Caring for zoysia, bermuda, centipede and St. Augustine in the Midlands

We treat four warm-season grasses: zoysia, bermuda, centipede or St. Augustine. They grow from late spring to fall, go brown and dormant in winter, and each has its own needs for fertilizer, pH and sunlight.

How do the four warm-season grasses compare?

When do warm-season lawns green up and go dormant around Irmo?

Clemson puts green-up in April near the coast and as late as mid-May inland. Clemson also notes that a late frost can burn back bermuda and centipede that greened up early. All four go brown and dormant in winter (Clemson notes zoysia browns with the first fall frost), and Clemson advises watering a dormant lawn only as needed to keep it from drying out.

When should warm-season lawns be fertilized?

Clemson's rule is no nitrogen until the lawn has fully greened up, which usually means early May here, and no nitrogen after August 15. Clemson's reason is that nitrogen encourages new growth the grass doesn't need going into winter. In the fall Clemson recommends potassium or lime only if a soil test calls for them.

Centipede needs less than the others. Clemson warns that more than 2 pounds of nitrogen per 1,000 square feet a year can harm it, and that feeding centipede for a darker green leads to centipede decline, where large dead patches show up the next spring. Established centipede shouldn't get phosphorus unless a soil test shows it's short.

Those limits are the reason we test the soil before we fertilize: the test tells us the pH and what the lawn is short on, so we can hold back what it doesn't need.

Why don't you aerate warm-season lawns in the fall?

Clemson recommends aerating warm-season grasses in late spring and summer, while they are actively growing and can recover, and says fall is not the time for it. Fall is when fescue lawns get aerated. We don't aerate in the fall, and we don't do core aeration at all. Our liquid aeration goes down in May and June. Aeration also breaks up a pre-emergent barrier, so Clemson suggests scheduling it before the next pre-emergent application.

Should I overseed my warm-season lawn with ryegrass for winter color?

We don't overseed, and Clemson doesn't recommend it for home lawns. Its guidance is that if anyone overseeds, it should only be bermuda, because the extra water, fertilizer and shade from ryegrass will severely retard or damage centipede, zoysia and St. Augustine in spring. Ryegrass also competes with the lawn for water and nutrients and delays spring green-up, and in a wet, cool spring it can hang on long enough to damage the grass underneath.

Does St. Augustine grow well in Irmo?

It can if you give it extra care. Clemson notes St. Augustine is very susceptible to winter injury, especially when planted west of Columbia, which includes Irmo, Chapin and Lexington. It is also the grass chinch bugs attack hardest, and it is sensitive to some common broadleaf herbicides such as 2,4-D. On our summer visits, the fertilizer we use depends on your grass type.

How often should I get a soil test?

Clemson samples a lawn with 8 to 10 or more cores, 2 to 4 inches deep, mixed into one sample. New customers get a soil test on the first visit, and our lawn care program includes another every year on the winter visit.

Last updated 2026-09-25. Spring Green is owned by Stockton Wells.