Lawn care by grass type
Centipede Lawn Care in Wilmington, NC
Centipede is the low-maintenance grass you see all over coastal Carolina yards. The catch: it wants less fertilizer than most people give it, and it likes acidic soil. Overfeeding and the wrong pH are two of the most common reasons it yellows and thins.
What Centipede is like
- Low fertilizer needs. Too much nitrogen does more harm than good.
- Prefers acidic soil. Lime only if a soil test calls for it.
- Turns yellow when it can't take up iron, often because the pH is too high.
- Shallow roots, so it suffers in drought.
Through the year
- Late winter
- Pre-emergent weed control before spring weeds germinate.
- Late spring
- Light feeding after the lawn has fully greened up.
- Summer
- Iron for color instead of heavy nitrogen.
- Fall
- No late-season nitrogen. Pre-emergent for winter weeds.
What to watch for
- Centipede decline: thinning and dying patches after overfeeding or stress.
- Yellowing from high soil pH.
- Ground pearls and large patch.
How a GoGreen program helps
Every GoGreen program starts with an NC State soil test, so the fertilizer and lime your Centipede lawn gets match what your soil actually needs. Each visit is timed to how Centipede grows in our climate, with weed, disease and insect control built in.