Exact Answer: 24 hours to a few weeks
Lawn maintenance is an art that has to be meticulously mastered. Weeding is an essential part of keeping the lawn up to mark. Rolling and mowing the lawn is also important. There are specialized lawn treatments available in the market to help a novice lawn owner navigate through the maze of options available to him or her.
Treatments help in killing and eradicating weed growths from the lawn, ensuring it remains healthy. Using the correct variant of fertilizers and trimming the length of the grass regularly also contributes towards a lush green lawn. Mowing is an important part of this routine. It helps trim the grass and gives your lawn a well-groomed look.
How Long After Lawn Treatment Can I Mow?
Mowing your lawn after chemically treating it can be tricky for a novice lawn owner. The correct time to mow your lawn will depend on several parameters including the height of the grass, the kind of treatment you opted for, the condition of your lawn before the treatment, etc.
Generally, experts suggest that the most important factor in determining the correct mowing time is the specific kind of treatment used on the lawn. If you have opted for a routine aeration treatment, you can resume mowing with 24 hours.
If your lawn has weeds, you must let the treatment work for at least 2 to 3 days before mowing the land. Herbicides need at least 72 hours to work. If this time frame is not followed strictly, the treatment will be less effective.
On the other hand, if fungicide treatments are used, then it is best to refrain from mowing the lawn for at least 4 days. After the first 4 days are over, you can go back to willfully trimming the lawn grass again. However, if a scarification treatment is used, the lawn area must be left untouched for a few weeks.
The length of your lawn grass will also have a bearing on the correct time to mow the land. If the grass has been recently mowed before the treatment was implemented, you can refrain from trimming it again soon after the treatment. If the grass needs to be trimmed because it is too long, it is best to follow the treatment guidelines and determine the correct window of time to do so.
In Summary:
| Kind of Treatment Used | Waiting Period |
| Aeration Treatment | 24 hours |
| Herbicide Treatment | 72 hours |
| Fungicide Treatment | 4 days |
| Scarification Treatment | A few weeks |
Why Do You Have To Wait This Long After Lawn Treatment To Mow?
Lawn owners have to wait for a certain period of time before they can mow their lawns after any lawn treatment because the chemicals present in the treatment need some time to effectively work. If they are not given time to work properly, the results will be subpar.
For a lawn infested with weeds, herbicides need a window of 72 hours to translocate the weed from the vascular system of the lawn grass. If the grass is trimmed or cut too soon, the herbicide will not have enough time to penetrate the plant and effectively kill the notorious weed growths.
Fungicide treatments work in a similar way. In order to eradicate fungal growths from your lawn grass, you need to give the chemical time to penetrate the grass. Fungal growths can affect the health as well as look of your lawn grass. It is important to maintain the stipulated time protocol in this regard.
Aeration treatments do not use any chemicals as such and are mostly used for lawns without weeds. This is simply a mechanical process of digging holes in the soil to better aerate it. Thus, the grass itself is not affected and can be mowed soon after the treatment.
Scarification, on the other hand, is an invasive treatment. It helps reduce thatch which is a breeding ground for moss. It rakes out the moss growths from your lawn. Thus, after this invasive treatment, your lawn will not really need trimming until a few weeks after the treatment. The best approach to care for your lawn is to diligently stick to the stipulated timeframe of mowing mentioned in conjunction with any particular treatment.
Conclusion
Using proper lawn treatments to eradicate weed and boost the growth of the lawn grass is important to any lawn owner. It takes a considerable amount of hard work to take care of a lawn. Generally, new lawn owners are confused about when to mow their lawns after a treatment.
The chemical composition of a particular treatment determines the most conducive time to mow the lawn afterward. For most treatments that are dedicated to weeding, the lawn can be mowed within 2 to 3 days after the procedure. However, if the treatment is a process of scarification, the lawn may need to remain untouched for a few weeks.