Question
I live in Virginia and early spring this year we had a few bald spots in our yard so I applied a few bags of grass seed and soon after, a bag of pellet lime and scotts fertilizer with 2% iron. Our grass started to grow and it was beautiful!!! About a month later I ended up fertilizing the lawn again with the same stuff(it says apply anytime) and we received 2 days worth of hard rain after the fertilizer was applied. I woke up after the rain stopped 2 days later and my jaw dropped! HALF OF MY GRASS WAS DEAD! It appeared to be a light grayish color, with some remaining green blades surrounding it. Now there is about a large 7 foot gap with that kind of unattractive grass!

This is so depressing! What can I do to fix this! HELP!

Answer
You did several things I would not do if I were you.

Problem number 1:  First, my Scotts Lecture.  While I'm SO glad that you did not use anything with 'Weed and Feed' or 'Grub Killer' etc on your Grass, we all (?) know that Scotts Fertilizers -- like ALL Chemical Fertilizers although Scotts has that business cornered so we must pick on them --  will WIPE OUT your lawn overnight if you don't put it down right.

Too much of a Bad Thing went down here, Kerry.

You have to be SO CAREFUL with Chemicals.

You were not careful.

Why were you not careful?

Because...

SCOTTS DID NOT TELL YOU to be careful.

Right?

Think about it.  You have seen probably a few hours of commercials for these products in your lifetime, right?

You've seen lots of magazine ads.  Beautiful TV shots of sweeping, green lawns and happy people playing outdoors on a beautifully sunny day.  Never once did you hear anything about a 'Warning'.

Those warnings are on the back of the package.  Not the front.

Those warnings are LITTLE with NO PICTURES -- except for a Skull And Bones on the pesticides and herbicides bags.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you were probably thinking about it.  But when you decided to put down Scotts, you were thinking about the Green of your Grass.  Not the chemical reactions taking place as the powder went down.

Problem number 2:  Kerry, multitasking is a way of life in today's world.  I do it all the time.  Drive and drink coffee.  Walk and chew gum.

But one multitask one should NEVER do: mix Lime and Fertilizer.

These two chemicals react together and release Ammonia gas as a byproduct.  That's FATAL for your Grass.  If you're going to put down Lime, wait TWO WEEKS or LONGER before you put down a high Nitrogen fertilizer.

Problem number 3:  Why did you buy Iron for your soil?

Did you get a soil test that said, Kerry's Soil Needs Iron!

NO!

How do you know that, Kerry?

Because I absolutely, positively KNOW you did not get a soil test with those results.  Because Soil RARELY is short of Iron!

Hmmm....

They didn't mention that.  You trusted Scotts.  You figured, This must be a good idea, something I don't know about, but they do so I'll get this.  Iron's good for me, Iron's good for my grass.

Sure!

Why don't you go out next week and get your Grass some Tomato Juice, Kerry?

If Scotts sold 'Scotts Turf Builder Plus Tomato Juice', would you buy that?

Sure, why not?

Kerry, I guarantee you do not need Tomato Juice OR Iron in your soil.  Trust me.  I totally know this.  Get a soil test.  We'll make a bet.  I'll give you $100 if your soil test comes back and it needs Iron.

Problem number 4:  Your Biggest Mistake, Kerry.  YOU APPLIED THE SCOTTS AGAIN!!!!

If your father was here....

Naturally, you followed directions on the package: 'Apply any time'.  Of course.  So you put down more.

Now you can get your money back on TWO bags.

My favorite part of the bag has to be, 'Won't burn your lawn...Guaranteed!'

Now, this is really quite problematic.

Please read the bag of Scotts and tell me what the back says.  Because this company's 'Turf Builder' line is supposed to be totally foolproof.  And I'll tell you why.

Take a bag of 'regular' lawn fertilizer.

It probably is based on Ammonium, or something that turns into Ammonium.  When you put Ammonium in your soil, you add something that is HIGHLY acidic.  Plus you burn the Grass.

But Scotts Turf Builder line of products is not Ammonium.

It's Urea Formaldehyde based.  Specifically, a kind of UF called Methylene Urea.  Scotts invented this kind of fertilizer and had a patent on it until 2001.

Methylene Urea is the most popular slow release mass-market fertilizer available.  It depends on soil microbes to work.  And this is why they claim that even if you put down a THIRD bag of this product, UF cannot never burn the grass.

So, Kerry, please confirm.  The bag says Methylene Urea somewhere?  Or do you have something else?

Because this fertilizer all by itself should not have burned your Grass.

There is another possible explanation.  And that would be a Fungus.  Although I am inclined to say that I do not believe it is.  But for the long list, let's put it down.

Lots of wet weather plus cool temps equals Fungus.  Which often happens when people use Scotts.

I am voting for your combo Pelletized Lime plus Scotts Fertilizer, Kerry.  The slow release might result in a delayed reaction.  I don't believe that the fertilizer, all by itself, could do this, even if you applied it more than recommended.

Regardless, get a refund.

Because they do have this 'Guarantee: If for any reason you, the consumer, are not satisfied after using this product, you are entitled to get your money back. Simply send us evident of purchase and we will mail you a refund check promptly.'

Which you should mail to:

Scott's
14111 Scottslawn Rd
Marysville OH 43041

Now, Kerry, have you had your soil tested?  It's time to do that.

Contact your Virginia Cooperative Extension (http://www.ext.vt.edu/) and do your homework.  Find out what is exactly in your soil.  Do this right.

Meantime, pick out some more Grass seed and put it in the freezer.  It germinates faster this way.

Watch the large brown circle and see if it stops growing.  We want to make sure you don't have a Fungus.  If you have a nearby Extension Office, it would be very good to bring that grass down to have them look at it.  That's what your taxes are for, Kerry.

And please, if I am wrong about that bag of Scotts, please tell me right away.  You may have a different bag.  I'd like to know.

Now, I just want to mention here that I started answering this question several days ago.  And as I finished up and sent the answer in, AllExperts booted me from the system.  It was quite an extensive answer -- I am not the fastest typist in the world, and it is very frustrating to put fingers to keyboard and after all that work get locked out just like that.  So I apologize for not getting this answer to you sooner.  I was hoping it would pop up somewhere, but that's like waiting for them to find WMDs in Iraq.  It's not going to happen in my lifetime.

So I am sorry it took so long to get back to you.

Keep me posted.  And if I learn anything more, I'll let you know.  Thanks for writing.