According to estimates, one in three households in America has a dog. Dogs love to play on the lawn, run, dig up the grass, lay on the grass, and ultimately poop or urinate. All this makes a lawn owners sad and irritated; seeing all their effort to make a beautiful lawn drained right in front of them.
Though we try to keep dogs off the lawn with different methods, we fear they won’t ruin the lawn in the process. One of these methods is sprinkling Cayenne pepper on the lawn.
WILL SPRAYING CAYENNE PEPPER KILL THE GRASS?
NO, spraying cayenne pepper in the lawn will not kill the grass as it is an organic and natural spice that adds nutrients and other helpful stuff to the soil. Cayenne pepper has a smell that helps keep off unwanted living beings to come and ruin it as well as it is a non-toxic way making it won’t harm any plant or grass in your backyard.
But also we wonder about questions like
Why is Cayenne pepper used to keep the dogs off of the lawn?
Are there any alternatives to that?
Let’s talk about these things in detail:
WHY IS CAYENNE PEPPER USED ON LAWNS?
Cayenne pepper is a spice possessing a strong scent, which is not liked and accustomed by a lot of animals. When dogs sniff cayenne, the strong scent from cayenne produces irritation in their nostrils resulting in keeping them away from that vicinity. When they sense the odor of cayenne pepper, they prohibit entering the lawn.
Sprinkling Cayenne pepper on the entrance of the lawn enables you to create a pseudo fence that will restrict dogs from entering your lawn premises. This tactic enables you to develop an advantage helping you to maintain your lawn without much effort.
Cayenne pepper is not only disliked by dogs but also by other species of animals like cats, rabbits, deer, bugs, and flies. So depositing or spraying cayenne in your lawn will make it repellent to all of these various animals and all the harmful activities they deliver to the lawn.
Note: If you own a dog, you just need to keep in mind that cayenne can irritate your dog if it is in high concentration and can cause irritation in their eyes and lungs. So don’t use a lot of cayenne on the lawn. Sprinkle a small amount or spray a low concentration solution as this will be enough to keep the dogs from the lawn.
WILL CAYENNE PEPPER KILL GRASS?
Cayenne pepper is an organic substance, which grows naturally. It is a non-toxic spice that has a lot of benefits. It works as a repellent to dogs and other animals because of its strong scent and irritation to the nostril if inhaled or evident closely, which all the animals do frequently. Because of all these qualities it is kept or sprayed on the lawn. It won’t affect the grass or any other plant on the lawn.
The cayenne pepper is an organic substance that can dissolve in the soil very easily adding all the nutrients it has and not harming any of the plants or grass in the process. But anything in inappropriate quantity is harmful so don’t put too much cayenne pepper in the lawn to keep off dogs as it can get washed away by rain and blow away by wind very easily.
EFFECT OF CAYENNE PEPPER ON DOGS
Dogs have a habit of sniffing things before they eat, sneaking around new places, urinating, or pooping. So this is where cayenne pepper comes into play. When a dog comes in the lawn for playing or pooping they first sniff the place and cayenne has a really strong scent which causes light irritation in their nostrils.
Dogs dislike the scent of the cayenne pepper so although if it doesn’t cause any irritation to their nostrils they surely will not roam or play in that area.
This makes the dogs distant from the lawn urging them to find another place. So sprinkle or spray the cayenne pepper at the entrance of the lawn to keep the lawn safe. You don’t have to spray the whole lawn with cayenne pepper as they won’t even cross the entrance of the lawn.
WHAT IF MY DOG LICKS CAYENNE PEPPER?
It won’t be much of a problem if the dog licks cayenne pepper, as it won’t affect them much internally. Eating cayenne pepper won’t be an issue too until they have ingested more of it, as it results in heartburn and digestive problems.
The same consequences occur with humans too. So keep a check if you have a dog pet, so that they don’t end up eating cayenne pepper as it can make your dog sick if consumed much.
HOW TO MAKE CAYENNE PEPPER REPELLENT AT HOME?
Ingredients required:
- Cayenne pepper
- Water
- Dish soap (Optional)
Making a cayenne pepper repellent is very easy. Mix one tablespoon of cayenne pepper with one liter of water to have a balanced mixture.
Keep in mind that you don’t put a lot of cayenne pepper in the solution making it very concentrated as when your dogs sniff it, a high concentrated solution can cause a lot of irritation in their nostrils or worse can be irritation in their lungs or make upset stomach and this all can be problematic for you.
Fill it up in the spray bottle. You can also add a little bit of dish soap in the solution so that it sticks to the area or plant you spray.
HOW TO APPLY CAYENNE PEPPER TO THE LAWN?
There are two ways you can apply cayenne on your lawn. You can just sprinkle the cayenne pepper directly in the lawn or on areas where you want to keep the dogs off or you can make a cayenne pepper solution and spray it in the soil or on the plants.
Sprinkling
If you are going to just sprinkle cayenne pepper in the lawn then sprinkle it on the border of the lawn or entrance of the lawn. Wear gloves and use a sprinkler jar to apply the cayenne pepper to make sure you don’t just dump a lot of it in one area leaving other parts.
Don’t sprinkle too much as it causes a lot of irritation in your dog’s nostril if he sniffs it too hard. Just try to sprinkle to give the soil a cayenne pepper scent. You need to do that after every watering and after the rain, as the cayenne will get washed away with water or absorbed in the soil and the scent and effect will go away.
Spraying
Spraying the cayenne solution is the best option to keep the dogs off as the solution will make sure you cover the whole area evenly and the effect will also last longer. Make the mixture of water and cayenne pepper as mentioned above and fill it up in a spray bottle and spray the mixture in the borders of the lawn first or in the entrance.
If you want to protect some plants then you can also spray them with the solution lightly. Don’t overspray any area as it can have effects on the dog and keep spraying every week or after heavy rain as the scent of the cayenne can die and vanish in some days making the lawn open for the dog.
ALTERNATIVES TO CAYENNE PEPPER TO STOP THE DOGS:
If you are afraid of using cayenne pepper in your lawn or garden or if you don’t have cayenne available then there are some other organic ways you can protect your lawn from dogs and other pets:
- Citrus – A citrus solution like lemon or orange juice is also dog repellent as dogs hate the smell of citrus and don’t want to sniff or taste that. The citrus solution is also very healthy and good for the lawn if used in idol quantities.
So put one to two tablespoons of citrus juice in one cup of water and spray it in the entrance of the lawn or on the plants to keep off the dogs. You need to do that after rain and after every watering, as it will wash away and the scent of citrus will go away with that.
- Vinegar – Dogs dislike the smell of vinegar, just like us. So keeping them away with the help of vinegar can also be very useful. But there is a catch! Vinegar is not good for plants and grass as it will burn the plant or grass immediately after spraying, ruining all your efforts to make it beautiful and healthy.
But you can spray the vinegar solution on the perimeter of the lawn where no grass or plant is growing so that the dogs won’t even try to enter the lawn. Add 10 ml of vinegar in one-gallon water and fill it up in a spray bottle.
Spray very carefully only on precise areas where no plant or grass is growing. Make sure the solution doesn’t get into the soil as it can affect that area.
Soak some cotton balls in vinegar, and put them on the perimeter of the lawn. This will keep the dogs out of the bound from the scent of the vinegar. Replace these balls every week or soak them in vinegar.
- Coffee ground – Coffee ground, being an organic component, also has a very strong scent which is hated by dogs and cats. This is the reason coffee grounds are a very good dog repellent. Roast the coffee grounds in the oven to increase their scent and then spread them in the perimeter of the lawn or in the entrance of the lawn to keep them off.
Coffee grounds are also good for the soil so they will decompose in the soil slowly without harming the lawn or the soil. You need to add coffee grounds after a week or two when the last one becomes ineffective.
CONCLUSION:
So to sum up,
- Cayenne pepper will not kill the grass on the lawn.
- Will keep the dogs out as they don’t like the scent.
- Other animals like rabbits, cats, and bugs are affected too.
- Alternatives of cayenne pepper are also available.
Hope you are all ready to maintain a beautiful lawn without waking up to the scent of poop in the morning by using cayenne pepper and other alternatives
Get Set Gardening!
