Before and After a Lawn Treatment: What to Do and Why

Mow a day before, not that morning

Most customers want to mow right before we arrive so the lawn looks neat. Please don't. Mowing is always a stressor on grass, and a herbicide application right on top of that only adds to the stress. A treatment applied just after a mow is likely to give you unintended and unexpected results.

Our guideline is to mow no fewer than 24 hours before a treatment. If you mow yourself, pick a day at least a full day before the visit. If you're on our mowing service, ask us how your mow and your treatment line up.

After the treatment: the 3-hour window and mowing

After an application, we ask property owners to observe a 3-hour non-entry window. That's a rule of thumb, since drying time varies a lot with the weather. It means kids, pets and adults stay off the treated area for those three hours.

It's also our policy never to spray or to apply granular products when pets, children or unqualified adults are in the application area. If you have a dog that loves the yard, please keep them securely inside or away before the technician arrives. It protects your pet, and it protects the technician.

For mowing afterward, 24 hours after a treatment is acceptable for every application. If you can wait 48 hours, that's recommended for the best results from the herbicide.

Why a visit sometimes gets postponed

We send an email or text notice before every visit. Occasionally we dispatch a treatment and then can't complete it. The usual reasons are weather: excessive rainfall, high wind of 10 mph or more, or high temperatures of 90 degrees or above.

That can be frustrating when you've planned around it, so here's the reason. In our industry, the product label is the law. Wind can carry a product where it doesn't belong, and heat and rain change how a product behaves. What's fine for one service may not be fine for the next, and we follow the label every time. When we can't finish, we send a notice telling you the service was postponed, why it was missed, and what the next step is for rescheduling.

When will I see results?

In ideal conditions, you'll see results from a lawn treatment after about 14 days. Weather affects how plants take up both nutrients and herbicides, so some lawns show change in as little as 7 days, while others at the 14-day mark only show signs that the treatment is working. Patience helps. Don't judge a treatment on day three.

Your program matters too. Ours includes six fertilizer treatments and five broadleaf weed control treatments over the year, plus crabgrass control, and the results build as the visits stack up. If your program carries a weed-free guarantee, follow-up applications are included at no charge. Note that skipping or cancelling a treatment voids the guarantee, so try not to miss one.

The weed that shoots up tall

Sometimes a weed bolts. It sends up a tall stalk and looks worse than it did before the treatment, and customers understandably ask why their weeds grew more after we treated. The reason is simple. Weeds exist to reproduce, and when a treatment threatens a weed's survival, it spends the energy it has stored on setting seed. Many undesirable grasses grow taller than the turf around them to get that reproductive advantage. The growth isn't pretty, but it's a sure sign the plant is stressed and dying. The fix is to mow or trim the weed down to a shorter height and say a eulogy over the poor thing.

One policy is worth knowing about. If a gate is locked and our technician can't get in, the visit is charged at the full service rate even though the treatment couldn't be completed. That's why the service notice email and text ask you to open the gate that day. If you're not home, a key or code on your account takes care of it, and so does a call ahead, which you can request.

Here's the short version of all of it.

• Open your gate on the day of the application as the service notice says, or give us a key or code, or ask for a call ahead.
• Keep pets and kids inside for the 3-hour window after an application.
• Mow at least 24 hours before a treatment, and wait 24 to 48 hours after.
• Pick up toys and hoses so the technician can reach the whole lawn.
• We can't apply products you supply, under any circumstances.

Questions about your own lawn? Call (509) 834-0974 or ask for a free estimate, and we'll walk you through what a program looks like for your yard.