Mowing and watering help you maintain a healthy and green lawn. If you neglect any of the two, your grass can deteriorate over time, but is watering lawn after mowing advisable?
Is it good to water grass after mowing?
The answer is it all depends on whether your lawn needs it. If you recently watered your lawn or it rained, it only needs a trim. If you haven’t watered your yard in a while and it hasn’t rained, you can water it after mowing.
Sometimes it isn’t a good idea to water your lawn after mowing as the ideal watering and mowing times can conflict.
Let’s explore everything about watering lawn after mowing to help you maintain a beautiful yard.
Contents
- Should I Water My Lawn After Mowing?
- What are Situations When You Should do it and When Absolutely Not?
- What are Signs that the Lawn Needs Watering?
- Can I Water the Lawn Before Mowing?
- How Often Should I Water My Lawn?
- How Can I Water My Lawn Easily After Mowing?
- Summary
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In Short – Is it good to water your lawn after mowing?
It’s good to water your lawn after mowing if:
- Your lawn shows signs of being dry or needing water.
- You know you haven’t watered the lawn in a while, and it hasn’t rained.
Should I Water My Lawn After Mowing?
While you can water the lawn after cutting the grass, it’s not always advisable. Giving your grass a thorough soaking can be a healthy practice, but only if your lawn needs a drink.
Here’s the deal:
The most important thing is to know whether or not your lawn needs watering and to schedule mowing and watering appropriately. You don’t drink water when you’re not thirsty, and this should also apply to your yard.
What are Situations When You Should do it and When Absolutely Not?
While you can water your lawn safely after mowing whenever it needs moisture, you should prepare for this properly.
Why is this important?
There are certain situations and times of day when watering the lawn after mowing can do more harm than good. Here are some cases when you should not water your lawn after mowing and why:
Mowing Late in the Afternoon
During the late afternoon or night, temperatures are low, and your grass may not absorb moisture or dry out properly.
Any excess water will not evaporate but will sit on the grass and encourage turf diseases or fungal growth like mildew or mold that can ruin your lawn.
If you mow late in the evening, it’s best to put off watering until morning or another day.
Mowing in the Middle of a Hot Day
If you mow in the middle of a hot summer day, it’s best not to water your lawn immediately after.
Water will evaporate from the landscape quickly before getting absorbed by the grass, meaning your lawn will not hydrate properly. You may end up wasting a lot of water without any benefit.
You Watered Your Lawn Recently
You don’t need to water the lawn after mowing if you’ve been following a regular watering schedule and your lawn hasn’t dried up.
A damp or overwatered lawn can lead to fungal problems and shallow roots. Allowing the sold to dry slightly promotes a deeper and more robust root system.
So, when should you water your lawn?
The best time for watering lawn after mowing is early in the morning. Morning times between 6 and 8 am are ideal for mowing and watering your lawn.
You can schedule to start your day by mowing the lawn and watering immediately after, or you can mow the previous evening and wake up to water your lawn.
Here’s why:
In the early morning, water lost to the atmosphere by evaporation is negligible and disruption of the water pattern from the wind is low.
It allows the lawn to soak up enough water before the heat sets in, and it also gets to dry off gradually, reducing the chances of diseases that require extended periods of leaf moisture.
What are Signs that the Lawn Needs Watering?
In addition to the above rules on the ideal time to water your lawn after mowing, there are a few things you can look out for to determine whether your lawn needs watering.
These include:
Stress Test
Stress testing your lawn with footprints can help you judge whether your lawn needs watering. If you walk on your lawn and grass blades bounce back right away, you don’t need to water. Healthy and watered grass should spring back like well-moisturized hair and return to its rigid upright shape.
However, if footprints remain on the lawn for a while, the grass is dehydrated and could do with some water. You can quickly assess your lawn’s watering needs by watching your footsteps as you mow the lawn.
The Screwdriver Test
A thin screwdriver pushed into the ground should give you a quick assessment of the moisture condition of your lawn. Simply find a 6-7 inch screwdriver and try to push it into the ground.
If it quickly penetrates the soil, it has sufficient water and doesn’t need watering, but if it’s challenging to push or doesn’t go in at all, you need to water your lawn.
The screwdriver test can also help you determine where watering is needed by pushing it in various locations on your lawn. Adequate soil moisture of around six to eight inches is sufficient to maintain a healthy lawn.
Grass Color
Looking at the color of your grass can also help you determine whether the lawn needs some water. Although it can be a bit challenging to find subtle differences, it’s entirely possible.
Healthy grass is bright green and vibrant, but thirsty grass will look slightly different. Look out for a faded color like dull bluish green.
Lawn Gaps
The soil in your lawn can shrink when dry, indicating that you need to give it some water. Think of it as a sponge that contracts when dry and becomes soft and squishy when given excessive water.
Check around the edges of your lawn and look for gaps between the lawn and the patio, driveway, or pathway. A well-hydrated lawn will not have any gaps, but if they’re present, you need to turn on the hose and give it a good watering.
Can I Water the Lawn Before Mowing?
No. Watering your lawn before is completely inadvisable, similar to mowing during or right after it rains.
Why does this matter?
Wet grass blades can stick together and get caught in your mower. When grass clippings clamp and stick together on the mowing deck, mowing becomes much more challenging and can even damage your mower. It can clog your mower and leave chunks of grass lumps all over the lawn.
Chunks of grass can be unattractive and smother growing grass beneath them or spread weeds and diseases throughout the yard.
The best time to mow your lawn is when it’s dry.
How Often Should I Water My Lawn?
Various things will influence the amount of water your grass needs and how often you should water it. These include the season or weather, soil type, and grass type.
Your lawn will need more water in the summer or warmer seasons but less water in the cooler seasons. Deep watering in the morning is advisable in the hotter seasons to avoid dryness and allow your lawn to survive the scorching sun.
Ensure you gauge the rain in the cooler seasons to determine how much water the grass has received and whether it’s sufficiently hydrated. You can skip a few watering sessions with sufficient rainfall to avoid excessive watering.
You should generally water your lawn less frequently but for extended periods. Watering 2-3 times a week for 30 to 60 minutes is better than watering six times a week for 15 minutes.
Why does this matter?
Such deep watering allows deep and sturdier roots to grow. It also prepares your lawn for drought conditions and makes it more tolerant by allowing water to reach around six inches below the ground level.
A proper monthly lawn care schedule can help you know when and how often to water, fertilize, mow, seed, and remove pests, diseases, and weeds.
How Can I Water My Lawn Easily After Mowing?
Having the proper tools can help make watering your lawn an easy and enjoyable job. Expandable hoses are all the rage today among gardening enthusiasts thanks to their various advantages.
They weigh less than traditional garden hoses and can expand up to three times their average size, so you don’t have to worry about having a large lawn. Expandable hoses can also shrink when not in use, making them easy to store and never get tangled or twisted.
You can easily attach an expandable hose to almost any water outlet, including sprinklers, provided you have the correct connector. There’s a great selection of expandable hoses to choose from, and they’re generally inexpensive, costing anywhere between $20 and $60.
It can help you water your lawn easily after mowing and do other jobs around your property.
Summary
Deciding when to mow and water your lawn can be tricky, but it’s best to mow dry grass and water it after trimming. Always water your lawn in the early morning to allow it to absorb water sufficiently and dry out during the day.
If you have any experience with watering lawn after mowing, feel free to share your insights or thoughts in the comments!