Centipede grass is generally low-maintenance, but it isn’t problem-free — a handful of diseases and insects account for most of the calls we get. Knowing what you’re looking at helps you know how urgently to act.
Large patch (centipede’s most common disease)
Circular, tan to brown patches, usually showing up in spring or fall when soil is cool and wet. It’s a fungal disease that’s often made worse by exactly the mistake that’s most common with centipede: too much nitrogen and watering too frequently.
Ground pearls
A frustrating, hard-to-treat insect that lives on centipede roots and causes slow, irregular decline that looks a lot like drought stress or nutrient deficiency, which makes it easy to misdiagnose without a proper inspection.
Chinch bugs
Small insects that cause sunny, drought-stress-looking patches to expand even when the lawn is being watered properly — a key clue that it’s chinch bugs and not a watering problem.
Nematodes
Microscopic pests that can cause slow, general thinning and poor root development, especially in our sandy soils, and are diagnosed with a soil sample rather than a visual inspection.
Why proper diagnosis matters more than the product
Several of these problems look almost identical from the porch — thinning, tan patches, slow decline — but require completely different treatments. Guessing and applying the wrong product wastes money and time while the actual problem keeps spreading.
