help battery acid

[T-water]

I tipped a my trolling battery onto the sidewalk, the water drained into the yard along with some battery acid. Wasn't sure what to do so i diluted it with the garden hose for about 10 min. Have about 2 square feet of grass turning brown, I put baking soda on the sidewalk to neutralize the acid there...other ideas for saving the grass?

[CAMAN]

Hind-sights 20/20, but probably the worst thing you could have done was flush it with water before neutralizing it. Should have poured baking soda over the entire area let that work for a five minutes, then washed it away. It would have contained the acid to a smaller area and prevented it from leeching through the soil and killing grass further away. Nothing will germinate in that area if there is still some acid left in the soil. Now about the only thing you can do is dig out all the dead grass, remove 4-6 inches of the topsoil and dispose of it, replace with new topsoil and re-sead.

[Steve Foss]

Now about the only thing you can do is dig out all the dead grass, remove 4-6 inches of the topsoil and dispose of it, replace with new topsoil and re-sead.

Agreed. Maybe more/deeper soil, depending on how far into the soil the water/acid mix leached. I'd pull out 12 inches of soil depth and replace. Better to take out a bit more than needed rather than less, so you don't have to do it over again. It's not the end of the world. Just a little work ahead of you. Stuff happens.

[T-water]

Thanks guys, any thoughts on how to determine the area i need to clean out? I was thinking of waiting a few more days to see how much grass has died.

[Steve Foss]

I'd say there's no hurry. Wait a week or more to see what dies. Then cut out a patch wider than the dead stuff just to make sure. Instead of seed, just go get some sod from the local greenhouse. Usually they have it in small rolls or squares for projects just such as this. Lay in the sod, pack it down hard, and water the heck out of it so the root dig in and take before fall.

[delcecchi]

Lime will also neutralize it, or ground limestone.

[Tom7227]

How do you dispose of soil that is claimed to be boogered up? Why can't you just neutralize it with some hydrated lime?

[T-water]

Exactly my question Tom! I was considering just throwing the soil under the lilacs, they could survive nuclear war, and there is no foot (barefoot) traffic there.

[Steve Foss]

There's no reason you can't try to neutralize it. But what if you put down too much lime? Then you've got it skewed too much toward higher pH. What if you don't put down enough? Then you're still perhaps too acidic for good lawn growth.

You may hit it just right, or get close enough so things work out. But you might not. The simplest way to ensure you can successfully reseed or resod in the contaminated area is to remove the soil completely and add fresh soil.

Considering the details of the spill it doesn't look like such a big piece of lawn that's involved. In that case, I'd feel fine taking that soil and spreading it thinly under the lilacs. Rainwater will of course leach through and spread the acidic condition around, but that will also dilute it, and odds are pretty good everything will be fine.