Are you wondering When To Mow After Overseeding your lawn? Here is a quick and easy guide on the optimal time to mow after overseeding!
Overseeding your lawn is an important step to help your lawn fill out when bare patches have developed over time.
If you’ve never overseeded your lawn before, you might not know when to mow after overseeding it.
In this article, I will explore some of the basics you will need to know about overseeding, including when to mow your lawn after overseeding.
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Keep reading to find out more.
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Why Should I Overseed My Lawn?
There are a variety of different reasons why you should overseed your lawn if it’s looking a little worse for wear. These include but are not limited to:
Helping Infill Bare Patches
Overseeding your lawn can help infill damaged, bare patches or areas that have become thin due to heavy traffic. Overseeding your lawn in the correct seasons can fill in these bare spots and make your lawn look fuller and denser.
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Improve The Colour Of The Lawn
If your lawn is looking a little brown or dull in colour in certain places, overseeding it can help to improve the colour and appearance of your lawn, leaving you with a luscious green yard.
Reduce Weed And Moss Invasion
If your lawn has become overrun with weeds and moss in certain areas, overseeding your lawn can also help to keep this at bay and prevent an invasion from occurring.
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When Should You Overseed Your Lawn?
Generally speaking, the most ideal time to overseed your lawn is during the spring or autumn months.
Germination can take anywhere from 7 to 21 days if the conditions are right, but this can vary depending on the season that you overseed your lawn in and the weather conditions when you do it.

In addition to this, you will need to be aware that the daily temperature can’t fall below 13ºC if the grass seed is to germinate. Bearing this in mind, you will need to factor this in when you pick the right time to overseed your lawn.
When To Mow After Overseeding
If you have recently overseeded your lawn, allowing the new seedlings some rest time before you mow it is the key to a successful overseeding process.
To give your lawn the time to settle, in an ideal world, you’d wait 2 to 3 weeks before you attempted to mow your lawn after overseeding it.
That being said, lawn seed can germinate after 7 days if the conditions are right. This is helpful to know if you’re on a tighter time frame. However, you should never try to mow your lawn before a week has elapsed.
Failing to allow your lawn a minimum of a week before you mow it will likely result in your overseeding not working as well as you would have hoped. Avoid feeling deflated by allowing the grass seed the time that it needs to properly germinate.
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Tips For Caring For A Newly Overseeded Lawn
There are several tips you can keep in mind when caring for your newly overseeded lawn.
Patience Is Key
While it might not be what you want to hear, patience is key, as the new and fragile grass roots need the time to settle. You might feel tempted to mow your lawn before you’ve allowed the necessary time to elapse after overseeding your lawn, you’ll do more damage than good.
Keep Traffic To A Minimum
If you want your grass seed to establish, then your lawn seed cannot be interfered with by heavy foot traffic for the first 7 to 21 days. Make sure that everyone in your family is aware that you have overseeded your lawn and do your best to keep animals off the lawn, too. Not only do cats and dogs have a habit of burying their business, but their urine also won’t do your grass any good.
Never Now Your Lawn When It Is Wet
You don’t want to waste all of your efforts to overseed your lawn, so you should avoid mowing your lawn when it is wet. Lawnmowers can damage the grass blades when wet, and you want to make sure that you’re being careful to not disturb the new grass roots that are beginning to establish.
Choose Our timing Correctly
Timing is absolutely crucial in each step of the overseeding process, as overseeded lawns are very fragile and need the time to rest.
In the same way that spring and autumn are the best seasons to overseed your lawn, you will also need to find the best time to mow your lawn.
Make sure that you follow the rule of waiting 2 to 3 weeks before you mow your lawn. At the very minimum, you should wait at least a week. However, it’s safer to wait longer than this period of time, as the conditions need to be absolutely perfect for your lawn to have germinated in just 7 days.
Choose The Right Mowing Heights
When it does come to mowing your lawn, you will want to make sure that you choose the right mowing heights.
Raise the height to around 50mm for the first 2 or 3 cuts after overseeding your lawn. Following this, you can then reduce the height down to 25mm over the next 2 or 3 cuts.
If you do your best to follow these tips, this will provide your lawn seed with the best chance of germination in these crucial first few weeks after overseeding it.
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In Summary
Typically speaking, you should wait at least 2 to 3 weeks before you mow an overseeded lawn.
If you don’t have this time, then you should wait a minimum of a week or more before you mow your lawn after overseeding it. However, it’s also worth noting that the conditions have to be absolutely perfect for the lawn seed to germinate this quickly.
So, to avoid disappointment and to ensure you don’t ruin your hard work, it’s a much safer option to wait a couple of weeks before you go ahead and mow your lawn.