Action 9 investigates lawn fertilizer problems

ORLANDO, Fla. — A popular lawn fertilizer has been pulled from local store shelves after some customers claimed it damaged and killed their lawns.

There have been hundreds of complaints in other southern states, and now the company, Scotts Miracle-Gro, told Action 9's Todd Ulrich it could cause limited problems in Florida, too.

The company is restocking with its original product.

Judi Brown lives near Orlando and claims she noticed problems after fertilizing her lawn last spring.  Then, in October, she again used Scotts Turf Builder Bonus Southern Weed and Feed. The St. Augustine grass in her lawn was turning yellow, and it was killing the grass, but not the weeds.

Brown discovered Scotts Miracle-Gro voluntarily pulled the product from some stores because its new 2015 formulation damaged and killed some lawns. The new formula is Metsulfuron.

That caught Brown by surprise.

"I didn't know it was a different product and I had been using this product for 20 years," she said.

Last spring, Scotts admitted it had hundreds of complaints, but said the problem was mostly limited to South Carolina. Eventually, it removed the product in several states, but not Florida, saying it damaged centipede and not St. Augustine lawns.

But Ulrich found local customers on Scotts' company website claiming it harmed their grass.

Brown said she followed the weed and feed's instructions.

"I did it according to the label with their spreader, their product," she said.

Action 9 found the product was recently removed from many local stores, but the Metsulfuron weed and feed was still for sale at a nearby Ace Hardware.

After contacting Scotts, the company told Action 9 the 2015 product is being replaced with the original formula since it could discolor St. Augustine lawns temporarily.

However, Scotts blamed Brown's damage on her neglect and offered $500 as a goodwill gesture.

Scotts said when the company found damage at other homes, it had repaired or replaced lawns at no cost and it's been public and proactive.

Scotts told Action 9 the timing of Brown's claim proved the company's product could not be blamed.

The company's original formula weed and feed is back in the stores.

Scotts Miracle-Gro released this response: "ScottsMiracle-Gro has long been committed to customer service. When a consumer has an issue with our products, our 'no quibble' guarantee promises them a full refund. When a consumer claims damage, we assess each case individually and do not hesitate to reimburse the homeowner if it is determined our product caused the damage.

There were some instances in which the Bonus S Southern Weed & Feed formulation manufactured in 2015 may have caused damage to certain lawns, nearly all of which had a type of grass called Centipede. The overwhelming number of these problems occurred in South Carolina. In those cases, lawns were repaired or replaced at no cost to the homeowner. Our company was extremely public and proactive in dealing with this issue. In some cases, we actually published advertisements to make sure our consumers were aware of the issue. I’m confident the consumers impacted by these problems would agree that we greatly exceeded their expectations.

A relatively small number of homeowners, including some who live in Florida, told us they noticed discoloration of the St. Augustine grass growing in their lawn after using the Bonus S formulation manufactured in 2015. It was indeed our assessment that such a problem could have been caused by using our product. While those lawns ultimately returned to a healthy looking condition, in many cases we made small cash payment to affected homeowners to acknowledge their inconvenience.

It is important to note that the Bonus S product being manufactured and sold by Scotts in 2016 has been reformulated and does not cause these problems. Consumers can use the product with complete confidence.

In the case of Ms. Judi Brown, we do not believe our product caused damage to her lawn. In fact, based on the timeframe she provided to us, we do not believe it is possible for our product to have caused the damage she claimed. She told us she used the product on Oct. 8 and made the claim just a few days later. Her lawn was assessed on Oct. 14, just six days after she said she applied the product. This is an important point. Our research, verified during independent university field trials, indicates that it would have taken weeks for the kind of damage Ms. Brown reported to have been caused by our product. Our claims agent visited Ms. Brown’s home and literally took dozens of photos of her lawn. In most places, the lawn appeared healthy. There were places, mostly in heavily shaded areas under trees, where no grass was present and clearly had not been for a long period of time."

WFTV