Question
Charlotte:
I recently applied SDcott's Summerguard on my lawn.....insect killer and hi N content ferizlizer.
Unfortunately, the spreader was set at 4 times the recommended level, and I fear that half of my grass is burned out.
What is the remedy if any. Will that grass eventually recover, or does it need to be re-seeded next year.

Also, if you have some quick tips on use of inexpensive organic fertizerers, I would welcome that.
Hope you can help.
Nick M.


Answer
Hi Nicholas;
It is likely that you have killed it.
That was realy a load to put on at once.
Organics is the best way to go in terms of a better lawn, as well as less expense and less money.
You can't go pert organics and part chemicals though.
It has to be one way or the other.
If you use some chemical products, you undo the organics you use, so they become innefective.
I have not put anything on my lawn for 8 years except sugar in the spring and fall, and in the hottest part of the summer, if my lawn looks stressed.
I have started trying some of the things I am reading about on an organic scientist's website this year.
I have used the alfalf meal and tea, and lava sand, with very good results.
Sugar nourishes the beneficial microbes that enrich the soil.
with good, rich soil, you can grow anything, and weeds won't thrive in rich soil, so when they soil is nice and rich, the weeds start dieing out as soon as they come up.
The richer the soil, the faster the weds that do come up disappear.
If any are even coming up in my yard, for the past 5 or 6 years they have not gotten big enough for me to even see them.
Corn gluten is a good weed and feed. It has a lot of nutrition in it, and it is a good fungicide.
I have to get alfalfa meal at a feed store.
All it is is finely chopped alfalfa.
It can be applied to the soil and worked in, or made into a tea and used t water plants, or in a garden sprayer as a foliar feed.
I strain it to use in my garden sprayer, but i let the residue go on the plants too, it just adds more nutrition, but slower.
To make the tea, put 1 cup alfalfa in 5 gallons of water and let it set overnight.
I bought a 5 gallon gas can at Walmart to mix my teas in.
The sugar, I use 1 pound per 250 sq.ft. of lawn and garden, and broadcast ot by hand. Like sowing seeds or feeding chickens.
then I water it in well.
I always water to a depth of at least 6 inches to encourage a deep root system.
Deep roots protect against heat, cold and/or drought damage, and prevents thatch buildup.
Going organic makes a healthy enviornment for lawn critters and beneficial insects. They feed on all the harmful insects, so insects cease to be a problem.

For every harmful insects that is attracted to your lawn, there are hundreds of beneficial ones that feed on the harmful ones.
When you use fertilizers and weed killers and insecticides, they kill the beneficial ones as well as the harmful ones, but the harmful ones come right back, and the natural predators are no longer there to take care of them, so you have a continuing insect problem.
When I used chemicals I spent about 20 to 40 hours per week in lawn care, and had a mediocre lawn, and a small fortune each year at the nurseries.
Since I switched to organics, I spend about 4 hours per week, and that includes the pruning, and planting new plants.
I buy a large quantity of sugar, twice a year, sometimes 3 times.
I buy the cheapest brand of sugar to put on my lawn.
I use baking soda disolved in water for fungicide. It works better than any of the chemical fungucudes I ever used.
I used to spray my roses once a month for black apot fungus and aphids.
I still had aphid damage top almost every rose that opened.
With the baking soda, I spray when new growth shows in the spring, and as i see new spotted leaves, until the weather gets too warm for it to grow, and I let my lizards eat the aphids.
I have NO aphid damage to roses that open, and they smell so much stronger and nicer.
You couldn't pay me enough to go back to using chemicals.
Charlotte