grass dies after cutting silver maple down

chadanddiane

I cut down a silver maple tree that was 5' diameter nine months ago and had the stump ground down 12" below the ground. I covered with top soil and seeded. The grass started growing ok but has now died over top of the stump and about 30' diameter circle around the stump has also died. The grass always grew well when the tree was standing. Its not dry and the other grass in the yard is green. What is causing the grass to die and how can I prevent it?

handy man88

Probably the breakdown/chemicals from the ground up stump. Soil could be too acidic.

oh'mike

Wood chips also tend to deplete the nitrogen as they decompose---a little fertilizer might be needed.

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sdsester

May have a fungus in with the ground stump. You will have to treat it. How thick is top soil layer by the way? The ground up wood is not your primary planting base for the seed right? Definitely test and adjust the Ph as suggested. And the wood will suck nitrogen for the decomposition that you should replace with a simple nitrogen only fertilizer (e.g. Ammonium Sulfate)