can a lawn overfertilized in summer recover?

6 years ago

A well meaning relative applied fertilizer to my lawn just as it was entering dormancy in late July. i am concerned that this will result in burn out. Will my lawn eventually recover?

Featured Answer

User

6 years ago

Did it burn or just go normally dormant? If it burned, it might be a problem. If it just went dormant, it's not much of an issue. And I'm thinking it was the latter.

Basically, if said relative applied fertilizer at the bag rate, they didn't do you any favors, but probably didn't cost you much either if the lawn was just entering dormancy.

The roots will uptake some of the fertilizer (they're alive and active, but have dropped most of the secondary feeder roots at this time), but since there's no active growth, most of it will wash past.

So the feeding was a waste that will go into the water table and eventually the rivers, but probably didn't do too much damage to your grass if things were where I was thinking they were.

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Comments (6)

carl meyers
Original Author
6 years ago
thanks for your help. The grass has just begun to go dormant (brown spots and little new growth)

The product was Weed and Feed. I'm hoping the damage is minimal. Guess I'll find out later
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User
6 years ago
Minimal, most likely. And yes, this is the reason we dislike Weed and Feed. It really does neither very effectively. :-)
dchall_san_antonio
6 years ago
Where do you live and what kind of grass do you have?

Also what is your watering schedule? How often and for how long do you water?
orangeversion
6 years ago
Can you tell me where do you live? And what kind of grasses are on your lawn? It will help everyone to answer your question.
carl meyers
Original Author
6 years ago
I live in Western PA, near Pittsburgh. The lawn is about an acre, so I need to depend on rainfall, which has been very scarce this year. The grass (already established when we bought the house) appears to be a perrenial rye,fescue mix with a lot of clover. Hoping for the best