Mowing after lawn treatments

Mowing after a lawn treatment can sometimes have negative effects, so it's important to understand the implications on each service. 

In this article

1. Why can mowing impact lawn treatments?
2. Mowing after a spray (blue) treatment
3. Mowing after a fertilizer treatment
4. Mowing after a grub or armyworm treatment
5. Mowing after a fungicide treatment
6. Mowing after aeration service

Why can mowing impact treatments?

There are two functions of mowing the lawn that can detrimentally affect a lawn treatment.

1. The cutting of treated turf or weeds before the product has had enough time to do what it needs to do.
2. The "vacuum" created under the mower deck causing product to be picked up and in some cases bagged up with the clippings or blown out the side of the mower into a less even distribution across the lawn. 

Some treatments are highly susceptible to ill effects from mowing while others are not affected at all.

Mowing after a spray (blue) treatment

It is mostly important that your treatment has been thoroughly watered in to the soil before mowing after a spray treatment. The best practice for mowing after a spray treatment would be:

1. Treatment occurs
2. After 12 hours or so, thoroughly water the treatment into the lawn. (For ideal watering amounts after a treatment, please review this article on our website.)
3. Then you can mow (or scalp) as needed.

Mowing after a fertilizer treatment

Fertilizer treatments are not vulnerable to lawn mowing. Unless you are mowing extremely short, you may continue mowing as soon as a fertilizer treatment occurs.

If you are mowing extremely short (or using a reel mower), it is best to follow the same instructions as above for spray applications prior to mowing. This will allow the fertilizer granules to "melt" a bit and stick to the ground.

Mowing after a grub or armyworm treatment

Willis uses a granular grub and armyworm insecticide. This granular product is lightweight and is somewhat vulnerable to the vacuum nature of mowing if the clippings are being bagged or discharged out of the side of the mower deck.

If the clippings are being mulched there is no concern because the insecticide won't be picked up or redistributed unevenly in the lawn.

If the lawn is being bagged or clippings are being side-discharged from a mower, it is best to thoroughly water the treatment prior to the mowing service.

Mowing after a fungicide treatment

Willis uses a granular fungicide product. This granular product is lightweight and is somewhat vulnerable to the vacuum nature of mowing if the clippings are being bagged or discharged out of the side of the mower deck.

If the clippings are being mulched there is no concern because the insecticide won't be picked up or redistributed unevenly in the lawn.

If the lawn is being bagged or clippings are being side-discharged from a mower, it is best to thoroughly water the treatment prior to the mowing service.

Mowing after aeration service

Mowing can continue immediately after an aeration service is completed. However, there will be thousands of aeration cores laying all over your lawn. There are a few things you can do about this.

1. The mowing job will be cleaner if you do not water on the day of mowing for the first several weeks as the wet aeration cores will stick to your mower tires and can create a muddy mess.
2. If you are able to mow a bit shorter for several weeks after aeration, this can help break up the aeration cores