April 5, 2011 by ltakao
Niko sunbathing at work – our California Buffalograss is coming out of dormancy woo hoo!
Remember when I posted awhile back wondering about the effects of dog pee on California Buffalograss (hey, just because we grow it doesn’t mean we run dog urine trials on it!)? Well I got a response from Will – a California Buffalograss and dog owner:
“We have California Buffalograss in our backyard with a full time dog and dog pee will definitely kill/make the pee areas yellow. We water it 2x a day so it waters it down pretty well but there are two spots in my yard that were definitely killed by the dog’s pee. It might be water wise but it doesn’t know what to do with pee.”
So there it is folks…the dirty low down on dog pee. Just like most grasses, California Buffalograss isn’t feeling it either.
Oh well, I guess you can’t win them all…
***Update y’all! We recently had someone inform us on our facebook page that she really doesn’t have an issue with burn spots from her dog – who happens to be 75lbs – so I imagine it has a decent amount of pee! Maybe it all depends on the size of your lawn and the number of dogs you have…perhaps smaller yards get “hit” more often in the same spot than larger yards do? Well, it looks like the results are back to being inconclusive for now!***
californiabuffalograssblog.com 
If anything, it’s a bit more likely to burn with dog urine than Bermuda.
That’s what you get when you plant a grass that doesn’t need much fertilizer.
It could be the dog’s urine pH level. http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2013/11/11/dog-urine-ph.aspx
Thanks for the info!
Sounds like it might be worth while watering the lawn twice a day for a few minutes to dilute the pee’s toxicity in combination with once weekly deep 45 minute watering. Might this be the ticket?
But I only have one 50 pound girl who hits the front yard in the evening only. On the other hand I have maybe 20 rabbits from neighbors on both sides, across the street and from god knows wherevthat hang out on my front lawn 24/7 with impunity, depositing their pellets (and Pee) in piles everywhere. After 3 years I am ready to redo the whole lawn, it’s a mess.
Could this be because they eat the grass or leave their mini Easter eggs? It’s not grubs nor fungus this I am sure of.
Our soil and water ph is on the basic side around 7
Thank you in advance for your comments.
Yes watering it more frequently would help to dilute it. It also probably depends on the size of your dog and number of dogs.
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The damage is most likely from them eating the grass. They’re cute but they can certainly be a nuisance in the garden!