FERTILISER SCORCHING

Scorching your lawn from overapplying a fertiliser is an all too common occurrence and you cannot consider yourself a true lawn care fanatic until you have done it and experienced the panic!

Lawn fertilisers are brilliant and crucial to getting a lawn that is a deep green colour, but they need to be applied in moderation. Many fertilisers will have high levels of nitrogen and these will strip all moisture from your lawn when applied - this stripping of moisture is what causes the scorching and your lawn to turn black! This is why you should always water heavily after applying a fertiliser. 

So, when you do the inevitable and over apply a fertilisers, try the following steps to recover:

1. Water, Water and Water

Water the lawn as heavily as possible. You should be aiming to soak the lawn - do not stop until you have substantial puddles forming. Keep up this routine for 3-4 days and keep it moist as much as possible, so that you can dilute the fertiliser as much as possible. 

If you have only mild scorching, this may well alleviate your problems rather quickly. Even if this does not resolve the scorching, keep with the watering as you need to dilute the fertiliser into the soil to prevent more scorching and allow the grass to recover. 

2. Normal Cutting Routine

The scorching will normally only occur to the blades of the grass and not the roots. Because of this, the scorching grass will grow out and you need to wait for this to happen. So, stick to a regular mowing routine and allow the scorched grass to grow

3. Patience

This bit is simple - just wait. The scorched grass will grow out in a few weeks, so don’t try anything radical. Having to be patient will teach you not to do this again!