I mowed three homes in the usual subdivision this afternoon. One of the homeowners came flying out of the house telling me I couldnt mow because True Green was there in the morning and just put down granual fertilizer. I could tell because it was half way in the road and all over the place. I told him it didnt matter I was not bagging it and I am still cutting at 3.5 inchs. I guess he called True Green and give them my number. True Green calls and told I am liable for the lawn and if there are any problems I will be responsible. I told them to pound salt and hung up.
I have been doing the mowing thing for a couple of years now and never had a problem. What is the difference if I mow today or tommorrow the fertilizer is still going to be there right? It shouldnt matter if its one day or 5 days its still at the bottom. Am I wrong??? I dont do any fertilization so a little insight would be helpful.
At your mowing height there should be no problem. The granular fertilizer will fall down to the soil or into the crown of the grass plant when it is applied. Little if any fertilizer will be picked up by the mower and since you aren't bagging the clippings the fert would stay on the lawn if it was picked up.
There could be some concern if they sprayed a post emergent herbicide shortly before you mowed. It can take several hours for the herbicide to be absorbed by the leaves and moved throughout the plant. Unless there were a lot of large weeds I wouldn't worry too much about this either.
I can't recall ever hearing anything intelligent or accurate coming from any Trugreen employees. Always second guess anything they say.
It shouldn't hurt anything. Like someone already said, you might only move a very little bit which will not hurt the lawn at all. Tell Trugreen to s**k it.
If its dry straight granular fert and the turf is dry when you are mowing it, no problems.
If the turf is damp, you may make some yellow streaks with your tires, watch that.
My company fertilizes and mows. We have done experiments with granular fertilizer and all our mowing equipment and found it does not suck up fertilizer. Our grass is bluegrass/rye mix and is typically cut at 3". The granules go too deep into the turf to be pulled out by the mowing process. Weed control is generally uneffected, and in some cases, works better when the controlled plant has a fresh injury.
I will go ahead and restate what everyone else has said, it will be no problem for you to mow after fert has been applied. I am only replying b/c like most on this site, I cannot stand TG.. nor feel that anything they say or do is worth a damn. Also, on the herbicide part of it, as a general rule (some exceptions) I tell customers that about an hour, two at most, is all that is needed for herbicide to dry on the leaf, then you should be OK to mow, water, etc.
The only problem I know about is if you use weed and feed you want the stuff to stay on the leaves to kill to the root. If it was just fertilizer i would have mowed it to. Da Q is right though about wet grass and fertilizer(smile) be careful.
Da Q and big belly,
I would like more information about the chance of mower tracks if fertilizer is applied to wet grass and then mowed. I am skeptical.
For that matter some fertilizer bags say do not apply to wet grass--how come?
Far be it for me to come to the add of TruBrown and defend and although I think they took it a tad to far. They were probably following the instructions that were on the fertilizer bags. I tell my clients to not mow for 48 hours on liquids and 24 for granular. Probably TruBrown has gotten sued so many times that they try and let me emphasis try to do things by the books. I know being in the fert business I can't tell you how many times people blame me for everything wrong in the yard.
I had a TG guy dropping fert on the back yard while I was mowing the front yard, and than moved to the front yard when I went to the back. Had another one wait for us to finish a yard and than sprayed the yard with weed control. Smart one's are'nt they!
I have arrived at the same yard on 2 different occassions with trugreen applying chemicals. Both times i started cutting while they were loading thier machine back in their van.
I was told by him both time it would not hurt anything. And i never noticed any problems in the lawn either time. Just use a little commom sense, don't bag immediatly after fertilizing or the customers my complain.
I fert lawns at the same time my guys are mowing and I've NEVER had a problem. Spraying is a different animal. I always wait 24 hrs to mow after spraying or spray at least 48 hrs after mowing. Yes, I do both granular and spray at the same time when I can, if there are weeds.
Chemlawn has been instructed to do their apps Mon-Wed, because the hO wants the lawn mowed for the weekend.
When they go outside their designated time period I walk and the lawn is not mowed. The HO is upset. I have only one client left that does CL, but it is 3 properties. We are debating whether we continue to mow these places if they continue with them.
I mowed three homes in the usual subdivision this afternoon. One of the homeowners came flying out of the house telling me I couldnt mow because True Green was there in the morning and just put down granual fertilizer. I could tell because it was half way in the road and all over the place. I told him it didnt matter I was not bagging it and I am still cutting at 3.5 inchs. I guess he called True Green and give them my number. True Green calls and told I am liable for the lawn and if there are any problems I will be responsible. I told them to pound salt and hung up.
I would've immediately called Trugreen back and told them that they had to get ALL of their fertilizer off of the street, sidewalks & other hard surfaces around that customer's house, within a specific amount of time, or I would call the State Pesticide Control Agent on them, as well as send that agent's office digital photos of their shoddy, lazy technician practices!!!
I have had mow companies start mowing properties before we were finished and not had any issues with fert or weed control (out of the PG and z-spray)
I also think that sometimes broadleaf weeds are best controlled after a fresh cut, especially clover b/c you take the the canopy off.
I have had mow companies start mowing properties before we were finished and not had any issues with fert or weed control (out of the PG and z-spray)
I also think that sometimes broadleaf weeds are best controlled after a fresh cut, especially clover b/c you take the the canopy off.
Sorry guys, I know this is an old post, but its directly related to my problem.
I had the same issue recently on a lawn that was winter fertilized and I cut it one or two days later. I started mulching, but the owner wanted it cut down from about 3 to 3 1/2 inches down to 2 to 2.5 inches. I would have had to make at least two cuts to mulch properly, so I decided to bag. Never even though about the granular that had just been laid. I got half way through the lawn and realized that I may be picking up the fertilizer too. I picked through one entire bag of clippings and I couldn't find any obvious fertilizer granules.
I told the owner that his fertilizer was safely still on the lawn. Do you think this was likely?
The fertilize used was CIL GOLFGREEN Fall Lawn Fertilizer 12-3-18.
Sorry guys, I know this is an old post, but its directly related to my problem.
I had the same issue recently on a lawn that was winter fertilized and I cut it one or two days later. I started mulching, but the owner wanted it cut down from about 3 to 3 1/2 inches down to 2 to 2.5 inches. I would have had to make at least two cuts to mulch properly, so I decided to bag. Never even though about the granular that had just been laid. I got half way through the lawn and realized that I may be picking up the fertilizer too. I picked through one entire bag of clippings and I couldn't find any obvious fertilizer granules.
I told the owner that his fertilizer was safely still on the lawn. Do you think this was likely?
The fertilize used was CIL GOLFGREEN Fall Lawn Fertilizer 12-3-18.
I think I have applied fertilizer to wet grass many times with no damage.
Regarding brown "mower tracks"...
those are probably "Heat tracks".
"Heat tracks" are probably caused by mowing or equipment on the lawn when the turf is wilted during the early stages of the grass drying down.
Mowing companies are familiar with this--not pretty--but difficult to avoid.
Previous discussions are here somewhere.
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