Bermuda(Cynodon dactylon) and Centipede(Eremochloa ophiuroides) both lawn turfs are almost the same climate lawn grasses. But before choosing one of them, you need to understand their performance, maintenance, and other aspects.
Although it is very common that people to choose Bermuda grass mostly, after this comparison, you will start to reconsider Bermuda grass and Centipede grass.
Although most people go with the trend I will suggest you go according to your need.
Bermuda grass vs Centipede grass in the USA
We can compare two lawn turfs by discussing various aspects like their identification, traffic handling capacity, climate conditions, growth rate, fertilization required, maintenance, etc.
If two turfs are almost similar in these comparison points, then you can go with either.
If turfs are very different from each other in the same points then you should choose low maintenance and high quality and more suitable turf according to your need.
Turf-Identification
Bermuda grass
- Nature- Perennial, invasive, and fast-growing
- Scientific name- Cynodon Dectylon
- Height- 1-foot max
- Color- Dark green
Centipede grass
- Nature- Perennial and slow growing
- Scientific name- Eremolochoa Ophiuroides
- Height- 0.7 to 1-foot max
- Color- Light green
Traffic handling capacity
For lawn lovers, foot traffic handling is a big concern when choosing a perfect lawn grass. Following are the difference in traffic handling between Bermuda and centipede grass-
- Bermuda grass
Bermuda grass is ideal for high foot traffic handling in lawns. It is good for golf fields, daily yoga, walking, etc.
In a small Bermuda grass lawn, it can handle animal and human walking.
- Centipede grass
Centipede grass can't handle as much traffic as Bermuda grass. It is not good enough for daily foot traffic or to run in the grass. Because of its slow-growing nature, it grows slightly thick but not enough to handle the load of heavy foot traffic.
Tall fescue and ryegrass are also good for traffic handling.
Season of growing in the lawn
Although most types of grasses grow in almost the same seasons they also depend on the climate and growing season.
- Bermuda grass
Bermuda grass grows in warm and hot climate conditions. Mid-spring to last spring is the best time to sow Bermuda grass in warm regions.
It can't grow better in cool seasons and climates. Bermuda grass can handle temperatures up to 35 degrees Celcius in summer. Also, it can handle dormancy at 8 degrees Celcius.
- Centipede grass
Like Bermuda grass, centipede grass is also warm-season grass. It is not bad to start lawn preparation for centipede grass in early spring to mid-spring.
It can handle temperatures up to 32 degrees Celcius. In dormancy, 8 to 10 degrees Celcius temperature is not bad.
Soil type and pH
Soil type and pH should be very particular for each lawn grass. Even in the same climate grasses can have different soil pH and soil type.
- Bermuda grass
Bermuda grass grows in slightly acidic well drained sandy soil. Soil pH should be between 6.1 to 7.1.
Even Bermuda grass can grow in slightly alkaline soil. But it is always better to maintain drainage in the soil.
- Centipede grass
Centipede grass also can grow in sandy soil generally. Soil pH should be 6.3 to 7.1 while seeding the centipede grass.
Performance in summer
Ordinary warm or hot climate lawn grasses perform quite well in the summer season if they get particular conditions in summer like irrigation, fertilization, mowing, etc.
Among these grasses, some grasses need extra maintenance and still, they perform ordinarily. So it is always better to choose low-maintenance high efficient lawn grasses for your lawn.
Some other heat-tolerant grasses are zoysia and Bahiagrass.
- Bermuda grass
Bermuda grass is quite good in the summer season. Despite handling heavy foot traffic, it doesn't need too much maintenance in summer if you keep basic requirements regular.
For the entire summer season, Bermuda grass grows further and greener till mid-fall. After that, Bermuda grass starts to go into dormancy
It can handle intense sunlight and partial shade in warm regions. Even if the weather is cloudy, you don't have to worry much about the rainy season.
You could use a subsurface lawn irrigation system or an underground lawn sprinkler system to improve irrigation in the lawn.
- Centipede grass
Centipede grass performance is quite ok in the summer season. Starting slow growth, though it takes time to grow with the least maintenance. it becomes more suitable in warm regions.
It can handle direct sunlight for up to 8 hours in a day, and partial shade for up to 3 hours.
You can't make it greener even after regular fertilization and irrigation or mowing. Centipede grass's original color is not dark green and you can't manipulate grass color in your lawn.
Performance in winter
Expecting lawn grasses to be greener in the winter season is not a good thing. There is a very few lawn grasses that can live even slightly green in winter. But most of the warm climate grasses can't be green through any of the methods like overseeding or aeration or dethatching etc.
- Bermuda turf
For the entire winter season, Bermuda grass goes in dormancy. It is perennial grass so it has to rest at least for the coolest season in the entire year.
Aeration, over-irrigation, and unnecessary fertilization can affect the grass recovery in the next spring season.
- Centipede turf
Like every warm-season lawn grass, Centipede grass looks to go early in dormancy. In reality, it doesn't stop growing but it turns its color in the fall season.
Recovering lawn grass in winter is not suitable for the Centipede grass cycle.
Aeration required
Aeration depends according to the soil health and condition of the grassroots. Whatever the timing should be, you need to keep turf inspection regular every three months.
In the case of Bermuda, you can aerate your lawn every year in the fall, just before the dormancy period.
It becomes more effective to give time to grass to recover.
In the case of Centipede grass, you can aerate your lawn every 1.5 years. It doesn't mean that you don't have to inspect the soil's health and grassroots conditions.
Mowing required
People think mowing has just a single purpose to keep the lawn in shape. But in reality, regular mowing help to remove early and strong weeds sometimes.
You can mow your Bermuda grass lawn every 7 days to keep it healthier and traffic handling. Keeping Bermuda grass height at 2.5 to 3 inches is very good for its growth and sunlight's effect on it.
On the other hand, the Centipede grass mowing period is slightly larger than in Bermuda. The slow growth of Centipede grass increases its mowing period.
Every 10 to 12 days, you can keep mowing regularly once the grass becomes 5 to 6 inches tall. You can mow it at 2 to 3 inches above the ground.
Weeds appearance
Weeds are very common on every lawn. Sometimes these weeds grow in invasive nature and can affect the overall growth of lawn grass. Sometimes these weeds can be poisonous for humans and animals.
In Bermuda grass lawns, generally, Clover weed, chickweed, and dandelion weed appear with grass. Despite, the invasive nature itself, these weeds can invade and slow the growth of Bermuda grass.
Using organic weed-removing herbicides helps to deal with such weeds in the Bermuda grass lawn.
In Centipede grass lawns, mostly Crabgrass, spurge, and diamond flower appear as a weed. Some of these weeds are invasive too. These weeds become problematic when they become more visible than Centipede grass. In such cases, mowing is not a permanent solution to remove them. It is always good to remove weeds in their early stages and follow the basics of weed-removing methods.
Maintenance
Bermuda grass is very average maintenance lawn grass. Comparatively other average maintenance grasses, Bermuda grass quality is very high and its other features make it more comfortable for lawns.
Having average irrigation, sunlight, aeration, fertilization, and just regular mowing makes it one of the best lawn grass in warm seasons. Although, Bermuda grass weed removal is a slightly difficult process and you can damage your grass too.
Centipede grass maintenance is very low compared to Bermuda grass. Its feature is not as good as Bermuda grass but still, its maintenance is very low in warm regions.
Centipede grass doesn't need short periods of mowing and fertilization. Centipede grass weeds are more visible and easier to remove. But once you damage it with heavy foot traffic, it needs some time to recover back to the same stage.
You could hire a professional service like Sunday, TruGreen, Lawn Doctor, Weedman, Scott's, etc.
Fertilization
Lawn grass fertilization depends on soil fertility and grass growth rate. Sometimes it becomes necessary to fertilize lawns every 8 months but if conditions are good, this period can increase.
Bermuda grass needs yearly fertilization to recover and grow further. Organic fertilization helps most of them. Although organic compost also works perfectly in Bermuda grass lawns for that you need highly decomposed and with a plenty ratio of Nitrogen and Carbon.
If you think you can increase the Centipede grass growth rate drastically then you may be wrong. Centipede grass needs annual fertilization to recover itself like other lawn grasses.
You shouldn't fertilize it every month or every 6 months. Unnecessary fertilization is not helpful to increase the shine and growth of lawn grass. The best time to fertilize the Centipede lawn is when it starts recovering after dormancy.