Scorched my lawn using too much lawn feed, how do I repair?

Buffman

Buffman

Buffman

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I've used too much evergreen 4 in 1 two weeks ago, and it has scorched my lawn with lots of black spots. (I think this is what's caused it?)

Ive raked out the moss where possible as advised by the instructions. Is it a case of just wait for it to get better? What's the best course of action?

As it's my front garden it's not particularly easy to hose regularly (would a watering can be sufficient??)

This picture shows the worststretch, the rest is about 2.5x the size

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Be gentle with me.. Im a novice/poor gardener!
 
It looks as though it didn't rain after application, you must water it in or it will scorch the grass. I'd also say you put too much down but it will recover slowly.:)
 
It's an easy mistake to make and I'm sure most of us have done this over the years.

It's a case of leaving it to re-grow. It will take time, but it should be fine - grass is pretty tough. After two weeks though, I'd have expected the weedkiller part to have had more effect on the broadleaf weeds (non-grass weeds). When it does regrow, the grass may be quite vigourous as it's been given quite a lot of food, particularly nitrogen.
 
Borealis said:
It's an easy mistake to make and I'm sure most of us have done this over the years.

It's a case of leaving it to re-grow. It will take time, but it should be fine - grass is pretty tough. After two weeks though, I'd have expected the weedkiller part to have had more effect on the broadleaf weeds (non-grass weeds). When it does regrow, the grass may be quite vigourous as it's been given quite a lot of food, particularly nitrogen.
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Shall I avoid cutting it for a while then until it's regrown? Do I need to add and seed to it?
 
Continue to take out any thatch, mow as normal over summer and then take another look in the autumn. Now isn't the ideal time to sow seed and you'll have a better idea in September/October if any patches remain bare. There are plenty good videos on YouTube regarding lawn care so take a look at those. :)
 
It's a bad time of year to do a lot.

Keep regularly cutting it but never taking more than 25% off, keep it watered every day if it hasn't rained and the grass will slowly start to recover.

At some point you will also need to scarify out the dead grass and moss to help promote the grass to grow. I'd wait a few weeks though to give the grass chance to recover.

You can try seeding it but this time of year you will need to water it twice a day to keep the seeds moist.

It isn't all bad. Such a high dose will toughen the surviving grass.
 
rake out all the crap.

lawn seed costs nothing it's like £10 for 1.5kg. B & M has some that's even cheaper. Make sure it's Fescue grass it's resilient and grows anywhere. so i would get some seed and throw it down anyway. also if you let your grass grow long when it gets about a foot high it will naturally grow seeds which will then fall off and fertilise the surrounding area. however a lot of people don't like overgrown lawns. however this is a free option to buying seeds. it does mean not cutting your grass for several months maybe even a year.

if you do throw some seeds down throw a very light layer of compost over the top of them. water daily moreso when it's dry and hot. once it's established stop watering completely. you want roots to grow deep the more you water grass the less deep the roots grow to find water. but for growing new grass it's essential it's kept wet.

also throw seed about as if it's never going to run out. some of it will be eaten by birds. some of it will be duds. so i throw absolutely tons of it down. then throw a light layer of compost over the top.
 
I think I'd be tempted to put down Iron Sulphate (moss killer) now to kill all the moss off properly. Given that it's such a mess anyway, I don't think you've too much to lose.

As said above though, it's a bit too near to summer to be doing it normally.

Edit: Just a thought, did the 4 in 1 contain iron sulphate anyway? Is it possible that your lawn was mainly moss and that is what has died and turned black? Not the grass getting scorched?
 
Haze said:
Going by the small area you have, I would just re turf it
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To turf it do you dig out all the grass on the top and then re turf on top?

What are the disadvantages of turfing it vs sowing new seed?

(The total size is about 2.5times that and slightly better on the otherside of the front garden)
 
turfing costs 10 times as much and is a lot more hassle.

you then have to hope the new turf takes to the move too. it cannot be disturbed during the bonding process. whereas you can walk and jump all over seed.
 
UTmaniac said:
Does anyone you know keep fish? Well worth asking them to save some of their removed tank water, our house plants have never looked in better health, since I started using some waste water to fill the watering can.
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That'll be down to the nitrogen and phosphate content in the waste water. It's a great use for the waste water - natural fertiliser.
 
It will kill moss - so check that the patches aren't actually moss.
If you do overdose, we've all done it, then it's simply a case of leave it - I had a scar on my lawn for a couple of years after overdosing. If you want faster then you may have dig out the patch and replace the soil to remove the substance. I have an oops spot on my lawn at the moment and I suspect that next year it will still be there.
 
UTmaniac said:
Does anyone you know keep fish? Well worth asking them to save some of their removed tank water, our house plants have never looked in better health, since I started using some waste water to fill the watering can.
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Given he has already given the grass a high dose of weed/feed or has applied it then not provided sufficient water to break it down I'd strongly recommend against applying yet more chemicals particularly nitrogen. It will do nothing to benefit the health of the lawn.

What the grass needs is plenty of water to break down the chemicals and give it chance to recover then scarifying to get rid of all the Moss in it.

Had he not applied the chemicals I would be agreeing that fish water is a great option for lawns.
 
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