A little more informaton would be useful in answering your question. What was the purpose of the top dressing ? Was it related to overseeding an existing lawn ? or was it done after a total renovation or newly planted lawn. What product was used to top dress ? Compost, straw, top soil, peat ? If for any reason you top dressed a growing healthy lawn, then you could mulch mow immediately afterwards or wait until the grass needs cutting. Bill Hill

hi billhill,
thx for your reply! i am happy to provide more details.

i slice-seeded my entire lawn a month ago. it is part of my annual program to introduce new seed into the soil. i have already mulch mowed twice on the 4" setting to keep up with the mature grass plants. the new plants are about 2.5" tall.

i haven't done it yet but i would like to top-dress some of my lawn areas that i have had problems with in hopes of adding some good elements back into the soil. i remember doing it a few years ago and being astounded at the results! one problem area is where the previous owner had a vegetable garden. another area is along the side yard and i am stumped as to what could cause the thinness there. i have sent out a soil sample to see what is going on with both those areas, but don't have those results yet. it is these 2 problem areas i plan to top-dress initially.

i plan on using peat or a combination of peat and compost.

the concern behind my question about mowing after top-dressing is will top-dressing hold me up on mowing? we're in the growing season here and with the rains we've been having my mature grass is growing at a rate of about an inch every 3 days. i know - what some people would do for that rain! - but i can't wait long to mow if i top dress now. i am already on the highest setting of my mower so i need to keep up with it to not have to take too much off at once and harm the grass. i could wait until spring to top dress if you think that would be better than now. i only thought to do it sooner so it would benefit the soil more quickly.

if sooner is ok-good, should i wait until my new plants are actually being cut by the mower? i didn't plan on being vigorous when applying the top dressing. i thought to use the technique of throwing-a-shovel full of top dressing here and there and then use the backside of a leaf rake to spread it a bit

i planned on doing this next weekend. let me know what you think. i will certainly appreciate any and all advice! :)

pat

Adding organic material by spreading compost/Pete is the best thing you can do for the health of your lawn. Top-dress your problem areas and then mulch mow it right into the soil. Try to sprinkle it on with your shovel, cut the grass and then go back and crush by hand any clumps of peat/compost that could smother a small spot. On second thought, without seeing your lawn, maybe you should wait a couple more weeks for your seedlings to strengthen before top-dressing. Others may chime in with their advice. Good luck and welcome to the GardenWeb Lawn Forum Bill Hill

Bill, Thank you very much for your time in reading my post and providing your advice. How about if I provide a picture of the areas tomorrow? While I would love to git 'r done soon, I would also be content with waiting a couple-few weeks. I want to dormant seed whatever spots are still thin come mid-November and so I imagine if I dormant-seeded and top-dressed at that time, that would work too? Okay, I'll post pic tomorrow and look for your advice if you are available tomorrow evening. Thx, and thx for the welcome :) pat

Sorry, I can't upload pics due to server problems. I'll try again tomorrow...