"tiemco, I see your point on getting any nitrogen off the blades. What is your rational for accelerating so much nitrogen into the soil/root zone? Wont that be detrimental?" No. Sure you are going to get tons of growth, but I'll take that over burn any day. It's about a month early for the spring feeding above the transition zone, so all that nitrogen shouldn't stress the grass too much (not sure where the OP lives), Just be sure you mow often enough to keep it at the level you want. Nitrogen is fairly transient in most soils, so some will leach away as well. Fertilizer burn happens because the fert ingredients are salts, and with only a small amount of water around, like dew, the salts pull water out of your grass, basically dehydrates it. If you give it a good watering you prevent this from happening. "So if I understand tiemco, he is recommending AGAINST the Scott's Plus-2." Yes, I am against Weed and Feed products for a few reasons. They make you apply synthetic fertilizer to wet grass without watering it in. They make you combine applying synth. fertilizer at the same time you want to kill weeds. What if I want to kill weeds in early April? They make you apply weed killer in dry form (liquid form is much better) and to the whole lawn, even if you only have weeds in some areas. It's much better to apply liquid weed killers directly to the weeds. If your whole lawn has weeds throughout, then get the appropriate product (Weed B Gone Max is great for most lawn weeds, CCO should handle the rest) and apply it with a hose end sprayer. If you only have a few weeds in your yard, use a tank sprayer and apply the weed killer directly to those weeds. You will get better results and use much less chemical. Weed and Feed sells so well because most people are gullible and lazy. They want to do the least work possible, and they believe everything that it says on the bag. People see that and are like "All I have to do is one application and I'm done? I'll take it!" The best thing Weed and Feed does is make money for Scotts.

Thanks joepyeweed and soccer dad, I appreciate you taking the time to respond. I didn't want to add too much information in the first post and overwhelm. Cultural Practices: Yes, I mow at the highest setting and water deeply and infrequently. I am still learning how to measure fertilizer in #/1000sqft instead of using Scott's rotary spreader and throwing it on the lawn, but I think the lawn has plenty of Nitrogen. Using the Scott's 4 step program in the past, I've started with step 1 in late April/early June when the ground temp is 50-55F and I see Forsythia bloom. Other Scott's steps have followed 6-8 weeks after the previous one. As I read more on this site I find steps 2 and 3 are not so good and my constant use of fungicide in the past has probably killed the good fungus too. After reading up on healthy soil I'm betting mine is lacking at this time. While I know it is great to mulch I have bagged since my fungal problems started and, very unfortunately, mulching simply spreads the lawn diseases. I may mulch my leaves this fall. I pull weeds by hand or use weed-B-gon to spot treat. pH: The pH has been a long issue and I'm not sure why. I've had several tests from the local Coop Ext as well as my own solution tester. The back yard has been between 5 and 5.6 for the last 5 years and the front has dropped from 6.8 to 6.2. I do test before I apply lime but I don't know why I can't keep the pH up. This is one reason that the organic method appeals to me - less pH testing and liming. Fungus: I agree with your assessment that N is too high. I should go test that with my solution tester. This is another reason to not follow Scott's program to the letter and go with organic or something hybrid for my lawn. In the past I was uneducated regarding NPK/ compost/ microbes/ bacteria/ good fungus/ and simply followed the steps not knowing if I was putting down a 30-2-4 or a 4-15-10 (just throwing out numbers). Grubs: In year 3 when I applied 24hr control I did have a problem and the grass came up like a carpet. Since then I have used the 3month control (July/Aug/Sep) every year. I don't want to go through that issue again. My area is notorious for grubs and moles and I'm reluctant to skip grub treatment for fear that they will return and I will be unaware until it is too late. Overseeding: Aside from re-seeding small and large(30'x40') patches I haven't overseeded the lawn. I've seeded over some thin areas with some luck by hand and am considering renting a slit-seeder this fall to try and fill out the thin areas. I may wait until next year for this if it takes some time to amend the soil before seeding. Organic: I've been reading lots of posts here about organics and the FAQ is great too. I am going to search my local big box stores and feed stores for corn gluten meal, soybean meal, corn meal and alfalfa meal. And maybe even Scott's organic lawn food (I have lots of gift cards to Lowe's). I understand corn meal is for disease and I'd like to apply it now. How will it affect my current year schedule: Late April: Scott's step 1 Mid June: Scott's step 2 I don't want to over N the lawn again. I don't know much about compost and will read more. 1td/1000sqft sounds like a lot. I have a bad back, is there any way to spread compost other than by hand? A drop spreader? I've read how great compost is but I haven't seen it in any annual schedule. Is that because composting is a one time shot to get microbes and bacteria back in to the soil? How often should one apply a layer of compost? I definitely realize this isn't a quick fix but I'm looking to take the lawn in the proper direction. As long as my practices are good, I'm confident the lawn will respond in time.

I hate to break it to you, but there is a good chance that you will have to resod, especially if you used fescue sod. Leaving long clippings on your lawn, and watering on top of that creates a perfect environment for fungal disease, and/or rotting of the blades and crowns. You should have started mowing when the grass was 3.5-4 inches tall. When you saw there was a lot of clumps and clippings on the lawn, you should have mowed again, preferable with the bag to remove them since there was so much of it. You are also watering too much. Once your sod takes root and is growing well you don't have to water daily. There is a slight chance the grass will come back if your crowns didn't die, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

What kind of grass do you have? The answer to that could save you hundred$. The following could save you more. You don't need to aerate or dethatch, ever, and you don't need to fertilize right now. Aeration has only limited application to home owners. To watch TV or listen to the lawn care guys they would have you believe you need it twice a year. My lawn is 70 years old and never aerated. Dethatching is only something you do for dense Kentucky bluegrass that was watered too frequently and fertilized improperly. Almost nobody really needs that either. There are very few other circumstances where dethatching is needed. If you want to apply organic fertilizer, you could do that, but a chemical fertilizer would be a waste of money for many more weeks. Reseeding is only needed if you have fescue. If you do have fescue, I would suggest going to something like bermuda or St Augustine, which should thrive in your area with less irrigation. If you're curious about your soil, Logan Labs in Ohio has the best soil test lab in the country. There's another good one at the University of Massachusetts and one in South Texas. Logan Labs and UMASS are better than the Texas lab and all the rest are a giant drop below those three. The standard, $25 test at LL covers all the micronutrients you should have in your soil. Once you get that done, post the results here and morpheuspa will help you understand what to do. He'll tell you what to apply, when, how much, and where to find it online. How hot does it get in the summer? I assume 90s but do you get into the 100s? Reseeding can't be discussed without knowing what grass you have and what you want, so I'll not comment on that. Can you post a picture of the lawn showing some of the real grass and some of the weeds you need to get rid of? You might be able to spot spray with specialized herbicides rather than killing the entire lawn. Your sprinkler installer likely set you up to water once or twice a day. This time of year you should not be watering more often than once a month. In the hottest heat of summer you will be watering no more than once a week, but when you water go ahead and apply 1 full inch every time. That deep watering takes care of the frequent watering cycle that the irrigation installers like to put you on. By watering only once a week you will develop deep, drought resistant roots in the lawn. It also breaks the weed cycle because weed seeds need daily water to germinate. If you start now getting used to infrequent watering, the grass will have developed the roots they need by the time it gets warmer. Most grasses should be mowed a the mower's highest setting. That helps to take care of weeds by blocking sunlight to the soil where the weed seedlings are. If they can't get enough sun, they will die out. Answer the questions and post some pictures and we can help you more.