Question 16: What happens when you mow grass that’s been treated? Why treat grass if you're just going to cut it off?

Clients subsequently mow their lawns as usual but it's typically not the treated grass that they're cutting!  They're mowing the "new" grass.  Here's what we mean.

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There are typically three scenarios which create brown grass.

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The first scenario is when you cut your lawn (a healthy growing lawn) really low. So low that it exposes the stalk/stem of the grass (not the crown/leafy top) and/or the “underlayment” (thatch) that’s accumulated in your lawn.  In other words it’s not the top layer of your grass (in a healthy lawn) that is typically brown.

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So in the case of a low lawn we do a very low cut prior to treatment so we're basically applying the treatment to the brown stalks/stems and underlayment/thatch of your lawn. (in addition to any actual grass blades that may be brown through disease, fertilizer burn, dog pee burn etc)

 

This means that even if you subsequently mow your growing lawn relatively short (thereby trimming the tops of your new grass) your lawn still remains green. ( since the treatment goes deeper than that) The bonus is that every time your grass grows back, it’s also coming in naturally green.  (new growth is never brown) 

 

The second scenario might be grass that's in poor condition (patchy, dead or dying) because of inadequate  irrigation or some disease or condition.  In this case we'd still treat as we would the first scenario for the same reason. (dead grass doesn't grow)

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The third scenario is your entire lawn is in a state of “dormancy” (not growing) because of heat and lack of water (commonly in the hotter summer months) and then it may be brown in its entirety.  In this case we just give it a medium cut prior to treatment (just to create evenness) because since it's not growing you wouldn’t be mowing it after treatment anyway!