Scotts Weed Control Fertilizer Killed Our Lawn!! HELP!!!

[h]

I'm in upstate NY and my entire lawncare consists of mowing the acreage every 10 days (in very dry years every 18-19). In 25 years we have never put down any "products" and we have NEVER watered anything except a newly planted tree. It rains, we mow. That's it. It's green, lush, and never needs watering. The only problem we've ever had with the lawn is mole holes early in the Spring, and the cats take care of that in about a week. There is a fairly new McMansion up the road (closest neighbor whose lawn we can see) and these people have had a brown lawn since they built the place. They use a lawn service that puts out those little flags (caution, toxic to all life forms, etc.) and they cut the grass at least once a week. They also cut it much too short. Even this year, when it's been raining almost every day, their lawn is brown and patchy. I say stay away from doing ANYTHING to the lawn and you'll be fine. Of course, depending on your location, YMMV.

[MICHELLE H.]

I don't know the actual square feet of the lawn, but do know that it is

0.11 acres, and we used 2 full bags of 5,000 square foot Scotts "Weed Control" fertilizer.

[MICHELLE H.]

Yes, on the back of the Scotts "Weed Control" bag, its says to have a setting of 5 and 1/2 for the Scotts Accugreen Drop Spreader, which is the one that we have, so thats what we had it set at, 5.5.

Also, I believe that our grass is mostly made up of Tall Fescue and Kentucky Bluegrass. And yes, my husband put the fertilizer down around

10:30 am in the morning, and when we went to look at the lawn at 7:00 am the next morning, all the grass was Yellow!!!!!

[ransley]

That doesnt mean its not actualy set to 6.5, there is a measurement to calibrate it, call Scotts.

[ransley]

True, most lawn treatment schedules are made to treat your wallet.

[dpb]

...

The prrooof of the puuuding is to take the number of bags you used, measure the area you spread them over and _CALCULATE_THE_ACTUAL_RATE_.

Whatever it was, it was obviously too much for the conditions.

Again, chill...time will heal even this wound. :)

Not to mention there's nothing (practical) you can do to undo what's been done, anyway. Continuing to water copiously may help speed up the process slightly...

[George]

There are 43,560 square feet in an acre. 0.11 acres = 4,792 square feet.

[dpb]

Well, there ya' go...

1A --> 43,460 sq-ft (5280^2/640) * 0.11 --> 4,360 ft^2 for the entire lot, less the house, plantings, driveway, etc., etc., etc., ...

That's well over double the suggested rate...

[mkirsch1]

So you applied about DOUBLE the recommended amount. No wonder you burned it.

If you're so damned concerned about your lawn the least you could do is some research on how many square feet are in an acre so you know how much you should be applying.

You've got two choices:

1. Leave it alone and it will grow back.
2. Dig it all up and start over.

It's up to you. Just be aware that the lawn will green up in a couple of weeks on its own. If you dig it all up, it will look like hell for the REST OF THE SUMMER.

[Cabot]

Like others said, here is the problem.

Take out the footprint of the house & driveway, you almost tripled the application rate.

[dpb]

...

And btw, if the spreader were accurately putting out the recommended amount, after going over the area you say elsewhere the size of the lot is, you should have spread no more than a bag of material.

If it was only one pass to put the two bags down, then the spreader is obviously put out double what it was supposed to have done; else the mistake was going over the same area twice at the full-strength setting thereby putting on twice the recommended amount at the recommended rate per pass.

Either way, not determining ahead of time how large the area is in comparison to the amount of product to use was a major blunder.

[norminn]

I once had a yard that had stunted - really, really small - veggies in the garden when I moved in. I had 1" carrots and a ripe watermelon about 2" in diam. Next year, after planting my own veggies, I couldn't dump on enough fert. to get anything growing decently. Young and inexperienced :o) It had very sandy soil and probably pH off the scale.

My daughter has a yard with, probably, the best soil that can be found. Zinnias 6' tall, wonderful flowers and no bugs. No fert. added. The OP may have soil with pH that allows plants to take up max N.

[norminn]

My son's solution to dry lawn is to stop mowing during hot, dry weather. Grass gets a little tall, but he is usually the only one in the neighborhood with GREEN lawn.

[norminn]

OOPS! One acre is 43,560 sq. ft. Multiplied by 0.11 gives 4791. You gave the lawn a double dose, it appears. The 0.11 acres is the LAWN, not the lot size, right?

[norminn]

If I learned from all of my mistakes, I'd be a genius :o)

[Doug Miller]

After subtracting a reasonable allowance for the footprint of the house, garage, driveway, sidewalks, etc., that means they spread 10,000 square feet worth of fertilizer on about 3,000 square feet of lawn. The results should not have been a surprise.

The fertilizer is not to blame, Michelle. You and your husband are.

You should never have bought two bags of the stuff in the first place. One is more than enough for such a small lawn.

[MICHELLE H.]

The entire yard/house is on 0.11 acres. The property measurements for our entire lot/yard is 50 feet x 100 feet. We have 50 feet in front. 50 feet in back, and 100 feet on the sides of our property.

So thats it, its official, our Scotts Drop Spreader must have malfunctioned, and even though it was set at 5.5, it must have came out at like a 10 or 11!?

Well, I guess its going straight to the curb for trash pickup in a few days, and we have to invest in a new one!!!

Everyone says to invest in a "rotary type" spreader, but is a "rotary spreader" really that good for our SMALL lawn??? I always thought that drop spreaders were good for small lawns, and rotary spreaders are better for bigger lawns???

[h]

Exactly. And cutting it too short is a real problem as well.

[salty]

leaving the grass a little taller also reduces development of weeds.

[sligoNoSPAMjoe]

Is it possible that you got a product intended for another part of the country? You might not know because who you purchased it from may have many locations and the product may have been fine for the grass types in some areas where they have locations, but not yours.