Q: I have about 3200 square feet of grass, and I have made a terrible mistake. I have put down 4 bags of nitrogen (34-0-0) . I must have misunderstood the guy because he said nitrogen would not burn as long as I kept it watered.

A: Theresa Schrum replies: “Yep, that was a big mistake. However, you didn’t tell us what type of grass you have.

Bermuda might be able to survive such a poisoning. Fescue, Zoysia, St. Augustine and Centipede ….. probably not.

A good rule for applying nitrogen to bermuda is to take the first number (the nitrogen percentage) and divide that into 100. In this case the answer would be close to 3. That is how many pounds of fertilizer should be applied per 1000 square feet of lawn.

If you are receiving ample rain, the excess fertilizer will wash out and hopefully NOT into a nearby creek or waterway. Another reason to not over fertilize. You will simply have to wait to see if it survives. You might want to mow or rake out the dead blades.”