Milorganite has developed a reputation as one of the best fertilizers you have available for your lawn, and it allows you to prepare the soil to provide all of the essential nutrients to your growing lawn. We’ve already discussed a bunch of things about Milorganite, including when you should use it, and we’ve even compared it to other alternatives!
However, we’ve never addressed whether you should apply Milorganite before or after you mow your lawn. To answer the question, You should to mow your lawn few days before or the same day of applying miloganite for the best results possible on your lawn.
We’re going to take a look at what happens when you add Milorganite to your lawn before you mow it and then we’ll take a look at Milorganite application after mowing your lawn.
Milorganite Before Mowing
While you can certainly apply Milorganite before you mow your lawn, there are a few downsides to doing so that you may not have considered.
One of the most significant concerns is that the Milorganite won’t make its way down to the soil, where it can have a larger impact on the nutrition of your grass.
Since fertilizers are dependent on reaching the deepest possible layers of soil where they can provide your grass with sufficient nutrition, longer grass blades may make it harder for them to do so.
This is an even bigger concern if you live in an area where you can expect to receive plenty of precipitation.
If it ends up raining before the Milorganite can work its way deeper into the soil, it can be washed away before it has the effect you’re looking for.
Of course, if you have no choice, it won’t be the end of the world because Milorganite granules tend to be relatively heavy.
Due to their weight, the granules will likely end up working their way through the grass, especially if you don’t water your grass right away or you don’t expect to have rain for the next few days.
You should also make sure that your lawn is healthy before spreading your Milorganite.
While Milorganite that dissolves due to exposure to water may still make it into the soil, it may only make it into the top bit of soil, not reaching the deeper strata where it can ensure that your grass’s roots get the required nutrients.
This is why we’d recommend mowing before Milorganite application whenever possible.
Milorganite After Mowing
If you intend to get the most out of your Milorganite by mowing the lawn beforehand, make sure you mow it about one to three days before you intend to apply your fertilizer.
While you may be tempted to cut your grass lower than usual to ensure that the Milorganite makes it to the soil, don’t do this.
If you cut your lawn too short, you’ll compromise its health, and the last thing you want to do before fertilizing your lawn is damaging its health.
In most cases, your lawn will be at its healthiest at a height of about three inches, so that’s the extent to which you want to cut it before spreading your fertilizer.
If you intend to cut your grass after applying Milorganite once again, we’d recommend making sure that you’ve watered it at least once.
This gives the soil the time to absorb the Milorganite pellets before you run your lawn mower over them, which can possibly redistribute them over the lawn.
Due to how mower blades work, you may end up with Milorganite that has been unevenly distributed throughout your lawn if you mow it too early after applying it.
In this case, you’ll want to water your lawn and then mow it about a week after you applied your Milorganite to make sure that it’s doing its job.
You should water your lawn about twice in the one-week period between applying Milorganite and then mowing it. This will ensure that it penetrates deep into the soil and gets to the roots of the grass, providing them with the nutrients that they need to keep your grass growing strong.
Is it Better to Mow Before or After Spreading Milorganite?
To wrap things up, we’d highly recommend cutting your grass about one to three days before you apply Milorganite to it.
This will ensure that it can reach the deep levels of the soil where it can provide optimal nutrition to your grass. However, if you have to apply your Milorganite ASAP, it’s still possible to use it on uncut grass with decent results.
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