How can I tell if my lawn is lack of fertilizer or it's over-fertilzed?

Question

We are in Atlanta, GA. The grass is brown/yellow now, it has green too, but the overall looks pretty bad comparing to my neighbors'. I heard that one can tell this by checking how color changes in the grass, brown from top or bottom, something like that. Could someone help? Thanks!

Answer 1

Since I do not know what type of soils your lawn is growing in, the key to fertilizing is: If you have sandy, porous soil, your lawn may not be getting what you feed it because the nutrients are washed down past the root system and not feeding the grass. This would also apply to the amount of moisture roots need to generate new growth. Grass would appear to be browning or dying-under fertilized even if you had put excess amount of feed on your lawn. If you have heavy clay-type soils, water may stand long enough to "drown" the roots and would still turn brown. If you have green areas and they seem to be in low spots, water and feed is probably sheeting off, landing in low areas and slowly draining (if you see signs of moss here) Leave the grass clippings on your grass to compost, improve the soil slowly or start over with a good base of water/nutrient holding soil like composted material. Less watering and feed-healthier lawn.
If you never fertilize, grass will grow with moisture but may seem slow or a lighter color.

Answer 2

It could be dry to lack of water. So water first and wait until you see a change. If not fertilize with a mixture but ask your garden centre man. He knows best.

Answer 3

I believe they have test kits for this...check with your local garden shop/hardware store or center....