/oss/taxonomy/term/2667/all en /oss/article/technology-quackery-you-asked/can-dog-rocks-help-stop-my-dog-staining-my-lawn <p>“Dog Rocks” are supposed to solve the problem of grass dying from dog pee. <a href="/oss/article/you-asked/why-does-dog-urine-stain-grass">Urine contains a variety of nitrogen compounds</a>, mostly metabolites of protein in food. These are effective fertilizers, but in the case of urine, they supply too much nitrogen relative to other nutrients and grass suffers the consequences. Drinking water also contains naturally occurring nitrates that can eventually show up in the urine.</p> Thu, 07 Jun 2018 14:07:05 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 7128 at /oss /oss/article/you-asked/why-does-dog-urine-stain-grass <p style="text-align:justify"><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/?attachment_id=3220" rel="attachment wp-att-3220"><img alt="urine burn" height="150" src="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/files/2012/11/dog-150x150.jpg" width="150" /></a>Most homeowners let their dogs use the backyard as their own personal toilet. Often after a winter of such potty practice, when the snow melts, you’ll often find your lawn speckled with unsightly yellow patches.</p> <p style="text-align:justify">First of all, what causes these patches? Dog urine contains a variety of nitrogen compounds. Too much nitrogen will burn the grass and create yellow patches. But appropriate concentrations of nitrogen can actually be beneficial to the lawn, which is why you’ll often see rings of thick dark green grass around the yellow patches. This makes sense, since the main ingredient in lawn fertilizer is nitrogen.</p> <p><a href="http://blogs.mcgill.ca/oss/2012/11/17/why-does-dog-urine-stain-the-grass/">Read more</a></p> Sun, 18 Nov 2012 04:19:26 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1795 at /oss