 | Brad Lechner
owner and operator of Lechner’s Landscape & Lawn Service, LLC, has been in the lawn maintenance & landscaping industry since 1984. He is a certified Kansas Nursery Dealer & Certified Lawn Pest Control Applicator. Brad also maintains memberships in PLCAMA (Professional Lawn Care Association of Mid-America), Project Living Green, The Wichita Lawn, Flower and Garden Show, and The Better Business Bureau. Lechner's Landscape & Lawn Service does landscaping, lawn maintenance, lawn fertilization programs, tree & shrub insect and disease programs, tree & shrub pruning, seeding and sodding, and positive corrective drainage. You may contact Brad by e-mailing him at: lechnerslawn@aol.com, or by phone at (316) 729-2600. |
Lawn, Garden & Landscaping
2001-11-01 15:22:00
Who let the dogs out?
Question: I’ve heard lots both ways... just how damaging are dogs’ daily routines to a lawn?
Answer: Dog urine and feces can often be a frustrating problem related to lawn care. Small amounts may produce a green up or fertilizer effects while large amounts often result in lawn burn dead patches. While most burn spots will recover with time and regrowth, dead areas can be large enough in some cases to require reseeding or sodding. For homeowners who are also dog lovers, this can present a dilemma, particularly when one family member prefers the dog and another prefers a well-manicured lawn. The primary concern in addressing urine damage to lawns is to minimizing the nitrogen concentration added to the lawn at any single time. Female dogs, being less likely to urine mark and more likely to squat, are the primary culprits of lawn damage since they will urinate anywhere on a lawn and usually all at once. This results in a single nitrogen dump confined through a small patch of grass. The brown spot that results will often have a green ring around the outside, the nitrogen overload at the center causes the burn, but as the urine is diluted towards the periphery, it has a fertilizer effect. this characteristic brown spot, green ring pattern has been called (female dog spot disease) by some horticulturists. As might be expected, lawns are most susceptible to nitrogen burns when standard fertilizers are maximized in the lawn. Homeowners making the extra effort to have a green lawn may be quite discouraged by their neighbor's dog damage or their own house pets markings. Dog urine damage to lawns is so common in fact that a series of urban myths have arisen over what causes the damage. For instance, one says that a female dog’ s urine is more acidic and therefore more damaging than a male. Another suggests that what homeowners can do to avoid the problem are things like adding tomato juice to the dog’s diet or baking soda to it's water.
