Gypsum

[RussellB]

I tried it on my centipede lawn and it did not work. As stated above who has the time to watch where the dog is urinating. I certainly don't. That said, Once my back yard was ruined I resodded with Jammer (sp) zoysia. It has been down two years and has held up well with my four dogs. A nice centipede lawn looks better than zoysia but at least I have grass now.

[ArTurf]

Originally Posted by GreenI.A.

Or you just train your dog not to pee on the lawn, or atleast to only do so in one particular spot. During the warmer months my dog drinks well over 5 gallons a day, you can bet your a$$ he's trained to not pee on the lawn

How do you accomplish this? I'm serious.

[Smallaxe]

Here is Centro Wisco we have to deal with 6 months of road salts building up on the edges of lawns and ditchlines with only reseeding in the Spring...
These areas are not an issue as much as dog urine is an issue, so I don't believe that the salts in urine are the problem and therefore can think of no reason that gypsum would directly relate to healing the turf of dog spots...

The idea that gypsum improves the structure some soils and indirectly affects the damage caused by dog spots is believable and makes sense...
The mistake that people most commonly make in dealing with dog spots, is fertilizing... W/out N already in the lawn, there is a greater chance that the urea burn will only, yellow the grass, rather than kill it outright...

[upidstay]

Gypsum will help reduce dog spotting by changing the soil profile a bit and allowing the salts in the urine to leach faster. Urine spots are basically a fertilizer burn.

HOWEVER, it take a boat load of gypsum to do this, and it needs to be incorporated into the soil. What does a lot mean? I've been told upwards of 200lbs plus per 1000' for road salt issues. That's not practical in my book.

[JWTurfguy]

Lots and lots and lots of water is the best, and only cost-effective, way to get salts to leach quickly beyond the rootzone. Gypsum can help, but more often than not, it was all the water you soaked the spot with that really did the job, not the money spent on 4 bags of gypsum for every thousand sq ft (and, depending on what reference you use, the rates are sometimes suggested as much higher).

[greendoctor]

Originally Posted by Smallaxe

Here is Centro Wisco we have to deal with 6 months of road salts building up on the edges of lawns and ditchlines with only reseeding in the Spring...
These areas are not an issue as much as dog urine is an issue, so I don't believe that the salts in urine are the problem and therefore can think of no reason that gypsum would directly relate to healing the turf of dog spots...

The idea that gypsum improves the structure some soils and indirectly affects the damage caused by dog spots is believable and makes sense...
The mistake that people most commonly make in dealing with dog spots, is fertilizing... W/out N already in the lawn, there is a greater chance that the urea burn will only, yellow the grass, rather than kill it outright...

I use doggy spots as N level indicators in a lawn. If the grass turns greener than the rest of the lawn, it needs more N. If the spot dies, that tells me that there is either too much N or salts have built up to toxic levels in the soil.

Gypsum will slowly add calcium to soils that need it. I often deal with soils that are salt laden and alkaline. Gypsum is not useful in soils that are already maxed out on calcium. I do better to apply acidifying materials such as ammonium sulfate, citric acid, phosphoric acid or sulfur.

[Exact Rototilling]

Posted via Mobile Device

[Smallaxe]

Originally Posted by greendoctor

I use doggy spots as N level indicators in a lawn. If the grass turns greener than the rest of the lawn, it needs more N. If the spot dies, that tells me that there is either too much N or salts have built up to toxic levels in the soil. ...

The colorations that you mention, give the idea of too much N, is the issue... not acids and not salts... I've seldon seen dead zones near yards as a result of salts even along sidewalks, in town, that are salted with every new snowflake...

What I've done is to stop fertilizing the dog yards and put down dry molasses instead... interestingly enough these dark green dog spots begin to spread out and fill in the lighter colored areas...
So the dogs provide the fertilizer and I provide the dispersement mechanism...

You are correct, that if the dog spot kills the grass there is already too much N of the turf... I made the mistake of adding compost one Fall, in order to improve the drainage of a clay soil and discovered that every urination event was a deadzone... too much N in the compost for sure...

[Groundworxky]

Interesting....

[kawakx125]

they actually sell pills you can give your dog that claim to make their pee not turn the yard yellow