Does rabbit poop kill grass? Are you worried that pets or wild rabbits pooping around your lawn might harm the grass? We have successfully maintained lawns and turf throughout the US for decades.
Let us tell you in detail how best to utilize the potential of rabbit poo to make your grass greener than ever.
Contents
Does Rabbit Poop Kill Grass?
No, rabbit poop does not kill grass unless a huge quantity is dumped in one spot. Rabbit droppings can be used as fertilizer, compost, compost tea. In addition, it could be used as vermi-compost, and even as mulch because it is rich in nutrients.
– Fertilizer
Fresh poop from your pet rabbits contains two percent nitrogen and one percent phosphorus on average. This is much higher than nitrogen and phosphorus in chicken, goat, and cow manure, hence it is mostly used for fertilizing lawns and farms.
Rabbit poop is a rich source of several important nutrients the grass needs. First, it has richer nitrogen levels than most common animal manures. Nitrogen is needed by grass for root growth and chlorophyll formation.
It is also a rich source of phosphorus required for seed germination and grass’s well-being. Poop by rabbits is very dry and contains very little urea, ammonia, and uric acid.
These are the substances that usually lead to the burning of grass blades in the case of most other manures. Rabbit poop is very small in quantity, dry, and contains few harmful substances. Over time, it breaks down within the topsoil and fertilizes your lawn.
On the other hand, it is also a good source of micronutrients such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, and copper, to name just a few. One percent potassium means your grass will grow stronger and be more resistant to diseases and pests.
An additional advantage that it is a cold type of natural fertilizer. It can be composted for weeks within a bin before it can be safely used on grass. You can have rabbits roam around the lawn and poop on it safely without the risk of causing nitrogen burns on it.
Unlike most other livestock manure, rabbit poo can be used as it is for fertilizing grass. It is dry and not strong enough to produce chemical burns to the grass blades. If you own rabbits, they will most likely poop randomly all over the lawn. Just spread those pellets as evenly as you can across the lawn.
For fertilizing the soil around plants, dig shallow furrows and fill them up with these pellets. When transplanting plants from one place to another, insert a fistful of pellets into the hole dug to place the plant.
– Composting
Adding poop from rabbits to your compost bin is a great way of quickly adding lots of nutrients. These poop pellets are known for breaking down and composting much faster than other manures. The best part is that such compost smells actually better than all the organic material.
An ideal composting pile should have an equal amount of greens and browns added to it, and in this case the manure would fall into the ‘greens category, because it is an organic matter as well. You can collect pellets of poop from your rabbits and add them to your compost bin.
You need to moisten the pile’s contents and turn it on every third to fifth day so that it transforms itself, and note that compost is turned whenever its inner temperature becomes hot at 160 degrees Fahrenheit. However, you must make sure to mix it as thoroughly as you, and then put the lid back for the next three to five days.
Compost with primarily rabbit feces added as greens will become ready quicker than ever. In five to six weeks, this pile will be ready to use all over the lawn, and you will see how lush it makes your lawn in turn.
– Make Compost Tea
Instead of composting rabbit poop for weeks or using it in a raw form, why not make compost tea? Compost tea is a great way of providing the soil with instant nutrients from rabbit pellets.
First and foremost, you must collect at least two cups of rabbit droppings to make tea for an average-sized lawn. Looking at the rate at which these animals proliferate and poop, this shouldn’t take you so long.
Then you must fill a bucket with five gallons of water and add all the collected pellets. You can do this early in the morning and place the bucket in a warm and sunny place. Place a lid over it if you fear someone might disturb it.
Keep stirring this mixture twice daily over the next three to five days. You want to mix pellets thoroughly so that they get dissolved in water. After about five days, your rabbit compost tea should be ready. Pour it over the grass and see how lush it turns within a day or two.
Adding this manure to the soil as fetilizer will help loosen it up as well. There will be a marked improvement in the drainage and aeration of the soil from regular fertilizing. Poop by rabbits, like organic fertilizer of any kind, helps the soil retain moisture for longer periods.
Worms fond of this type of manure will be attracted to your lawn in large numbers. This is good news because you need them to break down poop and create air passageways deep into the soil. Microbes that are needed to convert nitrogen into a form used by the grass also thrive because of rabbit fertilizer.
– Use It As Mulch
Poop pellets from rabbits can be used as mulch. Instead of burying them a bit deeper, you can have them present on the surface. Whether grass, shrubs, or trees, these pellets act as the most effective mulch.
Before breaking down and provident nutrients to the soil, these mulch pellets help the soil retain moisture. When the soil gets dehydrated very quickly during hot summer days, you can utilize the waste pellets and other mulch materials like leaves to help it retain water.
Next time you collect organic stuff to create the ideal mulch for your lawn, don’t forget to add rabbit poop pellets!
Not having a strong odor is one of the best things about this manure and why we prefer it over horse or cow. Your lawn will not constantly smell unpleasantly of poop while simultaneously being fed; what else could one ask for?
– Vermicompost
Vermicompost is when you utilize worms to break down the organic matter within your composting pile. The worms work fast to get you well-prepared compost in half the time needed for traditional composting.
The result is a compost that is much finer in texture so that it mixes better with the soil. As we mentioned, worms are particularly fond of poop pellets from rabbits. They will thrive when used to vermicompost such a pile.
You can collect at least two to three cups of poop pellets and mix them with an equal amount of alfalfa feed to balance them. Add worms to the bin, cover it, and let them do their thing for the next few weeks. Red wigglers are the worms most suitable for vermicomposting rabbit poo.
Can Too Much Rabbit Waste Cause Harm?
Yes, when rabbit waste cause harm when it is dumped in a large quantity as it will burn the grass due to excess amount of nitrogen. On the other hand, rabbit urine can burn the grass because it is very acidic, and it’s dangerous.
– Too Much Can Be Harmful
If too much rabbit manure is dumped in one spot, then this will provide too much nitrogen to the soil. You must note that you cannot throw the whole rabbit poop litter over the lawn without spreading it thinly over the surface.
In addition, the same happens if your rabbits have a habit of pooping in only one spot on the lawn.
You will notice patches of yellowed, burnt-out grass in the spots where manure was unceremoniously dumped.
Take care when going for commercial rabbit poo fertilizers as well. Use them according to the proper guidelines given on the label. Only a certain quantity of this fertilizer can be added per square foot of grass.
– Rabbit Urine Kills Grass
Unlike poop, rabbit urine is quite harmful to grass and often kills it. Rabbit urine has a very high concentration of ammonia that instantly burns grass blades upon contact. Urine is also dangerous because it seeps into the soil and burns the roots.
The uric acid in urine makes it acidic, and this, in turn, disrupts the pH of your soil. Your grass will die permanently in patches where rabbits have urinated.
To fill those patches up, proper reseeding will be required. Only prompt action immediately after a rabbit has peed on the grass will save the grass. Water that part using fresh water to dilute the burning effect of the urine.
Note that before letting your rabbits into the lawn, lightly water the grass first. This way, the urine will already get diluted before reaching grass blades.
– How To Prevent Them on The Lawn
You can control your pet rabbits and not let them into the lawn to prevent them from urinating on the grass. Things get trickier when you are dealing with wild rabbits that come to visit your lawn at night.
These rabbits are also much larger and produce much more concentrated urine than domesticated ones. Rabbits have a natural disinclination for strong-scented plants such as oregano, basils, or garlic. Planting these on the lawn or periphery will keep wild bunnies away.
Rabbit repellants are available at low prices online and in-store as well. Just spray these according to the instructions given every night on the lawn. After a few weeks, these animals will stop coming altogether.
You can also try scaring them away by using wind chimes, motion-detection sensors, or sprinklers that turn on as soon as they detect movement in the lawn at night.
You can also go for natural substances that smell strongly and spray them to deter rabbits away. These include Cayenne pepper, onion, or garlic powder. Notice the parts of the lawn frequented mostly by these wild rabbits, and target these specifically.
Conclusion
Before concluding, a proper recapitulation of this article is needed:
- Rabbit poop does not kill grass; instead is a pretty good fertilizer whether used raw or as compost.
- Most healthy adult rabbits produce around 14 pounds of fertilizable poop per month.
- This poop is rich in all three essential plant nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
- On another not, the urine is very dangerous to the lawn as it would burn it.
For those who own rabbits, this is an exciting opportunity to collect their manure and utilize its many benefits in growing a lush lawn. With help from our above article, grow the best quality grass with a little help from your grass-loving bunny friends.
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