How Do I Clean Artificial Turf
The best way to clean and maintain artificial grass when needed are:
1. Brush the turf against the fibers with a broom or plastic rake to lift blades that may be leaning due to foot or paw traffic.
2. Use a leafblower to get rid of leaves and debris. Yes, after the sand infill compacts and sets, you can actually take a leafblower to your turf and the infill will not displace.
3. Rinse off the turf if it’s dirty or dusty.
4. Pull out or spray any weeds as needed.
Weeds have an extremely hard time growing in a properly installed artificial grass lawn. You may get a couple a month along the edges, so the key here is to take care of it before it gets out of control. You can read more about it in our articles section,
Will Weeds Grow Through Synthetic Grass?
Can dogs poop on artificial grass?
Dogs can urinate and poop on artificial grass and it will not damage or discolor the turf. Just like with any other type of surface, some maintenance is still required to keep the area clean and combat urine smell.
Regularly removing feces and rinsing the lawn to ensure any urine on the blades of turf gets flushed down into the base is important. Please keep in mind, that the frequency of hosing your pet turf depends on what type of infill you have installed.
A. Zeo Pet Infill : You do NOT want to overwater Zeo Pet Infill! The job of this type of infill is to absorb the urine to break it down to combat odors. Too much water results in the infill absorbing the water instead of the pet urine, and it will not be able to do its job as intended.
B. Wonderfill Plastic Coated Infill : Rinse weekly or as needed. This type of infill is not porous thus will not absorb urine. However, it may remain on its surface, so you will need to flush it down through the turf and into the dirt underneath the compacted class II roadbase.
C. Standard Infill : Rinse weekly or as needed. The most economical of all infill also requires the most maintenance. It is porous, so be sure to rinse as needed to ensure that the urine can get flushed out of the infill and down past the turf and base. Use a pet-friendly cleaner a few times a year.
D. Turf Chiller Infill : Not the best choice when it comes to Pet Applications, but if you live in an extremely hot environment and the turf receives full sun, then Turf Chiller is definitely an option. The job of turf chiller is to absorb water and then allow the water to evaporate over the course of 2-3 days. This lowers the surface temperature of the turf by 50 to 70 degrees. But as you can guess, this may cause odors if the turf chiller is absorbing urine. Be sure to rinse as needed to ensure that the urine can get flushed down and use a pet-friendly cleaner a few times a year.
No matter what type of infill you use, be sure to clean the area with a live enzyme cleaner to kill off bad, odor-causing bacteria 2-4 times a year, or as needed. Elite Artificial Grass sells a couple of different types of turf cleaners available to their clients that are both pet and kid friendly and safe. Our favorite being Turf Bomb, which we sell, or you can find it on Amazon.
A lawn with Zeo Pet Infill will not require as much cleaning as one with Standard Infill. Other factors that can determine frequency of cleaning is the number of dogs, the size of the dogs, are the dogs indoor or outdoor, and their diet. Urine from dogs that eat dry dog food create less odor than wet, canned dog food, or human food.
Some households only need to hose their turf once a month, some a couple times a week.
No matter what type of groundcover is installed: dirt, mulch, gravel, concrete, or turf, there will always be the need to clean up and maintain the area. Regularly picking up and disposing of poop and hosing down urine. A huge advantage of turf is that cleanups are a cinche, provides cushion for play and laying around, and looks fabulous. But like with any groundcover, it cannot be ignored. You can read more about it in our articles section,
Dog Run Ideas: Groundcover Options