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A lush green and dense lawn is every homeowner’s dream. However, sometimes you instead find random brown patches on your lawn or your lawn looks unmaintained. If you are wondering how to make grass green fast, you have come to the right place.
Many people might assume that grass, unlike plants and trees, does not require a lot of care, effort, and maintenance. Shouldn’t it grow alright on its own, naturally? However, gardeners, experience homeowners, and those who do lawn care know better.
A blade of grass is also something that breathes after all. It needs water, sunlight, and your care, just like every other plant. And that is exactly what you will find out in this article — that is, how to care for your grass.
You will get effective DIY tips and tricks on how to make grass green fast. You will understand what causes grass to turn dry and brown, and how you can prevent it from happening.
How Do You Get Grass Green Fast?
First of all, you need stronger grass. There are different types of grass and some types will be hardier and easier to grow than others.
Part 1: Grass seed type
Choose the grass seed, like Tall Fescue mix, that will grow deep roots that will make sure your lawn is more durable than before.
If you love the dark green color, you’re going to want a mix of Kentucky Bluegrass, like this ultra grass seed mix.
Part 2: Lawn nutrient booster
The second part of having strong grass is giving your lawn the proper nutrients. Use a commercial-grade lawn energizer to give your grass a nutrient booster. A liquid-type fertilizer is easier to get absorbed into the grass. It attaches to a hose end of the sprayer so it’s easy to apply.
Another part of your lawn’s nutrients is thorough watering. This is especially true when you need those new grass seeds to sprout. You may have to check with your city to see what days and times you’re allowed to water your lawn.
If you know your grass is strong and you’ve recently applied fertilizers, check out the next section where we discuss the different types of causes of unhealthy, brown, or spotty grass. As well as how to fix them to get a green lawn again.
How to Make Grass Green Fast: Problems Causing Bad Grass and Solutions for a Green Lawn
Having a fair understanding of what generally creates trouble for your turf will help you be prepared for any eventualities. Following are some of the most common factors that cause the decline of grass. Each cause is also accompanied by possible remedies for you to easily implement.
1. Excessive use of fertilizers
Though fertilizers are important for grass, excessive use of fertilizers will make the roots weak. It sometimes damages them and as a result, you will begin to see brown patches.
Use only recommended amounts of fertilizer for your grass. When you shop for a fertilizer make sure the product you buy has the correct amounts of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphate. These are the three primary nutrients required for grass to be healthy. You should also be aware of how often to fertilize and what are the best conditions to use them. Following are some guidelines suggested by experts for best results.
- Look for a fertilizer with a 20-5-10 combination of nutrients — that is 20 percent nitrogen, 5 percent phosphate, and 10 percent potassium, which is a generally good mix.
- When to fertilize — A good season for the first application of fertilizer is in spring or anytime the soil temperature is about 12 degrees Celsius.
- It is recommended that you use a slow-release fertilizer. Slow-release fertilizers release nutrients in sufficient amounts into the soil over a longer period. This ensures that the grass absorbs what’s needed at regular intervals and the time between applications can be longer.
This also allows you to maintain an optimum height for your grass. Otherwise, if you feed the grass with all the nutrients in a short span, it will grow taller quickly, resulting in more frequent mowing.
The trick is to understand the intervals between applications so that the grass is a healthy green and also short enough to maintain. Keep in mind overuse of fertilizer can damage roots.
2. Too much heat
It’s common for grass to turn dry and brown during summer. It may also turn brown if you cut your grass too short. This is because less cover can allow the sun to dry out too much moisture from the soil.
While heat could be a worrying factor, it is quite common and your grass will get its color back when the season changes.
Alternatively, you can make sure that you maintain an optimal height for your grass — preferably about 2.5 inches.
You can also use automatic sprinklers to help with watering the grass at regular intervals. Make sure they are fixed well and reach all areas of the lawn. This prevents awkward brown spots from areas the sprinkler didn’t cover.
3. Dog urine or Animal urine
If you have pets, make sure they do not urinate often on your lawn.
Dog urine contains nitrogen and is highly acidic, so it could damage your grass, causing brown spots.
Train your pet to urinate only in one spot or area of the grass a place.
Then, use a dog spot patch repair on the lawn. It neutralizes the urine and grows hardy grass in the area. Keeping the grass strong and dense means weeds can’t move in.
The DIY method is first, pour a lot of water on that patch so that the acid is diluted. Then, you can add seeds, some fertilizers, and water the area so that the grass grows back and get its color back soon.
4. Iron Chlorosis
When your grass turns yellow around the tips, the cause is most likely iron chlorosis. This is when the roots of the grass do not absorb enough iron. This could be because of various factors — malnourishment, alkaline soil, or even because the roots of bigger trees nearby are hogging the nutrients.
You have two solutions on how to get grass green fast again when dealing with iron chlorosis:
- Treat the soil — Check the pH (Power of Hydrogen) levels of the soil. You can do this with a simple pH testing tool. If it shows a number more than 7, then the soil is alkaline. Nutrients you apply are not soluble in alkaline soil so the roots are unable to absorb them. For this, you need to balance the pH levels of the soil. Grass ideally thrives at a pH level of 6.5 to 7. To treat this, you can use granular sulfur which induces acidity, thereby balancing the pH levels.
- Use a foliar spray — A foliar spray is ideal for grass that is suffering from severe iron chlorosis. What you essentially do is treat the foliage rather than the roots for better absorption. You will spray liquid iron on the grass in recommended amounts and intervals for the best results.
5. Weeds
A common problem most homeowners have to fight is the growth of weeds. When it’s not addressed on time, weeds can take all the water and nutrients you supply to the grass. This can cause the grass to die or be thinned out in weed-heavy areas.
Weed control is a perennial problem that you can keep under control by having lots of strong grass. If you have a turf of strong grass, the grass will crowd out and outcompete the weeds that will try to come up.
To get a lawn that has a thick layer of strong grass, first, get rid of the weeds by hand. Use a stand up weed puller and a lawn bag holder to make your job easier without having to be on your knees.
Then, prep your lawn with new top soil and fertilizer. Finally, overseed the lawn. A tool that will make this prep step easier is a wheel barrow spreader.
You may find that most experienced homeowners regularly weed their lawn with a weed puller. Then, top up those empty spots with a seed/soil/fertilizer mix. You can use a rescue patch seed-fert-mulch mix.
Water your newly prepped lawn thoroughly. Though it’s best to try to prep the day before it should rain, the weather report is not one you can always count on.
Check with your municipality for the outdoor water times because most cities have a water management plan. They will tell you which day of the week and the time that you’re allowed to water your lawn.
For areas that have thick weeds that would be almost impossible to grab with the weed puller, you can use recommended herbicides that kill only weeds. It could help keep the growth of weeds under control.
Apply the herbicide and wait a couple of days before prepping the lawn for overseeding. Children and pets should stay away from the applied herbicide until it is watered or rained.
6. Fungal infections
The grass is often prone to diseases and fungal infections. This occurs more often if there is too much water with no room for excess water to drain. Do not overwater your grass and do not water at night. While moisture is needed, if your grass is submerged in water, you will invite infections. Use the recommended amounts of any generic fungicide to treat these infections.
7. Soil issues
You may encounter issues with the soil such as topsoil erosion or poor quality of soil in general. If your soil is too dense, you have to loosen it up for good airflow. If your lawn is on a slope, then the topsoil may get eroded due to winds or change of season.
To reduce erosion, you may consider ground covers, which are nothing but low-lying plants which cover an entire area of the ground. This offers the soil the protection it needs from being eroded. Some examples of fast-growing ground covers include lilyturf, bellflowers, and speedwell.
These are some quick factors that cause the decline of your turf and how to fix them. Implement these tips on how to make grass green fast right away and soon enough, you are going to be able to wake up to your own luxurious lush green carpet of grass every morning!
What do you put on your lawn to make it green?
You can use fertilizers in acceptable amounts to feed your grass. It is recommended that you use slow-release fertilizers to ensure that the grass receives sufficient amounts of nutrients over a longer period.
If you’ve had a bad experience with pellet fertilizers, try the liquid fertilizers as they spread and get absorbed easier. These usually attach to your garden hose and easily spreads around your lawn. Be sure to follow the instructions on your chosen liquid fertilizer to avoid fertilizer burn on the grass.
Remember to apply good quality topsoil or black earth and overseed your lawn. Use a wheel barrow lawn spreader to help make this task an easy one. You can also find the hand-crank version but our experience is that isn’t worth the crank and dust except for the smallest of lawns — like the size of an apartment balcony.
How do you make yellow grass green fast?
If your grass is yellow, it could be because of a condition called iron chlorosis, a condition caused because of poor absorption of iron by the grass.
If the soil is alkaline you may have to make it a little acidic to bring down the pH levels. The acceptable pH level for grass is between 6.5 and 7. You may use a foliar spray for quick results. This is nothing but liquid iron that is sprayed directly on the foliage for better absorption.
If you begin to notice brown patches on your lawn, then there could be various reasons for it. It’s important to understand the cause and address it efficiently to resolve the issue. In most cases, grass could turn brown because of excessive heat, too much fertilizer, or overwatering. These factors are easy to rectify.
If you notice yellow grass, it could be due to iron chlorosis, for which you may need to balance the pH levels of the soil or use a foliar spray to directly treat the foliage.
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