Others say their dog smells of urine and can they use baby wipes to clean them?! ?
Surely they shower them every day?
Oops, wrong thread!
My friend's dogs used to smell awful and were very friendly but I don't think she ever noticed and her house was always very clean.
Gransnet forums
Gardening
Artificial Grass Deodoriser
(122 Posts)I have used the brands sold for this purpose but the result doesn't last long and it is quite expensive. Has anyone used a disinfectant (e.g.zoflora) for this? Although I walk my dogs frequently they are in and out of the garden all day. I have had it power washed in the past but that didn't last long either.
Callistemon21
FarNorth
kittylester
I cannot believe that this a thing!
Me neitherMe neither.
I’m on a couple of breed specific Facebook groups. The smell of dog urine is a Thing on those groups. Some posters ask his to stop their fake grass smelling of dog urine. Others say their dog smells of urine and can they use baby wipes to clean them?! ?
I know not everyone loves dogs and I even understand why this strange thing can occur. But, if you share your life with dogs you have to be a bit relaxed about it
Picture won't post but it's full of daisies.
Mind you, some may hate my lawn too ?
FarNorth
kittylester
I cannot believe that this a thing!
Me neither
Me neither.
I appreciate the OP asked about cleaning fake grass and some posters feel the responses should have been confined to thst but - it’s a forum. People respond as they wish. Discussions meander.
Im in the loathe fake grass camp. It’s plastic so bad for the environment, bad for insect life and not much fun for dogs. Our dogs go out in the morning and spend a happy time following their noses, working out if the fox dared wander through, where the mice have been and where the best dog toilet spot is. I love the garden, try to keep it a joy to be in. I can’t mow and im lucky to be able to afford a forthrightly gardener to mow for me. If I couldn’t, it would have to be paved
After her grass, in a new build house, was destroyed by leather jackets, my daughter has fake grass. Two expert appraisals by professional’s, lawn dug up, she was told ‘nematodes might work’, no guarantees and estimates of digging down in the thousands of £’s.
With two children she needed a usable area, at a reasonable price, so, artificial it is, no dogs, but lots of planting around for bees and butterflies.
If someone asks for advice on how to stop artificial grass from smelling because their dogs use it as a toilet, they are bound to get a lot of replies on whether or not it's a good idea to use plastic grass.
But she didn't ask whether people thought it was a good idea, she just asked what was best to clean it. If someone asked what was the best product to polish their car then should they expect people to lecture them on how cars are bad for the environment? (Similar to what Riverwalk said).
Also, the replies were not just on whether it was a good idea to use this grass, they were criticising the morality of using it because it is bad for the environment.
I don't have a lawn, artificial or otherwise. In my opinion there is a lot of sanctimonious lecturing of the OP here.
How many of you are car owners - surely your car causes more damage to the environment over the years than one lawn of plastic grass?
And before you justify car ownership by saying you live very rurally and the bus runs once a week - that's your chosen lifestyle, just as the OP has chosen hers.
It would be cheaper and more environmentally friendly to get taxis to the nearest public transport to go shopping, visiting, hospital appointments whatever, but you don't do that because you want the convenience of personal transport, just as the OP wants the convenience of plastic grass.
I feel sorry for the dogs. My girl loved to roll around on the grass. It was cool on a hot day. I would never inflict plastic grass on an animal.
Chestnut
The OP was asking a simple question, what to use to clean her grass. This has turned into a discussion on the morality of having artificial grass. This is not what the OP asked, and I guess she will be loathe to ask anything on this site again for risk of being judged.
If someone asks for advice on how to stop artificial grass from smelling because their dogs use it as a toilet, they are bound to get a lot of replies on whether or not it's a good idea to use plastic grass.
The OP was asking a simple question, what to use to clean her grass. This has turned into a discussion on the morality of having artificial grass. This is not what the OP asked, and I guess she will be loathe to ask anything on this site again for risk of being judged.
The photo didn't post for some reason.
Honeysuckleberries
All the smug and superior feeling posters on here with their real grass really make me cross. I have a patch of artificial grass because it was that or the concrete drive it’s placed on. It’s an enclosed area for me and my house cats to sit out in the sunshine.
My little courtyard garden is paved. I would have preferred real grass but I’m disabled and can’t mow it. That would either have made extra work for my already hard working son or I would have had to pay a gardener money I don’t have.
Please think of how others have to live before you sneer at others. We don’t all have the money or physical health or living partners to have the real thing.
I'm sorry, but I don't understand.
All the smug and superior feeling posters on here with their real grass really make me cross. I have a patch of artificial grass because it was that or the concrete drive it’s placed on. It’s an enclosed area for me and my house cats to sit out in the sunshine.
I am not sneering, smug or superior
If I had a small courtyard garden I'd have slabs and pots with shrubs and flowers.
My superior lawn - some will view it with horror
Our gravel garden is easy to keep weed free and we are enjoying developing it as a 'project'. We are fortunate to be mobile but my SiL came to stay recently and found it challenging to walk on.
We do have plastic grass in the back garden - it was here when we moved in - and it needs looking after too, with a rake once a month at least.
The pet-safe disinfectant isn't cheap as you say OP but it's the best way I've found so far. You will need to be mindful of the dogs paws' in hot weather too.
I hope you and the dogs enjoy your garden.
Some clear, informative reasons against artificial grass in this article -
www.jackwallington.com/17-reasons-to-avoid-fake-lawns-how-bad-is-artificial-grass-for-the-environment/
I have suggested a STEAM CLEANER for the answer to the OP's question. This will sterilise the grass and is not toxic for the dogs. Surely the perfect answer?
BlueBelle
Good grief we re sanctimonious now !!
Grass doesn’t need sun in fact too much sun leaves it in a brown parched state a small patch for kids to play on would be fine in a shady area
That awful plastic stuff is not the answer and needs banning
I began to think it was just me ......
Good grief we re sanctimonious now !!
Grass doesn’t need sun in fact too much sun leaves it in a brown parched state a small patch for kids to play on would be fine in a shady area
That awful plastic stuff is not the answer and needs banning
I'm not being sanctimonious - I'm sorry but I think it is dreadful invention and an abhorrence.
Either have a real lawn or not.
Pristine real lawns and expanses of gravel (both often sprayed with weedkiller) are as bad for pollinators and wildlife as plastic grass
We have some gravel and the birds must find insects amongst it as they're always pecking around. Weeds do grow but they are very easy to pull out as their roots are so shallow. Other low-growing plants can be grown in it and it can look very attractive.
We're no spring chickens either btw.
Not all living grass substitutes require much sun.
Hetty58
If I couldn't have real grass, I'd have paving or gravel. Artificial grass is just so bad for the environment, in manufacture, use, disposal - and disintegration - that I, too, think it should be banned.
A relative has it - and keeps a special workshop vacuum to clean it - along with her patio and driveway - ridiculous!
Friend of a dd had a small and very narrow urban garden that didn’t get nearly enough sun for grass to do well - she also had two very small children and wanted a forgiving surface for them to play on. Paving or gravel wouldn’t have answered, and decking can be notoriously slippery.
It wasn’t at all a question of mowing being too much of a bother.
I don’t care for artificial grass myself, but it’s all very well to be sanctimonious about it if you have a large or fair sized, sunny enough garden - lots of people don’t. Or if you don’t have small children to think of.
OP, wouldn’t a good soaking with a sprinkler wash it through?
A very good point about how it smells for the dogs Maw. Their sense of smell is incredible.
I wonder whether deodoriser is good for your dogs, OP.
My greyhounds have always chosen their “spot” for a wee or a poo, by sniffing around before choosing where to squat, and given their incredibly enhanced sense of smell, a deodoriser could either smell appallingly strong or destroy the smells they need to find. Do you see what I mean? I hesitate to join in with the chorus of those who express their disapproval of artificial grass, but while it looks good it is clearly not without its disadvantages.
Would power washing it not be the most effective and environmentally friendly option?
I know you say you are 80 and as a “mere” 74 I sympathise with the dog walking but on the plus side, that is almost certainly keeping you fit!
As well as smelling and being bad for wildlife and the environment plastic grass fills up with moss and dead leaves forming a mulch upon which weeds grow. Perennial weeds e.g. dandelions,often find their way up around the edges of plastic lawns. I've seen invasive bamboo which has forced its way up through a plastic lawn..what a mess.
It needs weeding, sweeping, cleaning and in one case I saw vacuuming regularly. For these reasons I think it's as high maintenance as a lawn and will become unpopular when reality strikes.
Pristine real lawns and expanses of gravel (both often sprayed with weedkiller) are as bad for pollinators and wildlife as plastic grass.
A really good answer is a relaxed lawn that you mow less regularly, say every few weeks. Paying someone to mow is relatively inexpensive compared to the price of the fitting of plastic grass. In our area there are several retired gentlemen with mowing rounds who charge about £10 for a small lawn.
That way wild flowers like buttercups and daisies establish to provide pollen, bugs and insects have a home and dog wee and poo smells become absorbed by nature.
What is saved on deodoriser, power washers and weed killer would offset the cost of the mowing.
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