What to Do if Miracle Grow Killed Your Grass

Miracle Gro is one of the most popular lawn and garden treatments. It’s packed with numerous nutrients that promote optimal growth, including nitrogen. Unfortunately, putting too much nitrogen on your lawn and cause fertilizer burns and soil dryness.

If Miracle Grow kills your grass, rake the dead grass away, water the soil, and seed the lawn. Don’t add any fertilizer to the soil for a few weeks. You can add topsoil over the seeds to promote optimal growth without using chemicals on the lawn.

In this article, I’ll show you how you can restore your lawn after adding too much Miracle Grow, why Miracle Grow can harm your grass, and whether or not the grass will revitalize itself.

How Do You Restore an Over-Fertilized Lawn from Miracle-Gro?

To restore an over-fertilized lawn after using too much Miracle Gro, follow these instructions:

1. Remove as much of the dead grass as possible. You should rake dead grass before reseeding because it exposes the soil. When the soil is covered by too much thatch or dead grass, it can’t absorb enough sunlight, water, and oxygen.
2. Seed the soil wherever it’s bare. Seeding the soil will help turn dormant grass green, but it can also bring new life to the lawn. You’ll be able to fill the bare patches, preventing weeds and other plants from taking root. Make sure the seeds are the same type of grass as the rest of the lawn.
3. Place a 1/2-inch layer of topsoil over the seeds. Scotts Premium Topsoil is one of the best options because it comes with everything your grass needs to grow. It doesn’t contain nitrogen-based fertilizers, which means you don’t have to worry about fertilizer burns.
4. Use a lawn roller to sink the seeds. Lawn rollers push the seeds into the dirt, preventing them from blowing away in the wind. Try the Brinly 270-Pound Lawn Roller. It can be pushed from behind or connected to a riding lawnmower. Walk it over the seeds for instant results.
5. Water the grass daily for one to two weeks. Pepper’s Home and Garden recommends watering the dry, yellow grass every morning for the best results. It’s better if the sun can’t evaporate the moisture too quickly. This method gives the water time to sink into the soil.

If the soil looks too dry from the nitrogen burns, you can till it before starting this process. Another option is to aerate the soil with aeration tools or boot attachments. Either of these solutions will help the new grass seeds grow much quicker.

Will Grass Come Back After Fertilizer Burn?

Grass will come back after fertilizer burn if you remove the excess fertilizer with a garden hose, get rid of the dead grass, and overseed the soil. However, some burned lawns don’t need extra seeds. A regular watering schedule is often enough if you catch the fertilizer burns quickly.

Fertilizer burns, including those from Miracle Gro, are often caused by too much nitrogen in the lawn. By spraying the grass, you can remove the excess fertilizer. However, it takes a couple of weeks to reverse the nitrogen in the soil.

A little bit of nitrogen is ideal. After all, it’s a building block of all grass lawns. If you need to add fertilizer to your grass, consider the Miracle Gro Plant Food. 1.5 pounds of this plant food can treat over 600 square feet. Mix it in a watering can and spread it evenly throughout the lawn.

It goes without saying that you shouldn’t add Miracle Gro to your grass if it has fertilizer burns. Nitrogen fertilizers can drastically worsen your lawn if the soil or grass is too dry. Stick to topsoil, water, and grass seeds until you notice new grass growing through the dirt.

If you’re wondering why Miracle Gro can damage your lawn, head to the following section.

Why Did Miracle Grow Kill Your Grass?

Miracle Gro can kill your grass because it contains nitrogen. While nitrogen is a core ingredient for most growing plants, too much of it can be detrimental. In fact, your lawn is better off without any nitrogen-based fertilizers compared to having too much of them.

Here’s a list of reasons Miracle Gro can damage the lawn:

• You might not have mixed enough water into the product. Miracle Gro recommends mixing 1.5 tablespoons of their product per 1.5 gallons of water for outdoor applications. If you use too much Miracle Gro, you’ll throw off the pH and other chemicals in the soil.
• There’s too much nitrogen in the soil. Grass needs nitrogen to grow, which is why compost bins need a perfect blend of nitrogen and carbon. However, if there’s too much nitrogen in the soil, adding a nitrogen-based fertilizer (like Miracle Gro) will overload the grass.
• The grass is too dry to use liquid fertilizers. If you want to fertilize the lawn but it’s too dry during the summer, consider using a dry fertilizer. Liquid fertilizer can burn your grass because it soaks into the roots much quicker than dry, granulated variants.
• There’s copper sulfate in Miracle Gro. Small doses of copper sulfate are great at removing weeds and moss, but too much copper in the soil will harm all plantlife. Copper is a natural way to remove most plants. Miracle Gro has a healthy, balanced amount of copper sulfate. Adding too much is a problem, though.

Balanced soil doesn’t need too much fertilizer. You can grow a healthy, thriving lawn with nutrient-dense topsoil, compost, or mulch. These organic materials contain enough nutrients for grass seedlings. Lawn food and lawn fertilizer are only necessary if you want to expedite the process or if the soil isn’t healthy.

Wrapping It Up

When used correctly, Miracle Gro is an excellent source of healthy nutrients for your lawn and garden. However, too much of it can cause long-term issues, including dead grass and soil clumping. If you think you used too much Miracle Gro, water the grass thoroughly after removing the dead grass.