Centipede grass requires 1 to 2 pounds of actual nitrogen per thousand square feet per year. Bermuda grass requires more. Depending on the location, the amount may vary from 5 to 9 pounds. The baseball field receives 9 pounds, whereas the grass on the front lawn gets 6 pounds. For areas in between buildings, a urea nitrogen is used.
Less fertilizer is used today than what was used in the past.
This is especially true of the centipede grass, which used to be fertilized annually. Plant operations discovered there was no scientific reason that this was necessary, and the rate has been reduced to once every three years. A complete list of the types and amounts of fertilizers used on the Valdosta State University for horticultural purposes for the year 1997 are provided in Figure 1. Through the interview conducted with Yvonne Folsom, Horticulturist for VSU, we learned a number of things. We visited the greenhouse located at North Campus and saw many different kinds of plants and flowers.