Fixing your Over Fertilized Lawn
A beautiful lawn that is lush and green is not only pleasant to the eyes but will increase your property’s value but in order to have such a lawn requires some know-how which includes the correct installation of your lawn at the onset, the right amount of sunlight, proper cutting height, knowing if your lawn is the type that can withstand foot traffic or not, the right amount of water and fertilizer.
We will however be discussing fixing your over-fertilized lawn, many lawns have suffered because of over-fertilizing. While we agree that a lawn that’s well-fertilized will grow healthy, care and caution should be considered before going out, purchasing, and applying fertilizers.
Signs of Over-Fertilized Lawn
Although other symptoms may be closely related (disease and insects pests issues) here are some signs to watch out for especially if you feel you have over-fertilized your lawn.
- The lawn is slow to grow after fertilizing
- Lawn begins to wither
- Crust or fertilizer on the lawn’s surface
- Limp or blanken roots
- Fertilizer burn or scorch on the blades of grass caused by excessive nitrogen
- Browning grass blade tips and the yellowing of lower blades
How to Correct and Over-Fertilized Lawn
If you suspect that you’ve over- fertilizer your lawn here is what to do, you now become the inspector to get your lawn back to its former glory.
Do a Though Inspection of your Lawn
1. Do a though inspection of your lawn, check several sections of your lawn to see to what extent the damage was done. Check the grassroots, if the grassroots are crunchy and dead you may need to replant or reseed, on the other hand, if most of the roots look healthy then it’s just a matter of giving your lawn sufficient water to bounce back.
Remove any Fertilizer that has been Spotted
2. If granular fertilizers were used (pallets) and some of it is still visible remove this excess fertilizer with a broom first before applying water. Synthetic or man-made fertilizers are salts and will cause more damage than good if this excess fertilizer is allowed to be watered in the soil.
Give Sufficient Water
3. Watering your over-fertilized lawn sufficiently or generously will help to flush your lawn of excess fertilizer. The entire lawn including the healthy parts should be watered to the point of saturation. Ensure that the lawn is watered each day for the next 7 days with an inch of water. The morning time is the best time to apply water because watering too late in the evening will encourage fungus because the grass will not have time to dry.
Do Another Inspection
4. You should see new growth in 7-14 days of watering, inspect the grass blase including the roots. If the lawn is still deteriorating or if it still looks the seem although 7-14 weeks have passed then this may be a sure sign to give the benediction over your lawn remove it and replace it.
Installing New Grass
5. Before installing new grass remove all of the dead grass, water the area thoroughly again for one week this will allow the remaining salt to flush or leach through the soil. Once this is done wait for at least another week before replanting new grass, depending on the extent of the damage you may need to reseed or add new sod.
If reseeding cover with a thin layer of straw to keep away birds and other critters, if resodding then ensure that the sod makes contact with the soil. Continue to apply the proper maintenance practices and fertilize correctly for a healthy, green lush lawn.
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Norman’s Tip
Before applying fertilizers ensure that your lawn is well watered, applying fertilizers to a lawn that’s stressed or lacks water can cause more harm than good. Follow the proper application rate before applying fertilizers, read and follow the manufactures label for the best results. I recommend using one of these lawn fertilizers for a healthy green lush lawn.
Happy Growing
Norman
How to Avoid Over-Fertilizing your Lawn
- It’s best to use a slow-release granular fertilizer, water-soluble or liquid fertilizer stand a greater chance of lawn burn if applied incorrectly also liquid fertilizers tend to leach quickly, especially if the soil is dry. With slow-release minerals are released slowly over time
- Before applying fertilizers read and follow the manufactures direction on the label for the best results
- Ensure that your lawn is watered regularly, keeping the soil moist at all times will help the nutrients to dissolve much more quickly discouraging root damage.
- The use of organic fertilizers should also be considered, the salt content in organic fertilizers is low compared to synthetics or man-made fertilizers
The final word on an over-fertilizing lawn
Over-fertilizing your lawn can be fixed either way as we have discussed, our lawns will go to work for us but we must first go to work for them by giving them what they need. Maintaining a lawn is simple all it takes is some know-how. If you are facing the issue of over-fertilizing your lawn you have come to the right place. There is hope, your lawn can bounce back to its former glory by following these simple steps.
About the author
Norman loves being in the garden, both at home and for his job....
he is 'Natures Little helper' being outdoors, growing his vegetables and flowers from an early age.
Now having spent over 22 years in the profession he want to give some of his knowledge to others...
his vast array of hints and tips you will find scattered over this site will help you no end growing plants in your garden.
Great timing I was just talking to my neighbor on how to fix our lawns. I think my lawn might need fertilizing. I have a lot of exposed dirt the grass does not grow evenly at all. in fact, I usually get either patches of grass or one really long blade of grass while the reset stays short. To be fair I never water my lawn. I thought I was going to change this I would start watering my lawn add a bunch of grass seeds and fertilizer to make the grass worth cutting WHat do you propose?
What ever grass you chose to grow ensure to have the correct on how to take care of that grass type. The proper cutting height, fertilizer, watering. Other factors like disease and insect pests can be found on my website or doing a Google search. Hope this help and thanks for stopping by.
Norman, thank you for this great information on fixing a lawn that has been over-fertilized. Keeping lawns looking green and lush is a problem for all of us. Particularly so for me as I live in Florida and the searing summer heat plays havoc with the garden. I would certainly appreciate any tips you might have for keeping our summer garden looking great.
I am so happy to help, just have a look around at gardenofedengardencenter.com. I assure you you will find what you are looking for. Please let me know how it goes.
I really enjoyed reading your article as I have over fertilized my lawn in the past and it looked horrible as a result. It is certainly important to water and saturate the lawn, as you’ve mentioned to help flush out the excess. But I didn’t realize that watering too heavily in the evening was not a good idea due to fungus. I’ll definitely be applying your tips this coming summer to help make my lawn look its best. Thanks for the excellent share.
Having a great-looking lawn that’s healthy and beautiful requires some know-how, once you arm yourself with this knowledge you are on your way to success. I am so happy to help and thanks so much for stopping by.