The Grass Doctor

How to get a green lawn this summer?

I don't know what to do. Should I just buy a new lawn, how much would that cost? Or just keep trying different fertilizers? What worked for you?

Public Comments

1. Best way, rip out your grass and plant useful stuff like trees and natural plants. Problem solved for good
2. When my renters messed up my lawn I found fertilizing and regular watering with a timer in the mornings did the trick
3. when you mow your lawn, don't keep the clippings in a bag. get a mower that shoots them out the side because the clippings fertalize the lawn.
4. try using scotts three step fertilizer and invest in a sprinkler system good fertilizer and water will help. Thatch your lawn at the end of the summer and overseed it in the fall then overseed again next summer. Sod is much more expensive than this method
5. Lawns go dormant in the Summer and turn brown. Water enough to keep the lawn from dying. Your lawn can be green in the Spring and Summer with a light fertilization and adequate water. Don't overdo the water or the fert.
6. . Use a fertilizer high in nitrogen. Be sure to water well after application as nitrogen will burn the lawn if you don't.
7. Hey Blgfan, All of the other answers may be right for one type of grass, but if you don't have that type of grass - you might just hurt your lawn more. For example, putting more than the recommended 1lb per 1000 sq feet of Nitrogen on a 'centipede grass' lawn will hurt the lawn. When I had Kentucky Bluegrass, it would stop growing but never turned brown in Connecticut winters. So, when you ask about a lawn, give your temperate zone, and approximate location so that the best advice possible can be given. Do you know what type of grass you have? Buying a new lawn has a decision point. If your lawn is over 50% dead - then you need to replace it. If there is still more than 50% alive, then you can revitalize it. Do not fertilize until you find out what type of grass you have, and analyze what is killing it. If it is bugs, then you kill the bugs and the lawn will come back. Then you put your lawn on a maintenance schedule intended for your specific grass type. Here is a link to a Clemson Extension Master Gardener site that has a presentation to students about turf grasses. Read it. Knowledge is power, and will save you hundreds of dollars. Notice that there is a presentation on IPM - which is Integrated Pest Management - which will also help you. When you find out what type of grass you have, and list where you live - see if you can also try to describe how the grass is dying. Is it in round patches? Can you do a detergent flush to see if bugs come up (3 gallons of water with mild dish detergent poored on the lawn in 2' by 2' patch? Can you do a flood test to see if other types of bugs come up (a can sunk into the turf, open in the bottom, filled with water, just a small test)? Dig up a 1' by 1' triangular patch, peal it back, and inspect for larve, grubs, etc., find any? A lot? how many? All of this advice will help you establish a better lawn by getting information about the pathology of your lawn, then you can get much better advice. Come back with the information, and then as your question again. Hope this helps. Happy Gardening. -------------- The web site is not allowing me to post with an active URL for the clemson site. So, take out the spaces in what I posted. Or, go to my profile, and click on the Clemson presentation in my profile. Select the Turfgrass presentation(it is worth the effort) htt p : // w ww. clemson. edu/sandhill/page.htm? pageId =3669