Rolltide soil test

[Roll-Tide]

5200 Sq ft Centipede lawn,
Soil sample from 3-4"
Goose Creek South Carolina, just outside Charleston
Yard is on a lot of clay.
In years past I would apply general fertilizer aka weed and feed, maybe some " Lawn food " here and there, water when needed. Kept mowing height around 2-3 inches, always mulching grass clippings. I would add used coffee grounds to areas that looked like they needed it.
I am trying to get my lawn into shape, want to get it looking nice and maintain it.
So far this year, I have gotten my lawn down to about 2 inches, started adding Kelp4less products AFTER I took soil sample. So far the Green Lawn and Turf and the Extreme Blend. One application of each, 1 week apart at a rate of 2 ounces per gallon per 1k ft per K4L recommendation. I invested in a backpack sprayer to help control getting it applied.
Many thanks !

[Roll-Tide]

Forgot to mention I did a Mechanical aeration last summer. I would also add winterizer to my lawn at the end of fall along with the weed and feed in the spring and " lawn food " during the summer.

[MorpheusPA]

Centipede is called Centiweed for a reason, it flourishes in very poor soils and tends not to do well in good ones. If we improve your soil, the Centipede isn't going to do well. As it stands, the Centipede isn't doing badly, but probably isn't as good as it could be because it would prefer a much more acidic soil (which is not in the cards and you can't attain).

I'm not sure how you want to play the game here. For Centipede, general care is to feed pretty minimally around twice a season.

[Roll-Tide]

What can I do to improve it? Lots of bare spots, dead spots ( thatch? ) seems to be getting overrun with weeds. And more and more spots are bare. Back yard seems to be fighting to remain.

[MorpheusPA]

You have two options here. For best care of Centipede, feed gently twice a year--when it grows in, and mid-season, at about half rate (there's tons of care regimens online, which is what I'm quoting).

The other option is the one I'm thinking of...replace the lawn. The soil simply isn't right for Centipede, but with some work, it would be right for Bermuda. Or another warm-season grass.

You don't have to do it all at once, and it can be done with plugs (it should be done with plugs for Bermuda, actually).

There are other options, potentially, but I'm not a southern grass expert and can't speak to how Zoysia or other southern grasses would do in SC.

[Roll-Tide]

Thanks ! I’ll look into that.