# Mowing & Watering BEFORE or AFTER Fertilizing?



## Lawnmower_Man (Oct 1, 2017)

Got a quick question that I never really thought of...

I am applying 16-16-16 fertilizer to my lawn for the first time this season, and I need to mow it soon.
There is also a lot of rain coming down in the next day.

I always assumed that watering the fertilizer a bit after applying was the general rule to prevent burning the blades of grass.

*Are there any issues with watering a lawn too much after applying fertilizer? (such as a couple hours of rainfall)
Does applying too much water on fertilizer somehow diminish it in some way? 
*
...Or is it largely a non issue and its better to apply too much than too little water (to prevent burning)

*Also, does it make more sense to apply fertilizer to a freshly cut lawn, or one that is not recently cut?*

Any thoughts are much appreciated!


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## The Anti-Rebel (Feb 16, 2019)

Too much rain after fertilizing can lead to run-off and contamination of waterways.


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## Lawnmower_Man (Oct 1, 2017)

Yea true.

But does it reduce its effectiveness in the soil?


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## TommyTester (Jul 3, 2018)

You want the fertilizer to reach to soil and not be blocked or stuck in clippings, so imo, fert-cut-water/rain.


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## Harts (May 14, 2018)

If it were me I would cut tonight before the rain. If our recast is correct, the next chance you will have to cut is Thursday. Not sure what your grass height is but if it's really long, I'd cut it and fertilize later in the week. As long as you set your spreader to a low setting and just make multiple passes, the chances of burning are minimal.

Having said that, I highly doubt that the amount of rain we are getting is going to be enough to cause significant run off.

I've also cut and fertilized right after.


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