Pool cover and the lawn

[cwinn]

hello,

Long time reader and first time poster. I really enjoy reading and learning everything I can from this site.

So this is starting year 3 of pool ownership and I think I’m getting the hang of it. We had some major issues with our pool plaster after initial fill but that is a “story” for another time.

This year we added a pool cover, clear 12 mil, in the hopes retaining some heat and increasing the water temp a little sooner in the season.

So when we were putting away the cover we laid it out besides the pool on the grass to dry before rolling it up for storage. It was a bright sunny day and was on the grass for maybe two hours total. The next day we noticed that the grass had some brown spots near the pool and two days later it looked like the attached pic ( huge brown spot). I’m not really good at math but I think I was able to but 2 and 2 together (with some help) and get that this was “caused” by the cover. It’s not exactly the same size and shape but it is right where the cover was laid out to dry.

Has as anyone ever experienced something like this?

Maybe it’s just a fluke and my luck, we are trying to get the place cleaned up and prepared/looking nice for an upcoming graduation party and the grass going from nice and green to a huge brown spot is not surprising for how I roll...

 

[Richard320]

That's normal, and it has nothing to do with pool chemicals. You cooked the grass under the plastic.

Black visqueen is commonly used to kill weeds without chemicals. One of many hits I got using google: Soil Solarization - Kill and Prevent Weeds

 

[woodyp]

Looks like that solar cover gave it a sunburn.

 

[bmoreswim]

Yup, same reason your car gets hot in the sun.

 

[ctrav]

I would think that applying Ironite or Nitrogen only fertilizer to the grass that it will green right up. Don't get ironite on your pool deck or concrete as it will stain! Just don't over do it.

 

[Donldson]

Yeah, a secondary use for pool cover remnants (left over parts when a cover is cut to fit rounded corners and stairs) is to kill grass without chemicals. I accidentally did the same thing with my winter cover, left it black side up for a couple hours to dry and had a round patch of brown for a couple weeks.

The picture looks worse than I would expect for 2 hours, but hopefully it just burnt the leaf and it will grow back quickly. If the party is very close you might want to get yourself some Lawnlift. It's a non-toxic green paint for grass specifically for this sort of situation.

 

[blakeusa]

Water & fertilizer and it should green up within two weeks.

 

[cwinn]

Thanks for the replies/info. Watering, fertilizer, a little rain and its showing improvement, looks like it should be back to normal in a few days.