Artificial lawns offer many advantages for pet owners. With natural lawns, our furry companions have the capability to transform yards from a lush green to having patchy yellow and muddy spots. The costs for maintenance for real grass will also start taking a toll in the long run and the labor required to fertilize, water, and mow the grass is just plain tedious. With the benefits of artificial turf, pet turf may be the answer that pet and homeowners need to solve all their problems. Here are a few things to know about pet turf and how to maintain them to optimize its benefits.
Things to Know Before You Install Synthetic Turf
If you’re a pet owner and decide to get artificial turf, you need to consider turf that is specifically designed for pets. Before you roll out the patches, you want to ensure that the turf you buy can withstand the wear and tear that comes with pets. It should contain features like antimicrobial properties and optimal drainage.
When looking at synthetic grass, you want to look into the type of infill material you will use to place into turf. Infill is the layer of rubber pelts that helps the synthetic blades stay upright, protecting the turf’s base and thus helping the artificial lawn last longer. Some of infill material is better suited for pets, so you should ensure that your infill is pet-friendly.
Clean Playing Environment
Pet turf features properties like antimicrobial materials and superior drainage, which means that the turf itself is very clean and easy to maintain. The antimicrobial synthetic grass blades kill and stops bacterial and fungal growth, controlling odor with little maintenance. You don’t have to worry about your pet waste leaving an unpleasant scent. Unlike natural grass, the superior drainage property of synthetic grass allows water to properly drain through, leaving few flood puddles with little to no mud. No more dirty paws for your furry friends on a rainy day!
Eliminates Pests
Unlike natural lawns, artificial turf deters common pests. Disease-carrying fleas, ticks, and mice tend to gather and nest within deep layers of natural grass. When your pets play in the lawn, these pests tend to hop on and find their way inside your home. Luckily, artificial lawns provide a synthetic environment that is unsuited to culture pests, and thus eliminates that threat. You no longer need to spray your yard with pesticides to repel pests!
Beautiful Lawn Year-Round
Maintaining natural lawns is laborious and time-consuming. It takes huge amounts of effort and time for that lawn to look presentable for only a portion of the year. Landscaping your own yard is also very expensive with the total cost of buying tools to water, fertilize, and mow your lawn. Hiring a landscaper to do the maintenance for you may be even pricier.
However, with artificial turf, you don’t have to worry about all that tedious maintenance. Installing artificial turf also minimizes the growth of weeds, so you don’t have to worry about having to remove them. You can have a beautiful all year round!
In addition to withstand outdoor elements, pet turf can also be durable against playing, pawing, and scratches from your pet. With natural grass, this activity would usually leave patches around your yard, but with pet turf, your lawn will still look fresh.
Proper Care and Maintenance
Compared to natural lawns, synthetic turf is far more easier to maintain and care for. However, if you want to maximize its quality and durability, there are still a few measures you should take into consideration. Although pet turf is antimicrobial, you should still pick up solid pet waste as quickly as possible. You also want to hose the area down to get rid of odors that may linger even after pet waste is cleaned up.
Like parts of your home, your artificial lawn will pick up dirt and bacteria over time. As such, you also want to clean it regularly like you do to your home. Nothing to out of the box; spraying a simple water and vinegar solution will be enough to kill any bacteria that may be laying on the surface.
Requiring very little maintenance, artificial grass provides multitudes of benefits for us and our pets. No matter what pet you have, you can feel at ease knowing that the yard they’re playing in is safe and clean almost all year round!