In short, the best way to save your overwatered grass is to reprogram your sprinkler to cut down watering on that section of your lawn and then treat it individually to nurse it back to health.
If you have fallen into the trap of overwatering your lawn, it is possible to restore the damage. This starts with adjusting your irrigation schedule. For most grass types, watering once or twice a week for a total of one to two inches of water is sufficient.
This is when the lawn will start to turn yellow. It's also common for an overwatered lawn to develop more significant layers of thatch and to be prone to pest problems. Excess water also leaves the grass much more prone to lawn fungus. A lawn that has received too much water might even have mushrooms popping up.
Red-orange colored grass is a sign that the lawn is stressed and overwatered. This discoloration is caused by the rust fungus. Anthracnose and brown spots are also common in wet grasses.
Unfortunately, people with a sprinkler system have a tendency to overwater. This can result in wasting water and can be detrimental to the health of your lawn—and that's when many homeowners see brown patches in the grass.
To dry out soil quickly, you can apply hydrated lime to the soil, add compost and then turn the soil thoroughly to aerate it.
Disease. Dozens of diseases and fungi can turn your lawn brown. This time of year, when watering is in full swing and there's often high humidity, fungus is everywhere. One common moisture-loving fungus, brown patch, usually hangs out in the soil munching decomposing plant matter.
Just because the lawn is brown does not mean it is dead. It may just be dormant, which is when a lawn goes into a hibernation-like mode in response to a lack of water, nutrients, or overbearing heat.
You'll often see grass looking a little bluish-purple/gray instead of bright green when it's starting to get stressed. Usually this goes hand in hand with the footprints in the lawn symptom. A golden yellow or brown lawn.
A lawn that stays extremely wet for an excessive amount of time after a rain is probably waterlogged. It could be squishy to walk on, or there may even be extensive puddling that refuses to go away.
If your grass is turning brown despite watering, it's possible that you may have a problem with disease, caused by microscopic living organisms. These include bacteria, fungi, and nematodes, among others.
Usually, overwatering will cause your lawn or garden to become very wet and stay wet, like a swamp. As a result, the roots of your plants will be sitting in water, which can cause them to rot.
The good news is that most plants will bounce back between 7-14 days if they're given proper care (which includes rehydration). If this isn't possible because major damage was done or little healthy root system exists then expect about 2 weeks until improvement can be seen.
Too much or not enough water can turn your lawn yellow or straw-colored. Too much water can drown grass roots and rob the soil of oxygen and that lush green color. Too little water will create drought symptoms that turn your lawn yellow or some shade of brown.
There is no way to revive dead grass, but you can keep brown or yellowing grass from dying out. The best way to revive dehydrated grass is to offer moisture as needed.
The good news is that despite their delicate structure and appearance, grasses are surprisingly resilient. Most types of grass can survive extended periods of drought, and although they may look dead—visibly brown, dry and limp—they're often only dormant, awaiting the next rainstorm.
Individual grass plants can recover and green up again, once the plants get sufficient water.
Problem: Lawn Has Yellow, Brown, or Dark-Green Streaks
Finally, grass that's over-fertilized will be burnt and turn brown. To fix the problem, start by watering the damaged lawn well to encourage the grass to grow. And then, be careful not to over-fertilize; it will only compound the problem.
If you live in a warm climate and your lawn turns brown every winter season, you may have a warm-season grass that naturally goes dormant during winter months. What looks dead should be green again by late spring or early summer.
Lawn aeration is a great way to help revive brown “dead” grass; poking holes in a lawn will grant the roots unencumbered access to oxygen. Professional lawn-care services may offer this service in the spring to help revive dormant winter grass in time for the summer.
The grass will break dormancy and begin growing again when the temperatures and/or rainfall levels become more ideal for it. Note that when dormancy ends, grass leaves that have turned brown won't revive, but new leaves will appear.
Luckily, grass that simply thins out can recover without chemicals. There are a variety of reasons your lawn may develop Brown patch, including high heat and humidity, excessive nitrogen, moisture, poor soil damage, too much thatch, and compacted soil.
Just because your grass is brown doesn't mean it's dead. It might just be dormant, which means growth naturally slows down, and it becomes less green.