Over fertilized lawn

ljhobgood – posted 28 May 2004 09:08

My grass was looking pretty good, but weeds had started to grow. I decided to use a “weed and feed” from home depot. Now within 1 week, the grass has lightened and in some areas turned yellow. I can only imagine I over fertilized [also think the spreader malfunctioned, cause I thought I was applying it appropriately].

My question is what can I do to stop the yellowing [burning] and should I reseed. I did throw some seed in a few yellow areas and bare spots [already there] and plan to reseed the entire yard.

Should I water the heck out of the yard [I read that the fertilizer can prohibit the grass from hygrating and cause the soil to absorb most of the moisture]. HELP !

Any suggestions.

ted – posted 28 May 2004 13:10

depending upon where you live, don’t generaly recommend any seeding this time of year. also the products you would have applied from the hardware store won’t be good quality. watering this time of year is generally a bad idea in most locales. need some more info!

cohiba – posted 29 May 2004 19:54

I have noticed that the “weed” part of weed and feed usually stresses out the turf a little. This should subside within a week or 10 days. Yellowing might occur with high temps, low moisture or too much moisture. Chances are you will notice a change for the better in a few days. If not, check back and let us know waht is happening. Don’t panic, don’t fertilize and don’t over water. Could you have had more weeds than you thought and took them out? I did that last month but the turf has recovered nicely.

Good Luck…..

ljhobgood – posted 03 June 2004 08:42

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I’m not sure whether the grass is recovering or whether I’ve been looking at all the lawn mistakes I see in the neighborhood and all the way to work, that mine looks better.

I’m going to wait it out. I gave the grass a break before cutting it again. I’m going to mow tonight and “talk nice to the grass” and maybe it will continue to improve.

Alex_in_FL – posted 31 July 2004 05:44

1. What kind of grass?2. What weed and feed did you use?3. What was the active chemical in the weed and feed?

You shouldn’t have this problem unless you used the wrong type weed and feed or really bigtime overdosed or failed to water properly. A double dose of fertilizer usually does not do this type damage to turf…you just waste the fertilizer.

EdZ – posted 24 May 2005 11:46

I have a similar problem, thanks to a screw up by the ChemLawn folks.

3 days ago I put down Scotts Turf Builder with Weed 2 control. I used a Scotts spreader and all went well. Tall Fescue (Southern Belle) in Williamsburg, VA

Today, TrueGreen Chem lawn accidentally sprayed my lawn, work that was intended for next door!

They put down (per their invoice to my neighbor)

G3 16 0-8 50% scu 3.123lbs/1000sq ft

LH Confront – weed control

Scotts is a 28-3-3 1.21% 2,4-D .61%MCPP

Is there any thing I can do to prevent damage from this? I’m SOOOO upset because I just put this lawn in last fall and it was just starting to do very well! I hope this doesn’t kill it, or cause fungus/bug problems?

Any suggestions or advice greatly appreciated. Thanks – EZ

ted – posted 24 May 2005 14:30

need some numbers on what you used- type of fert, how much, etc., but in general, whatever you put down is probably not strong enough to cause a problem with the tgcl application, outside the fertilization. i occassionally had this problem in 20 years in business and it never caused a major problem with the homeowner. i never sprayed the wrong yard, but sometimes the homeowner would try to “help” a little- the stuff in the hardware stores is really watered down.

ted – posted 24 May 2005 14:35

yeah, don’t think it’s going to kill it, may help the fungus situation to jump up quicker than normal- how much did you put down? get them to put down some prostar fungicide for you, cut the water off and no more fertilizing!- shoot it with some potassium if you can – 0-0-20 or something– you’ll be ok.

EdZ – posted 24 May 2005 16:00

I followed the Scotts directions on the Turfbuilder with weed control package, and their spreader settings. This was about 7 lbs of the turfbuilder on approx 3000 sq feet of lawn (composition listed in above post).

Why put down the 0-0-20? What will that do?

To top it off, any results from them putting down the weed killer will wash off, because the rain started about 40 minutes after he left! Now it is pooring

I’d rather not put anything else down unless it is really the only way to prevent damage. What are some signs to watch out for re: fungus?

Thanks for the help, I am new to having a lawn and am trying not to learn the hard way!

ted – posted 01 June 2005 09:17

by the time you see the fungus, it’s too late…. the 0-0-20 ( or whatever) will strengthen up the lawn going into fungus season- remember- cut the water back, no nitrogen, and spray with a fungicide- if it’s fescue try prostar- ( again you’ll need a licensed pro for this one.) oh yeah, mow with a sharp blade and mow really, really tall.