I over-fertilized my lawn

W

WhiteH2O Horn

250+ Posts
and now it is turning yellow.
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Any St. Augustine experts out there? I've been trying to reclaim a lawn that was neglected by the previous owner, but I think I over-fertilized. Does anyone know if there is any way to fix this without just completely starting over?
 
If you used an organic fertilizer, you will be fine (or at least over fertilization is not your problem); it is slow release and the grass will only take in the nutrients as it needs them. If you used a synthetic fertilizer, then you got what you deserved...just kidding. If you can still see the granules in the grass, you can get a shop vac and vacuum them up (no I am not joking). Or you can leech out the excess nitrogen (which is what is likely causing the problem) with lots of water. Hopefully you got lots of rain yesterday, which would help. I would also recommend putting down a thin layer of non-manure based compost (watering it in) and spraying the foliage with liquid seaweed.

As long as the stolons are green, the grass will live, even if there is some browning. St. Augustine is pretty damn forgiving.

Good luck.
cow_rose.gif
 
For those of you who are very experienced in cultivating a nice lawn, I'm sure this will seem very ignorant, but here's the deal. At my last home, I just paid a professional landscaper to maintain my property. It was very large and I was working mucho hours, so I didn't have the kind of time I would have preferred to learn how to do it myself. With this home, I want to take care of everything myself, but I'm not working from a very good base of knowledge. What I'm trying to say is that when it comes to lawn care, I'm a noob.

Don't get me wrong, I did buy a lawn care book, consulted internet sites, etc. I made an attempt to educate myself, but I just didn't apply what I'd read very well. So here's how I killed my lawn. Using a rotary spreader on the proper setting, I applied Scott's Bonus S to my lawn. I waited a couple of days to water. Let me mention once again that I was trying to salvage a lawn with great potential, but one that had been neglected, so I was feeling a little desperate. Here comes the stupid part. About 4-5 days after applying the Bonus S, I put down an application of a weed killer/fertilizer with a water hose/sprayer attachment. I can't remember the product name of the spray right now, but I can find out. It was something that proclaimed to kill weeds, fertilize, and grow "greener" grass. It was done more out of ignorance than "if a little is good, then a lot is better" kind of thinking.

I know now that it was a stupid thing to do. Make fun of me if you like, but some suggestions to help a noob learn what to do would be appreciated. It's been humbling and I can laugh about it, but I want to have a great lawn. I'm having some Hank Hill envy.
 
I have never used Scott's Bonus S, but I am guessing that is very high in nitrogen (over 25%) and quick release. You need to find out what the nitrogen content of the second product you applied (first of three numbers). If it was also high, you have given your grass way too much nitrogen. If this is the case, water heavily too leech out the excess nitrogen. As I stated before, St. Augustine is very tough. You will likely develop a thatch problem, but that will go away. Next year, use a slow release organic fertilizer. You can use a pre-emergent, like corn gluten, to control the weeds prior to them germinating.
 
I'm glad this got brought up because this weekend I went out and bought the same Scott Bonus S for my lawn which sounds identical to yours (lack of maintenance, weed problem).

I will let the rain clear out before I apply so that I can control the watering but I will now try to give it some time before I apply anything else. Thanks for taking this one for the team.

Question for Incongnito -- when you say mowing too low, what do you consider too low? I need to check the setting on my mower to see if that is one of my problems.
 
Mowing at the correct height and frequency has probably been the one thing I have done right .

My yard looks pretty stupid right now, though. Yellowing St. Augustine with little "explosions" of green weeds. I'm having a hard time identifying these weeds. I'm gonna stay away from chemicals for now and just pull them by hand. (they grow outward forming a circular shape, kinda what something looks like that has been dropped from a high place. A kind of "outward shattering" appearance. Anyone recognize this vile weed?)
 
None of the local gardening experts recommend weed n feed. You want to kill weeds in early spring when they are growing before the grass and then apply fertilizer in late spring. The weed killer usually stunts the grass and the fertilzer usually encourages the weeds to grow. So they really don't work well together.

What Bevo Incog says is the way to go.
 
Look at what the second application was. Some of the weed killers also kill st augustine- read the label carefully. Either way just water the hell out of it and don't mow too low
 
With the recent cool temps I doubt that over fertilization is causing the discoloraton. Most probably just a reaction to the week killer.

I lived with grass discoloration for years before I was told what the problem was. I tried fertilizer and Iron to excess trying to get the grass dark green and nothing every worked. Last year a horticulturist was checking on my neighbors sickly tree, saw my yard and told me I needed sulfur! Sure enough after a application of sulfur the yard turned lush green. Nowhere on the City yardcare website or local landscaping websites to I find that our soil needed to be supplimented with iron or sulfur but I guess it does. Maybe it is just the "rocky" soil in the Oak Hill area that need it but by the amount of Sulfur they had on stock at Home Depot someone must purchase a lot of it.

Best thing to keep you lawn healty and green is a very sharp blade on your mower and never cut more than 1/3 of the blade of grass. Any more and you will cut into the growing zone and stunt growth.
 
When did you do this?

I suggest you water every day for a week.

My neighbor destroyed his beautiful yard last summer because he read the fertilizer instructions wrong and had his spreader set at the wrong setting...he then made the mistake of not watering it in (this was the middle of SUMMER IN TEXAS) and his lush St. Augustine was dead brown within 48 hours.

Now, he's got Bermuda all over his yard and it looks like ****. I keep my own St. Augustine as high as possible so as not to get infiltrated by his Bermuda (Tall St. Augustine will shade out Bermuda and keep it from growing)
 
Step 1: Scotts Bonus S only once in the spring

Step 2: Mow grass on highest setting

Step 3: Enjoy yard
 
St. Augustine is a monster that will grow on, over, under, around, and in place of anything.

I had a patch where the kids' sand box was. Completely dead. Moved the sandbox with the intention of dropping some grass plugs in the dead space. In the five minutes it too me to put the sandbox up and walk back, The St. Augustine had grown over the dead patch.

My dog fell asleep in th yard one day. Now we have a bump in the yard that we call "Rover Hill". I'm tellin ya...that St. Agustine grows like somethin' crazy, man..
 
Thanks for all of the replies.

I've been watering like crazy and the color is coming back. It's gonna take some work, but I think it can be salvaged.
 
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