The dog owners all want a lush green lawn for their dogs, but the reality is entirely different. They usually get large yellow patches of dirt and damaged grass because the dog’s urine kills the grass.
Dog urine damage has become a significant concern for pet owners. Will baking soda neutralize dog urine on grass is the question that struck dog owners’ minds.
If you think that using baking soda will make your lawn grass turn lush green, then you’re wrong. Baking soda may help you to kill those bed bugs and has other great usages. But baking soda is a salt, and its salty nature can damage and injure your lawn.
Thus, it is not recommended to use.
So, what should a dog owner do to prevent dog urine from turning grass yellow? Check out this guide and learn more about it.
How To Stop Dog Urine From Killing Grass Naturally?
Using baking soda is not the ultimate cure to prevent brown spots on your lawn. But still, there is some hope. Think for a minute and come up with some measures that you can adopt?
Don’t worry if you haven’t. Keep reading, and you’ll find out.
- Balanced Diet
By providing them a balanced diet, you can reduce the chances of grass burns. Make sure that the Diet includes proteins in a predefined amount because when protein breaks down, they become nitrogen, the excess of which is then excreted via urine.
- Make Your Dog Hydrated
Encouraging your dog to drink more and more water will lower the nitrogen concentration in your dogs’ urine. This will help the grass stay green and use nitrogen in beneficial ways.
- Reseed the Affected Areas
You might also consider replanting with more urine-resistant grass if most part of your lawn has been affected. As mentioned earlier, Fescue and Ryegrass work best with urine.
- Use Epsom Salt
Baking soda is not more effective in neutralizing dogs’ urine than what neutralizes dog urine? Simple, sprinkle Epsom salt over the affected areas and water them regularly as it won’t kill your grass.
- Train Your Dogs
Another popular method to protect your garden from grass burn is to train your dog to use a specific area in the garden as a toilet. You can dig up some of the grass in your lawn and replace it with some gravel.
Pay attention to your dog and when you notice him giving the signals, take him out to the designated area. If he tries to go to another area, interrupt him and bring him back to the toilet area.
- Re-Paint the Affected Areas
You can also use a spray like the LawnStar’s dog spot repair grass paint to hide those blemishes. It is safe to use and doesn’t cause any harm to pets, plants, and animals.
It is recommended to use because it is a long-term solution and a single bottle covers up almost 75 square feet. Also, even after rain, the tint colors look natural.
- Keep Your Lawn Healthy
A lawn that is already in poor condition can also pose a problem for you. Keeping your lawn grass healthy will not just stop grass burn but will also make it more resistant.
Proper irrigation, controlling weeds, and overseeding helps to improve and promote healthier lawn grass.
Now watch this video to see how to rejuvenate your damaged grass.
How To Fix Grass Damage From Dog Urine?
There are some easy ways you can bring back the dead grass from dog urine. Check these ways out and have green grass again in your lawn:
- Use Fertilizers
Using the right fertilizer is a proven method of re-growing garden grass. Make sure that you use natural fertilizers instead of chemical ones. They have more minerals and organic ingredients that help your grass to grow smoothly.
Be careful and don’t overdo it as they have some nitrogen concentration, worsening the situation.
- Dolomite Lime
It is yet another simple method of helping your grass grow. It is a type of limestone that provides nutrients and helps in changing the PH level.
It also helps the soil be less acidic, which results in the better and rapid growth of healthy lawn grass.
- Use Dog Urine Resistant Grass
The simplest solution you might use is to get the type of grass that’s more resistant to the dog’s urine. Grasses like fescues and perennial rye are more resistant than other grass types.
They are durable and can take a longer time to show any signs of damage by urine. Even if the damage happens, it takes less time to recover and grow out quicker.
- Repair
You can also repair the few scattered spots as a treatment that can help neutralize dog urine.
Other treatments might include seed and a unique salt neutralizer to fix the damage down to the root zone caused by dogs’ urine.
- Use Tomato Juice
A popular solution is adding tomato juice to your dog’s food. Many people believe that this balances nitrogen levels reduce salt from the urine, and changes the PH level of the urine.
However, there is no solid evidence supporting tomato juice’s stance altering nitrogen and PH levels in urine.
How to Get Rid of Dogs Urine Smell?
Dogs’ urine damages the grass and leaves a foul odor, putting a damper on your outdoor fun.
If you’re also having this issue, here are some of our home remedies suggestions on getting rid of dog urine smell outside. So, let’s begin:
- Mix some bleach with water and spill it over the entire surface if the urine is on some porous surface like cement. Let it sit for 10 minutes before hosing off the area.
- Remove the affected grass.
- Start using an oscillating sprinkler daily on the affected areas. The water will dilute the urine, and so, it seeps into the soil.
- Sprinkle some garden lime on the affected areas. Doing so will help eliminate the bad odor and neutralize the urine to restore your grass.
Why Does Dog Urine Damage the Grass?
The fundamental reason why dog urine causes much damage is that it has high nitrogen content. Though nitrogen is vital for a healthy lawn, a high percentage of nitrogen can cause the grass to burn.
To minimize this effect, various supplements are available that promise to maintain the PH balance of the dog’s urine and save your garden. However, in reality, it has a minimal impact.
If your dog’s urine is highly alkaline or acidic, it can affect the PH balance of the soil. This will, in turn, damage your grass health. But, this is not the direct cause of grass burn.
There are other factors also that cause damage to the lawn grass.
- Dog Size Matters
The size of the dog decides how much of your lawn is being affected. If you have a large dog like the Great Dane, be prepared to experience the worst burns that cover a larger area.
If you have a smaller dog like a Maltese or Boston Terrier, they will deposit a smaller amount of urine than a Great Dane.
As a whole, whether the dog is big or small, the problem of lawn grass getting damaged is still there.
- Gender Myth
Dog owners believe that female dogs are the main culprits for burning the lawn grass. But, in reality, the gender of the dog doesn’t play any role in causing the lawn burn.
According to the University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, urine can damage the grass.
The brown spots on the grass are mainly due to the high nitrogen concentration and are effective in killing the grass. Still, it is a strong belief that female dog urine affects more of the grass area.
- Type of Lawn Grass
The two types of lawn grasses, i.e., Bermuda grass and Bluegrass, are the most popular and sensitive to nitrogen.
But here, their short-length characteristic allows more dog urine to access more surface area and causes more damage.
Although no type of grass is immune to the damage, it is something to be cautious about.
- Roots Don’t Soak Up Enough Water
A significant reason that causes the lawn grass to damage is that it doesn’t enable the roots to soak up enough clean water.
As a result, it will cause your grass to take on more nitrogen than it can actually comprehend. There will be a lack of oxygen, and it will eat away the grass.
- Stressed Grass
If your Lawn is recovering from drought or any other similar stress, it might be more susceptible to burn. Unhealthy lawn grass is easily affected by dog urine.
Also, if the dog urinates in any recently seeded grass, it burns the grass again because it is too fragile.
- Fertilized Lawns
Fertilizers act as a double-edged sword. While some fertilizers help in grass regrowth, fertilizers that are rich in nitrogen cause more burn to the grass.
- Use of Unfiltered Water
Some owners swear by filtered water to save their gardens. Using unfiltered water impacts a dog’s urine’s chemical makeup because it contains nitrates and other impurities.
Bottom Line
So, still wondering will baking soda neutralizes dog urine on grass or won’t?
The short and simple answer is a big no. Being proactive and treating those spots with Epsom salt can neutralize the urine and prevent grass burn.
You can also experiment with other methods highlighted above to protect your garden grass.
About Author
