Seeing your beloved plants die or turn brown can be tough, especially when it’s your own dog that’s killing them. Dog urine can kill several plant and tree species. It also causes those unsightly brown spots on your lawn. Unlike human urine, the highly concentrated nature of dog urine can have devastating effects on your greenery and your yard. So, how do you save plants from dog urine? Before you change your lawn to AstroTurf or give up on growing beautiful shrubbery, we have good news. We will answer all your burning questions about the killing qualities of dog urine and give you great tips to overcome the problem. The 6 Ways to Save Plants From Dog Urine
- Urine Dilution Image Credit: creative2usa, Pixabay Materials:
Water
Garden hose
White vinegar
Baking soda
There are two ways to neutralize dog urine on plants. The easiest is to simply dilute the urine. By doing this, you are decreasing the concentration of damaging compounds in the urine and therefore, minimizing the damage to your plants. The problem with this method is that you have to dilute your dog’s urine immediately after they pee. It’s labor-intensive and not always reasonable to follow your dog around and water everything that they pee on. Nonetheless, there may be times when you are able to intervene. Method 1: Use a garden hose to heavily water the spot that your dog peed on. Method 2: Douse the affected plant with a mixture of ½ cup of white vinegar, 1 cup of water, and 2 tbsp. of baking soda. This mixture also neutralizes the damage-causing compounds found in dog urine. Pros
Reduces plant damage
Cons
Labor intensive
- Lime Image Credit: congerdesign, Pixabay Materials:
Dolomitic lime
If the alkaline pH causes your plant to be damaged by your dog’s pee, you can sprinkle dolomite lime onto your soil. Dolomite lime comprises magnesium carbonate and calcium and can help regulate soil pH. Be aware that this method will only help if your soil is acidic. If you have alkaline soil, sprinkling lime will only make it more alkaline. Pros
Regulates soil pH
Cons
Only helps with acidic soil
Fencing Image Credit: rihaij, Pixabay If you have a big enough yard, one of the easiest ways to prevent your dog from peeing on your plants is to create a specific area for them. There are tons of options for decorative garden fencing; you can even run a fence down the middle of your yard to keep your plants safe. Other options for fencing include fencing off your plants or creating an area specifically for your dog. If you have trees or shrubs bordering the outside of your property, running a decorative border along the inside can prevent them from being exposed to dog urine. To protect single plants or trees, chicken wire, obelisks, or plant cage supports can protect the roots from damage.
Mulching Image Credit: Olichel, Pixabay If you don’t have enough space for fencing or you simply don’t want fences all over your yard, you can create a ground cover that’s undesirable for your dog to pee on. Most gardeners use organic mulch, like wood chips or straw, in their garden beds. For dogs, mulch is a playground. It’s soft, damp, and full of enticing smells. Mulching your plant beds with less inviting materials can help keep your dog out. Try using clippings from thorny bushes, like barberry or rose stems. Junipers are prickly too. These types of mulch and ground cover poke the soft pads of your dog’s feet when they try to enter, making it an uninviting place. One favorite mulch idea is to line your beds with pinecones or create pinecone “moats” around your plants and trees. Dogs don’t like the way that these feel on their feet, and they will look like decorative accents in your yard. Pros
All-natural deterrent for dogs
Promotes plant health
Cons
Requires a little work and creativity
- Dog Deterrents Image Credit: NatureFriend, Pixabay If the problem isn’t your own dog peeing on your plants but somebody else’s, it can be much harder to protect your plants. When it’s your own dog, you can watch their bathroom habits and adjust accordingly. When it’s a neighbor’s dog or a stray wandering in, you need to step things up a notch and use a deterrent. Deterrents don’t have to be chemical or poison; they just need to send a “keep away” message to the offending dog. Motion-activated sprinklers work great for this by shooting water out when an animal is nearby. Decoys with LED lights can make a dog think that a predator is present and watching them. Garden centers and pet stores sell spray-on animal deterrents that smell like predator urine. These work well as an adjunct to predator decoys to reinforce the idea that your yard is not a safe place. Other animal deterrents have strong scents that are offensive to dogs, like hot peppers, apple bitters, and orange peels. Other household items that you can use as deterrents include ammonia, vinegar, tabasco sauce, coffee grounds, orange peels, cayenne pepper, and ground mustard. Pros
Keeps dogs out of your yard
Cons
Not convenient if you also have pets that use the yard
- Make a “Bathroom Area” and Train Your Dog to Use It Image Credit: Zayats Svetlana, Shutterstock If your primary issue is your grass rather than plants and trees, the best way to stop your yard from being covered with yellow spots is to stop letting your dog use it as a bathroom. To do this, you’ll need to make a bathroom area just for your dog. Some people make dog runs that go between their house and the fence or the underside of their deck, but any area will work. The area that you choose to use should be covered in gravel, sand, or dirt, or you can use urine-resistant grass and plants. Train your dog to “go potty” in the designated area, in a similar fashion as house-training your dog. Praise them for going in the right spot, and re-direct their bathroom habits in other areas of the yard. Pros
Establishes healthy behavior in your dog
Keeps your plants safe
Cons
Requires time investment
No matter how hard you try, pets will always leave you cleaning up smells, stains, vomit, hair, and everything in between. With the Hepper Advanced Bio-Enzyme Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator Spray, you can advance your clean-up routine! It permanently removes the very worst pet stains and smells (and truly makes clean-up a breeze). Click here to learn more, order a bottle, and freshen up your home today. At Pet Keen, we’ve admired Hepper for many years, and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding products of this cool cat company!
- Feed Your Dog a Good Diet Image Credit: Olena Yakobchuk, Shutterstock What your dog takes in has a direct impact on what comes out. Changing your dog’s diet can decrease the amount of urea in their urine and therefore, reduce the damage that it causes to plants. Some dogs have difficulty digesting certain proteins, increasing protein metabolites being excreted in the urine. Sometimes, all it takes to stop dog urine from killing your plants is switching your dog from chicken to beef or beef to fish. Pros
Potentially fixes the problem for good
Cons
It doesn’t always work
Why Does Dog Urine Kill Plants and Trees? Image credit: PxHere There are three characteristics of dog urine that cause it to kill plants and trees:
Alkaline pH levels
Urea
Nitrogen load
pH Levels Canine urine contains high levels of salts that cause it to be extremely alkaline. Soil pH is important for healthy plant growth, and too much dog pee alters that delicate pH balance. Over time, this causes damage to plant roots and leads to the overall destruction of the plant. Urea The main killing ingredient in dog urine is urea, a compound that forms from protein digestion. All mammals have urea in their urine, including humans, but since dogs eat high-protein diets, the concentration of urea in their urine is higher. The more protein that they eat, the more lethal their urine becomes to lawns and gardens. Nitrogen Urea contains nitrogen. Nitrogen is used as a plant fertilizer, but dog urine contains nitrogen in high concentrations. If you’ve seen what happens to a lawn after a fertilizer spill, this is the same thing. A little fertilizer spread evenly on your lawn helps it grow lush and green. When you pour a large amount in one spot, the grass turns brown and dies. Dog pee is like little fertilizer pools all over the yard.
See Also: 7 Best Artificial Grass for Dogs in 2022: Reviews & Top Picks!
What Plants Tolerate Dog Urine? Image Credit: Piqsels Several species of plants consume high levels of nitrogen and therefore, are tolerant of dog urine. Vegetables like corn, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, cabbage, and citrus fruits love high nitrogen concentrations. The rose is another heavy nitrogen consumer. Other popular plants that are resistant to dog urine include:
Bear’s breech
Burkwood osmanthus
Doublefile viburnum
Feather reed grass
Holly fern
Japanese spindle tree
Mexican sage
New Zealand flax
Red twig dogwood
Snowball viburnum
Spider plants
Sword fern
Dog resistant herbs include:
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Peppermint
Rosemary
For ground cover shrubs, look for:
Carpet bugle
Elfin thyme
Kinnikinnick
Miniature stonecrop
Silver carpet
Snow in summer
Wintercreeper
Conclusion Dog urine can kill your plants and trees, but it doesn’t have to. There are several options to keep your dog (or someone else’s) out of your plants. There are also several species of nitrogen-loving plants that tolerate dog urine. Diluting the urine or altering your dog’s diet can also help prevent damage.
Next on your reading list: 9 Plants Resistant to Dog Urine
Featured Image Credit: Kobus-van-Leer, Pixabay
Seeing your beloved plants die or turn brown can be tough, especially when it’s your own dog that’s killing them. Dog urine can kill several plant and tree species. It also causes those unsightly brown spots on your lawn. Unlike human urine, the highly concentrated nature of dog urine can have devastating effects on your greenery and your yard. So, how do you save plants from dog urine?
Before you change your lawn to AstroTurf or give up on growing beautiful shrubbery, we have good news. We will answer all your burning questions about the killing qualities of dog urine and give you great tips to overcome the problem.
The 6 Ways to Save Plants From Dog Urine
1. Urine Dilution
Materials:
Water
Garden hose
White vinegar
Baking soda
There are two ways to neutralize dog urine on plants. The easiest is to simply dilute the urine. By doing this, you are decreasing the concentration of damaging compounds in the urine and therefore, minimizing the damage to your plants.
Water
Garden hose
White vinegar
Baking soda
- Water
- Garden hose
- White vinegar
- Baking soda
The problem with this method is that you have to dilute your dog’s urine immediately after they pee. It’s labor-intensive and not always reasonable to follow your dog around and water everything that they pee on. Nonetheless, there may be times when you are able to intervene.
Method 1: Use a garden hose to heavily water the spot that your dog peed on.
Method 2: Douse the affected plant with a mixture of ½ cup of white vinegar, 1 cup of water, and 2 tbsp. of baking soda. This mixture also neutralizes the damage-causing compounds found in dog urine.
Pros
Reduces plant damage
Cons
Labor intensive
2. Lime
Reduces plant damage
- Reduces plant damage
Labor intensive
- Labor intensive
Dolomitic lime
If the alkaline pH causes your plant to be damaged by your dog’s pee, you can sprinkle dolomite lime onto your soil. Dolomite lime comprises magnesium carbonate and calcium and can help regulate soil pH.
Dolomitic lime
- Dolomitic lime
Be aware that this method will only help if your soil is acidic. If you have alkaline soil, sprinkling lime will only make it more alkaline.
Pros
Regulates soil pH
Cons
Only helps with acidic soil
3. Fencing
If you have a big enough yard, one of the easiest ways to prevent your dog from peeing on your plants is to create a specific area for them. There are tons of options for decorative garden fencing; you can even run a fence down the middle of your yard to keep your plants safe.
Regulates soil pH
- Regulates soil pH
Only helps with acidic soil
- Only helps with acidic soil
Other options for fencing include fencing off your plants or creating an area specifically for your dog. If you have trees or shrubs bordering the outside of your property, running a decorative border along the inside can prevent them from being exposed to dog urine.
To protect single plants or trees, chicken wire, obelisks, or plant cage supports can protect the roots from damage.
4. Mulching
If you don’t have enough space for fencing or you simply don’t want fences all over your yard, you can create a ground cover that’s undesirable for your dog to pee on. Most gardeners use organic mulch, like wood chips or straw, in their garden beds. For dogs, mulch is a playground. It’s soft, damp, and full of enticing smells.
Mulching your plant beds with less inviting materials can help keep your dog out. Try using clippings from thorny bushes, like barberry or rose stems. Junipers are prickly too. These types of mulch and ground cover poke the soft pads of your dog’s feet when they try to enter, making it an uninviting place.
One favorite mulch idea is to line your beds with pinecones or create pinecone “moats” around your plants and trees. Dogs don’t like the way that these feel on their feet, and they will look like decorative accents in your yard.
Pros
All-natural deterrent for dogs
Promotes plant health
Cons
Requires a little work and creativity
5. Dog Deterrents
If the problem isn’t your own dog peeing on your plants but somebody else’s, it can be much harder to protect your plants. When it’s your own dog, you can watch their bathroom habits and adjust accordingly. When it’s a neighbor’s dog or a stray wandering in, you need to step things up a notch and use a deterrent.
All-natural deterrent for dogs
Promotes plant health
- All-natural deterrent for dogs
- Promotes plant health
Requires a little work and creativity
- Requires a little work and creativity
Deterrents don’t have to be chemical or poison; they just need to send a “keep away” message to the offending dog. Motion-activated sprinklers work great for this by shooting water out when an animal is nearby. Decoys with LED lights can make a dog think that a predator is present and watching them.
Garden centers and pet stores sell spray-on animal deterrents that smell like predator urine. These work well as an adjunct to predator decoys to reinforce the idea that your yard is not a safe place. Other animal deterrents have strong scents that are offensive to dogs, like hot peppers, apple bitters, and orange peels.
Other household items that you can use as deterrents include ammonia, vinegar, tabasco sauce, coffee grounds, orange peels, cayenne pepper, and ground mustard.
Pros
Keeps dogs out of your yard
Cons
Not convenient if you also have pets that use the yard
6. Make a “Bathroom Area” and Train Your Dog to Use It
If your primary issue is your grass rather than plants and trees, the best way to stop your yard from being covered with yellow spots is to stop letting your dog use it as a bathroom. To do this, you’ll need to make a bathroom area just for your dog. Some people make dog runs that go between their house and the fence or the underside of their deck, but any area will work.
Keeps dogs out of your yard
- Keeps dogs out of your yard
Not convenient if you also have pets that use the yard
- Not convenient if you also have pets that use the yard
The area that you choose to use should be covered in gravel, sand, or dirt, or you can use urine-resistant grass and plants. Train your dog to “go potty” in the designated area, in a similar fashion as house-training your dog. Praise them for going in the right spot, and re-direct their bathroom habits in other areas of the yard.
Pros
Establishes healthy behavior in your dog
Keeps your plants safe
Cons
Requires time investment
No matter how hard you try, pets will always leave you cleaning up smells, stains, vomit, hair, and everything in between. With the Hepper Advanced Bio-Enzyme Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator Spray, you can advance your clean-up routine!
Establishes healthy behavior in your dog
Keeps your plants safe
- Establishes healthy behavior in your dog
- Keeps your plants safe
Requires time investment
- Requires time investment
It permanently removes the very worst pet stains and smells (and truly makes clean-up a breeze). Click here to learn more, order a bottle, and freshen up your home today.
At Pet Keen, we’ve admired Hepper for many years, and decided to take a controlling ownership interest so that we could benefit from the outstanding products of this cool cat company!
7. Feed Your Dog a Good Diet
What your dog takes in has a direct impact on what comes out. Changing your dog’s diet can decrease the amount of urea in their urine and therefore, reduce the damage that it causes to plants. Some dogs have difficulty digesting certain proteins, increasing protein metabolites being excreted in the urine. Sometimes, all it takes to stop dog urine from killing your plants is switching your dog from chicken to beef or beef to fish.
Pros
Potentially fixes the problem for good
Cons
It doesn’t always work
Potentially fixes the problem for good
- Potentially fixes the problem for good
It doesn’t always work
- It doesn’t always work
Why Does Dog Urine Kill Plants and Trees?
There are three characteristics of dog urine that cause it to kill plants and trees:
Alkaline pH levels
Urea
Nitrogen load
pH Levels
Canine urine contains high levels of salts that cause it to be extremely alkaline. Soil pH is important for healthy plant growth, and too much dog pee alters that delicate pH balance. Over time, this causes damage to plant roots and leads to the overall destruction of the plant.
Alkaline pH levels
Urea
Nitrogen load
- Alkaline pH levels
- Urea
- Nitrogen load
Urea
The main killing ingredient in dog urine is urea, a compound that forms from protein digestion. All mammals have urea in their urine, including humans, but since dogs eat high-protein diets, the concentration of urea in their urine is higher. The more protein that they eat, the more lethal their urine becomes to lawns and gardens.
Nitrogen
Urea contains nitrogen. Nitrogen is used as a plant fertilizer, but dog urine contains nitrogen in high concentrations. If you’ve seen what happens to a lawn after a fertilizer spill, this is the same thing. A little fertilizer spread evenly on your lawn helps it grow lush and green. When you pour a large amount in one spot, the grass turns brown and dies. Dog pee is like little fertilizer pools all over the yard.
- See Also: 7 Best Artificial Grass for Dogs in 2022: Reviews & Top Picks!
What Plants Tolerate Dog Urine?
Several species of plants consume high levels of nitrogen and therefore, are tolerant of dog urine. Vegetables like corn, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, cabbage, and citrus fruits love high nitrogen concentrations. The rose is another heavy nitrogen consumer.
Other popular plants that are resistant to dog urine include:
Bear’s breech
Burkwood osmanthus
Doublefile viburnum
Feather reed grass
Holly fern
Japanese spindle tree
Mexican sage
New Zealand flax
Red twig dogwood
Snowball viburnum
Spider plants
Sword fern
Dog resistant herbs include:
Bear’s breech
Burkwood osmanthus
Doublefile viburnum
Feather reed grass
Holly fern
Japanese spindle tree
Mexican sage
New Zealand flax
Red twig dogwood
Snowball viburnum
Spider plants
Sword fern
- Bear’s breech
- Burkwood osmanthus
- Doublefile viburnum
- Feather reed grass
- Holly fern
- Japanese spindle tree
- Mexican sage
- New Zealand flax
- Red twig dogwood
- Snowball viburnum
- Spider plants
- Sword fern
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Peppermint
Rosemary
For ground cover shrubs, look for:
Basil
Oregano
Parsley
Peppermint
Rosemary
- Basil
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Peppermint
- Rosemary
Carpet bugle
Elfin thyme
Kinnikinnick
Miniature stonecrop
Silver carpet
Snow in summer
Wintercreeper
Carpet bugle
Elfin thyme
Kinnikinnick
Miniature stonecrop
Silver carpet
Snow in summer
Wintercreeper
- Carpet bugle
- Elfin thyme
- Kinnikinnick
- Miniature stonecrop
- Silver carpet
- Snow in summer
- Wintercreeper
Conclusion
Dog urine can kill your plants and trees, but it doesn’t have to. There are several options to keep your dog (or someone else’s) out of your plants. There are also several species of nitrogen-loving plants that tolerate dog urine. Diluting the urine or altering your dog’s diet can also help prevent damage.
- Next on your reading list: 9 Plants Resistant to Dog Urine
Featured Image Credit: Kobus-van-Leer, Pixabay
