Dog Spots

[DuckDog]

Now that the snow is off the ground I can really tell where there are dog spots (dead grass). Should I just cut up those spots and prep early? Should I dump some gypsum now or wait?

What do you think?

[MuleShack]

It depends on if the dog concentrated on a certain area or if they are all over.

If it was a concentrated area, you will probably have to scrape it up, add some dirt and gypsum and reseed or lay some new sod.

Scattered areas may come back. Atleast I hope they do other wise I have a lot of lawn patching to do this spring.

[water rat]

I just put down 200 pounds of gypsum In my back yard,area looks like a polka dot dress.I doubled what the bag said for coverage,gal at the store said you really cant put too much down.....? I guess I'll wait and see...

[Tom7227]

Is the correct product gypsum or hydrated lime? Don't know myself. I thought they were the same thing chemically but I'm not sure.

[Dotch]

Gypsum is calcium sulfate and hydrated lime is calcium hydroxide.

[pureinsanity]

lime will raise the PH of acid soils and is generally favorable for pH below 6 while gypsum neither neutralize acid soils nor effectively raise pH level. Lime also naturally occurs in some alkaline soils but does not effectively reclaim them unless sulphur is added, while for gypsum it will reclaim alkaline soils by replacing sodium with calcium.

Basically, your dogs pee is like you spilling the bag of fertilizer in a spot on the lawn. Very high in Nitrogen. The problem sometimes comes when your lawn has high nitrogen levels from fertilizer and the dog urinates. This would be an "overdose" of N and cause the grass to burn. It's a common misconception that "acid" in dog urine kills grass.

If you are seeing these spots, change your dogs food to something of high quality, not cheap stuff. This should fix most of your polka dot lawn. You can put baking soda on these spots and have the same effect as gypsum or lime. Neither will do much. Basically, when your dog pees, spray it down with a hose. That should dilute most of it and should help a lot.

gypsum that naturally neutralizes pet urine and salt damage. Gypsum also retains moisture and aids in seed germination

You can use lime or gypsum. I have heard that giving your dog a little bit of ketchup in their meal really helps, but I haven't tried this as I have never had a dog spot problem

[DuckDog]

Its not a high quality food issue in my house - this just comes after the snow; meaning, my dog's urine goes through the snow and kills the dormant grass. During the summer this is not a problem.

I put down 120 pounds of gypsum on my yard yesterday and 50 pounds of lime. If this doesnt work I will have to just get out the shovel and seed when the time is right.

On a side note- I noticed my neighbor was already seeding his yard... a bit early I think

[pureinsanity]

I am going to top dress my lawn with dirt and seed as soon as I can. It's seed. some will take some wont. you just add more!

[slammer]

Where do you get the gypsum and lime?

[Tom7227]

Any feed store will have both. Big box stores sell it was well.

[pureinsanity]

Find a fertilizer retailer, they will have it as well. Probably cheaper too

[DuckDog]

Where do you get the gypsum and lime?

Easily found in most places.

Looks like Easter weekend I will have to evaluate which spots, if any, came back to life. Prep the soil and get ready to seed.

[slammer]

Do you just hit the spots or do you cover the whole yard? Use a fertilizer spreader?

[water rat]

I usually just hand spread with a coffee can or a scoop,I dump a little extra on the real bad spots but try to give the whole area a light covering.