Has your lawn lost its green color? Is your grass browning and dying, and you’re wondering how to restore it to its former beauty?
We all know the intense feelings of failure, disappointment, and loss when we see our plants turning brown, wilting, or dying without a logical reason.
This usually makes us go into a frantic search for an emergency remedy to help save our grass.
But we need to keep in mind that if we don’t know the cause of the grass browning and wilting, we can’t tell which remedy will work and which one’s won’t.
This article will provide you with a brief guide on how to get burnt grass green again.
Contents
- Understanding the Cause of Burnt Grass
- How to Identify Burnt Grass
- How Long Until Burnt Grass Turns Green Again
- Will Burnt Grass Ever Come to Life?
- Causes for Burnt Grass and their Remedies
- 1. Fertilizer burn due to excess nitrogen
- 2. Animal Urine
- 3. Heat burn
- 4. Herbicide Injury
- 5. Fire
- How to get burnt grass green again FAQ
- 1. How do you revive a burnt lawn?
- 2. Can burnt grass be brought back?
- 3. How do I stop my grass burning in the summer?
- Author
Understanding the Cause of Burnt Grass
One natural cause of burnt grass is season changes. Excessive heat and direct sunlight can cause lush green grass to turn into a dried yellow straw.
In the same way, cold weather can also have a devastating effect on your lawn or garden, turning it from a vibrant green to a drab brown color. Some flowers will not bloom when exposed to frost and heavy wind.
How to Identify Burnt Grass
How do you know if your lawn is burnt? The most common signs of a burnt lawn are dark brown spots with yellow leaves and wilting flowers.
Other indications would be dryness, discoloration (brownish-orange), and loss of health (yellowing leaves). Another indicator is “burnt” patches on your lawn or garden, where the grass is still green, but the surrounding areas are brown.
How Long Until Burnt Grass Turns Green Again
The longer it takes for burnt grass to turn green depends on the season. Burnt grass in spring is usually easy to fix because all it needs is a few days of rain or watering.
On the other hand, burnt grass caused by prolonged summer heat could take weeks before it turns green again.
Other determinants are weather, temperature, type of soil, and grass.
You can fix burnt grass that was because of these causes. But you’ll have to wait for a few days or weeks because root dormancy takes time to wear off, so you must be patient.
Also read: What does ironite do for lawns?
Will Burnt Grass Ever Come to Life?
Eventually, burnt grass will turn green again – but it is important to note that this may take weeks, depending on the severity of the damage. You can fix some cases quickly, but some might take time, depending on the causes and severity of the damage.
Causes for Burnt Grass and their Remedies
1. Fertilizer burn due to excess nitrogen
Fertilizer is one of the most common causes of burnt grass. During the initial growth stages, lawns need nitrogen, but not too much, to become healthy and develop into lush green grass.
If you overuse fertilizer and don’t balance it correctly, with other nutrients in the soil, burnt patches will appear on your lawn. As it dries up and dies, you’ll notice that it turns light yellow or even white.
For this reason, maintain good soil aeration, especially during the spring and summer seasons when the grass is actively growing.
This will prevent fertilizer burn by putting nutrients in contact with healthy microorganisms that process them into plant food. Also, don’t apply excess fertilizer on grass. Apply fertilizer sparingly.
2. Animal Urine
Another cause of burnt grass is animal urine. If your pet dog frequently urinates on the lawn, this will kill the grass because animal urine contains a high concentration of nitrogen and salts.
Nitrogen and salt build-up on the soil dehydrates it to a point where nothing can grow there. The obvious solution would be to keep pets away from these areas, but you can also try to speed up the recovery process by re-sodding.
The best way to avoid this problem is by planting urine-tolerant grass.
3. Heat burn
Heat burn can cause brown spots to appear on your lawn. Hot weather, direct sun exposure, and lack of water will all contribute to the problem.
To solve heat burn, thoroughly water your green grass area because this will cool it down significantly. The added moisture will also prevent severe dehydration, which could eventually kill the grass altogether.
It’s also recommended that you cut your grass very short and apply organic mulch to reduce the amount of direct sunlight exposure.
Normal rainfall will also help green up burnt grass, but you can speed recovery further by re-sodding and deep watering the affected area.
4. Herbicide Injury
Another cause of burnt grass is herbicide injury. If you are not familiar with herbicides, they are chemicals that get rid of weed either by killing them or making the surrounding environment unfavorable for weed growth.
Herbicide residue can accumulate on your soil, and this will cause problems when you plant new crops in these areas. The good news is that you can easily flush these chemicals away with water.
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5. Fire
If a fire has invaded your lawn, don’t worry. You can still salvage your grass because fire only burns the top layer of your soil. Most grass species have deep roots so that they won’t face much danger.
If the roots are still healthy, then your lawn will sprout. However, you’ll have to support the grass by deep watering (5 to 6 inches) and applying fertilizer until it grows back.
Finally, don’t forget to carry out healthy lawn maintenance practices, like mowing the grass correctly and regularly. You might also want to set your lawnmower at an appropriate blade height so that it doesn’t do too much damage on freshly laid turf.
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How to get burnt grass green again FAQ
1. How do you revive a burnt lawn?
The simplest way to revive a burnt lawn is by providing it with the nutrients, water, and sunlight it requires. This will encourage healthy grass to grow in the burnt patches.
2. Can burnt grass be brought back?
Yes, but you’ll have to be patient. The burnt grass will die off first before healthy grass begins sprouting again.
3. How do I stop my grass burning in the summer?
You can keep your grass green during the summer by keeping pets, birds, and people away from it and maintaining a healthy lawn.
Now you know what causes burnt grass and how to get burnt grass green again. Most of the time, it’s fire, herbicide, heat burn, animal urine, and fertilizer burn.
As you can see, burnt grass is usually easy to fix once you know what’s causing it. Before you get rid of your lawn, try to fix it. Give it time to grow back. Remember, it will take at least 3 weeks until you see changes.
If your grass doesn’t start growing after a month, it means the grass is dead, and you’ll have to replace it. And when you replace it, ensure to carry out proper maintenance practices, like deep watering and fertilizer application.
