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Urine and Lawns: A Complicated Dynamic

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Dog in a lawnFertilizer contains urea, a compound that brings essential nitrogen to plants or the grasses of your lawn. Urea is also in human or animal pee. Can you then fertilize your lawn with your pee? The idea may seem silly, but the question is valid. Scientists, even your local lawn expert in Utah, will tell you both yes and no.

Damaging Concentrations

According to experts at Greenside Landscaping, urine contains nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, three elements needed for healthy lawns. Fertilizers have the same elements. Urine, however, has high concentrations of salt and nitrogen that can damage your lawn and cause dead or burned spots in the grass.

Dangerous Human and Dog Urine

Your own or your pet dog’s pee can damage your grass. Female dogs, which tend to squat while peeing, cause more damage than the males.

Dilute to Use as Fertilizer

You can use your urine, however, if you dilute it in water. Water can reduce the concentration of nitrogen and salt in the urine, enough to make it safe to use. You can collect urine in a watering can and mix one part urine with two parts water, and use the mixture to fertilize your lawn. In fact, some farmers already use this method to grow their crops.

Solutions for Your Dog

As for your dog, you can train him or her to urinate in one spot where you can grow urine-resistant ground covering such as clover ground cover. You can also shower the grass with water wherever your dog pees on the lawn. You can also have a lawn expert change your landscape to be dog-friendly.

Your lawn can now be free of burn spots because of urine. You now have a new source of fertilizer, too, although you can definitely choose to stay with commercial fertilizer.

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