Watering After Lawn Care Application

When it comes to watering after a lawn care application, a good rule of thumb is to wait at least 24 hours after an application before watering but be sure the lawn receives a good watering within the first couple of days after each application. This will help ensure that any weed killer will enter and properly move thru out the weed plants and eradicate them.

Heavy Rain

One of the biggest concerns with lawn care applications is when it rains shortly after the products have been applied. For granular fertilizer, this is not an issue; however, for weed control, any heavy rainfall within 2 hours of application could cause the application to be less effective.

We monitor the weather very closely and try to accommodate accordingly due to the rain predictions; yet, sometimes, late spring and summer pop-up storms are hard to predict and our technicians may be caught in a heavy rainfall while completing their route. In instances like this, we ask homeowners to monitor the effectiveness of the weed control for 10 days before calling our office.

Chemicals and the Environment

Once a pesticide or herbicide is applied, it is influenced by many processes. These processes determine a chemical’s persistence and movement, if any, and its ultimate fate.

The fate processes can be beneficial. They can move a pesticide to the target area or destroy its potentially harmful residues. Sometimes they can be detrimental, leading to reduced control of a target pest, injury of nontarget plants and animals, and environmental damage.

Different soil and climatic factors and different handling practices can promote or prevent each process. An understanding of the fate processes can help every pesticide applicator ensure that applications are not only effective but are also environmentally safe.

There are many factors, from absorption, to transfer, to degradation of chemicals.

Degradation

Chemical degradation, or the breakdown of pesticides and herbicides, usually is beneficial. Chemical destroying reactions change most residues in the environment to nontoxic or harmless compounds. However, degradation is detrimental when a pesticide is destroyed before the target pest has been controlled.
One of the factors that we can control is photodegradation, which is the breakdown of pesticides by light, particularly sunlight. It can destroy pesticides on foliage, on the surface of the soil, and even in the air. Each day that passes the chemical become less effective!

This is a lot of information, but simply watering your lawn after applications will ensure that whatever chemicals are applied, reach their target and do their job.

This info about pesticides and the environment was taken from an article by the department of agronomy on the University of Missouri’s web site. For more information go to

https://extension.missouri.edu/publications/g7520

GRASS SEED NEEDS TO BE WARM AND MOIST TO GERMINATE

Water is the most important part of seed germination that the homeowner can control. Watering should be done every day, early in the morning, and if at all possible, early in the afternoon to keep the seeds damp. The more faithful, the better the outcome will be.

Keep grounds damp, or if covered with straw, the straw damp. This is done best with a hand nozzle or a wand (oscillating) type sprinkler. A lot of water is not necessary and caution should be taken of not making puddles.

When seeds have sprouted up, watering needs to continue. This is the most important time to water. The easiest way to measure your watering practices is by using coffee cans. Set up a couple of cans in an area where the sprinkler will be operating. Water until approximately 1/4 inch of water is in the can. Now move can and sprinkler to another area and repeat making sure to empty can on each move.

When grass reaches approximately 4″ to 5″ tall it should be cut with sharp blades. Use caution when turning mower around so you don’t tear up the grass. You should increase your watering to approximately 1″ to 2″ of water per week.

When grass has been cut at least four times, it can be fertilized with a quality fertilizer and should now be strong enough to subject to weed killers. (When in doubt, wait a few more cuttings).

Please note in the event of no rain or no watering, your grass will be the first to die. The older established grass will become dormant and normally recover.