Question
We recently cleaned some tarps on our lawn on a very hot (90 degrees F) day. The tarps were left on the lawn for about 4 hours. The lawn under the tarps is (of course) now yellow, and not coming back. The lawn is about 1 year old, Dwarf Fescue (80%) and Bluegrass (20%), was put in as sod, and was beautiful before this goof. The sod company said it's dead, rip it out and replace it. Is there any other option to bring it back? It was expensive to put in, and will be to replace. We are in San Jose, CA. The soil under ths sod is very good quality, and was prepared with organic compost before the sod was layed, the soil drains well. We get full sun for most of the day. We have a good automatic sprinkler system that gets 100% overlap for coverage. The lawn was not fertilized this spring.

Please help.

Answer
Two quick answers:

1. Yellow is not Dead.  Brown is Dead.  Yellow is BAD but it is not HOPELESS.

2.  A product called Harpin Protein, sold as 'Messenger', is a remedy for green plant damage.  Run out and buy a little container tomorrow and mix it up, then spray it on the leaves and water the Grass with the remainder.  I think this will give your Grass a fighting chance.

Please let me know how you do with it.  The sooner you do something about this, the better.

Sod company sounds like they're doing what's best for the sod company.  Keep that in mind when you have to get work done in the future.

I think this is definitely worth a shot.

If it works, call them and make them explain it to you.  Then write back and tell me all about it.

Thanks for writing.  Keep me posted.