Anybody with a dog knows the powerful toll potty time takes on your lawn. Dog urine damage has been discussed countless times: ugly brown spots, dead plants, reseeding or resodding every year, and how to lessen the damage caused by your dog’s need to pee. But what if you could harness the power of dog pee for the good of your lawn instead of trying to modify your dog’s urine content to save your grass?
Some solutions to dog urine damage involve modifying the composition of your dog’s urine: making him drink more water (which can take a toll on his kidneys) or placing certain additives in her food (which can also wreak havoc on her health if not approved by a veterinarian). Why bother trying to fight nature? Everyone pees, and it’s easier to just go with the flow (pun very much intended).
Next time your pup pees, water down the potty spot with about a gallon of water. This dilutes the urine and minimizes damage while still allowing your grass to receive the benefits of a “green,” eco-friendly fertilizer. It might take a few tries to figure out the proper water-to-urine ratio to get that perfect green lawn you’ve always dreamed of, because every dog’s urine output is different (in volume as well as composition). But once you hit it, you’ll be ready to have your dog peeing all over the place.
Dog urine is a combination of many things, but the one big component that’s beneficial to lawns is nitrogen. Next time you’re taking your dog for a pee break, look at the ring of dead grass he’s left behind. The middle is burnt, brown and dead. The edges are lush and greener than the grass around it. Not just greener than the brown dead spot but also greener than the living grass outside of the ring of urine.
If you don’t feel like actively watering down your dog’s urine to take advantage of its properties as a fertilizer, you can also use it as an all-natural weed killer. As we discussed, the same nitrogen salts that make it good for you lawn in small doses make it a great plant killer. If you’re opposed to chemical weed killers, you can take your canine companion for a bathroom break and direct her to pee on the plants you’d like to be rid of. Don’t water the urine this time — just let it do its thing. Pretty soon those weeds will be gone.
The problem is that most dog owners have not only trained their pups to pee onto trees, they think it is good for them. It isnt. The old trope that canine urine is a fertilizer is but a fertile lie:
Her argument goes on, but you get the gist. Maybe next time you are out walking the puppy (or perhaps taking them skateboarding?) youll remember to not let them pee on the plants? If not for the plants themselves, then at least for the poor gardeners who are sick of saying “Excuse me, but did you know that dog pee is bad for plants?” dozens and dozens of times a day.
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2023. Donate today
The mayor’s remarks on WBLS were the most extensive yet since the nurses strike began on Monday morning.
So short of putting up signs in your yard, what can you do to prevent this from happening to you?
Samples said byproducts of the urine could kill grass, “Basically the urine is actually toxic to the leaf tissue.”
Although she said shes still skeptical, but maybe more of the merits of this news story than of the dogs next door.
So we can VERIFY, indeed, dog urine can kill your plants in the long run if left unchecked — but its not a death sentence for your roses if youre able to take a few precautions.
We asked a UT Veterinary Internist Dr. India Lane who has a specialization in urology and turfgrass science specialist Tom Samples.
Can Human Urine be used as a Fertilizer in your Organic Garden
“Well I saw it happen several times and were dog owners ourselves so we know what dogs like to do.”
So she decided to do something about it, “I took these little signs and discreetly asked people to please watch where their dogs were tinkling.”
We asked a UT Veterinary Internist Dr. India Lane who has a specialization in urology and turfgrass science specialist Tom Samples.
Samples said byproducts of the urine could kill grass, “Basically the urine is actually toxic to the leaf tissue.”
“Nitrogen itself is a fertilizer,” said Dr. Lane. “But if you put too much fertilizer in one spot than youre going to overdo it and kill the grass.”
So short of putting up signs in your yard, what can you do to prevent this from happening to you?
There are dog dietary supplements that claim to cure pee problems, but Lane warns buyers should beware. “The long term effects of some of that on the dogs health would be what concerns me the most.”
Both Lane and Samples agree, the best bet is to water down the whizz or just let it be.
“As the turf specialist at the University of Tennessee, I kind of let nature take its course,” Samples said.
Although she said shes still skeptical, but maybe more of the merits of this news story than of the dogs next door.
So we can VERIFY, indeed, dog urine can kill your plants in the long run if left unchecked — but its not a death sentence for your roses if youre able to take a few precautions.