How to Care for Burned Grass

Your lawn is the first thing someone sees when coming over so be sure to make the right impression with a healthy green lawn. A burned or scorched lawn is grass that has become brown or withered, but it can be treated.

Consistently water your lawn. Sounds simple enough but most often, a lawn goes bad due to simple missteps such as not watering your lawn. This is the most important step toward maintaining a healthy lawn. It can also help re-grow a lawn back to its green self. Make sure to water evenly and enough so that the water will reach six inches into the ground. If not, the roots may grow toward the surface and make it vulnerable for sun damage.

Don't overuse fertilizer of pesticides. Make sure to read the directions on the back of fertilizers and pesticides to ensure proper use and timing. Overusing will burn the lawn because it kills microbes that the grass needs to maintain health and grow. Using fertilizer during the summer or hot weather will cause the grass to burn and brown.

Add sugar. This sounds odd but it works. The sugar protects the microbes necessary for a lawn to stay healthy. Spread approximately 1 pound of sugar to every 300 square feet of lawn area.

Re-sod. If the damage to your lawn is extensive and none of the above steps worked in bringing your lovely lawn back, it's time to re-sod. Re-seeding is also an option, but, at best, the grass will come out patchy so it may be worth the investment to re-sod. And if it's only patches of the lawn that are irreparable, you can purchase patches of sod to fill in the holes rather than re-sodding the entire lawn. Be advised that new patches of sod need extra water.

The most important thing is to water your lawn evenly and consistently. Showing it the care it needs is the most important aspect of your lawn's survival.