square feet. Even with my spreader set at the lowest setting the 5 lb. purchased wouldn’t begin to cover 0.45 Ac.Clearly I should have opted for the Scotts Turf Builder Centipede seed also available at Amazon for $36.98 for 5 lb. I would not recommend this product.

I've now had the seed planted for three months and exactly ZERO of it germinated. I followed preparation, planting and watering instructions to the letter and nada - niet - zilch. I reseeded with Pennington Centipede seed from Lowes about four weeks ago and it has already germinated. In my opinion, do not buy this product!Original post 6/3/2016I think the CentiSeed Tif Blair seed is a quality product and will perform well. However, I think the description for the product commits a "sin of omission". That is, it tells you that you are buying five pounds of product but it does not tell you that the seed content is only 48.58% of that five pounds or about 2.42 pounds of actual seed. The majority of the rest of the weight consists of the coating that wraps the seed. I'm sure the coating is necessary and helps ensure consistent germination and a quick burst of first growth fertilizer but, in my opinion, it would provide a more honest description of the product if that fact was disclosed in the product description. As a second option, displaying a picture of the back of the bag would address the issue and provide an astute buyer with the information they would like to have. I contacted the seller and they said they would update the description to reflect the actual seed content. That was five days ago and there has been no change to the item. BTW - the true seed content makes the price about $68/pound; make your own decision about buying from this seller.

If you hate mowing but want a fantastic lawn plant this grass. Important, you have to mow lawn at an 1 1/2 inches so it can establish itself. It take about two years for it to fully take over your lawn. It will choke out unwanted weeds and other grass if watered and maintained properly. It’s like any other plant product you have to water and mow and maintain to get optimal results.But if you hate mowing and want a beautiful lawn this is the answer.