Subtropical Centipedegrass

What Makes It Different

Hammock is the only centipedegrass bred specifically for subtropical and tropical Florida. It came out of the University of Florida’s Everglades Research and Education Center at Belle Glade, released in 2006 and patented in 2010. Its origin is unusually literal: a single off-type plant spotted in a stand of common centipedegrass in Palm Beach County, propagated from one six-inch stolon taken in 1997.

Two things separate it from the rest of the species. Its leaves are measurably shorter and narrower — the release trial put them about 14% shorter than AU Centennial’s and 22% shorter than common centipedegrass — so it reads finer and denser. And it establishes and covers ground faster, which matters in a grass that normally needs two to three years to close.

The northern limit has a mechanism behind it. In cooler parts of centipedegrass country, the licensing program reports that Hammock loses color and drops into dormancy earlier than other cultivars. In a species that already has the weakest cold tolerance of the warm-season grasses, earlier dormancy at the margin means less time hardened off and more exposure when a freeze arrives. Hence a line at Orlando rather than a preference.

Who It’s For

Peninsular Florida from about Orlando south. The cultivar was evaluated at Arcadia, Belle Glade, and Milton, and it is grown commercially only in central and south Florida.

Your soil test decides this, not your address. Centipedegrass is ruled out entirely on soil at pH 6.5 or above, and a great deal of coastal south Florida sits on marl and coral sand well past that line. Hammock does stretch the ceiling — the licensing program reports it holds up better than other cultivars as pH climbs toward neutral — but toward neutral is not alkaline. On acidic flatwoods sand you are in good shape. On marl you are not, and no cultivar changes that.

One deferral in return: north of Orlando, the denser and more manicured option is AU Centennial — start on the dwarf page instead.

The Cultivars

There is only one, and the reason is structural rather than agronomic: Hammock is a single patented clone kept on limited acreage to protect genetic uniformity and patent rights. Nothing else has been bred for this climate, so here the cultivar choice is really a sourcing exercise.

What Changes In Care

Mowing height, the roughly one pound of nitrogen a year, the iron-not-nitrogen rule for color, and the acid-soil requirement all carry over unchanged from the parent page. Three things shift.

• Winter looks different. Across most of its range centipedegrass turns uniformly brown, but in frost-free south Florida it can hold color. In Hammock’s range you may never see full dormancy — so the parent page’s warning against overseeding ryegrass for winter color won’t come up.
• Watch thatch sooner. It was selected for a dense canopy, and dense canopies in this species build thatch faster once they are over-fed or over-watered. The parent rules still govern the fix: only past about half an inch, late May or early June, one direction only.
• The weed window is shorter. Faster ground cover means less time with open soil than a seeded centipedegrass lawn. You are starting from sod or plugs regardless, so hold off on pre-emergents until the roots have knitted in and the turf resists a gentle tug, then start at half the labeled rate.

Before You Buy

• The Orlando line is not marketing. Do not buy this for Jacksonville, the panhandle, or anywhere in Zone 8. The cultivar that solves heat is the one that gives up cold.
• Soil test before you shop. pH 6.5 or above, or marl or coral sand, rules out centipedegrass as a species. So do heavy traffic, less than about six hours of sun, and salt exposure.
• There is no seed. Anything sold as Hammock seed is not Hammock. Because it is patented, ask the grower for the licensing paperwork.
• Call before you plan around it. Supply is thin and localized to Florida landscape markets. The licensing picture also looks to be in flux — the University of Florida’s foundation seed program currently lists the variety as seeking licensees, so wider production may be coming.
• Take the drought claim with salt. Suppliers describe exceptional heat and drought tolerance. The heat half is what the breeding program targeted and is well supported. The drought half runs against university agronomy, which rates centipedegrass the poorest warm-season grass for drought on account of its shallow roots — nothing in the release record shows Hammock changed that.