How to care for artificial grass

If you’re the type of owner who’s tired of having to fertilize, mow, or aerate the grass, you’re in luck. You can keep your lawn picture-perfect without ever touching a lawn mower. All you need are some reminders and a bit of water.
Of course, we’re talking about artificial grass.
 

Why artificial grass?

Opting for the artificial grass on your yard instead of a living one comes with lots of benefits. The most important benefit is that they don’t die or wither, regardless of the abuse they receive. Love to run around on the lawn? With artificial turf, you don’t have to worry about dead spots.
 Unfortunately, having artificial grass doesn’t mean you can ignore it. You still have some responsibilities and work to do. Most of your work involves cleaning and maintaining the turf’s appearance. The tools you need will slightly differ depending on how you use your yard.
 

Make time for regular cleaning

Regular cleaning sessions for your artificial lawn will be your most common activity. Usually, a long hose and a steady flow of water are enough to give your artificial turf a rinse. The goal is to dislodge and wash off any dust and small debris from the turf’s surface.
 Depending on how frequent you use your artificial lawn and who uses it, you may have to do regular cleaning every week. If you always have kids playing and pets relieving themselves on the turf, a weekly rinse is needed. Doing so helps prevent odor-causing bacteria and grime buildup from accumulating. You may also consider investing in some environmentally-friendly turf deodorizer.
 On the other hand, if your artificial lawn doesn’t get much activity or if you live in a low-pollen/low-dust area, a biweekly rinse is enough.
 

“Grooming” your lawn

Because artificial grass doesn’t spring back to shape after getting bent, you’ll have to coax the leaf blades back into shape manually. To do so, you can take a flexible rake or a hard-bristled brush and run it across your lawn. This will push the blades back up, along with taking any debris in between blades.
 You can incorporate this in your regular cleaning schedule, especially if your artificial lawn gets a lot of activity. Doing so also ensures that the soil underneath the turf gets evened. Neglecting this activity flattens not only your turf but also the land.
 

Schedule some deep cleaning

Keeping up with a regular cleaning schedule is vital for your artificial lawn, but so does a good deep cleaning. Ideally, you want to use a motorized brush for this process. But if you don’t have one, some good old elbow-grease will also do the job. Regardless, your goal is to scrub the entire yard thoroughly to dislodge anything that the regular cleaning missed.
 Deep cleaning is also the best time to run a magnet through the yard to ensure that no stray metallic items are left on its surface. This is also the perfect time to apply anti-microbial solutions on popular pet urinating spots, along with a thorough deodorizing of the artificial turf.
 

Other ways to care for your artificial lawn

Regular cleaning and faithful deep cleaning schedules are just a part of your responsibilities in maintaining your artificial lawn. You have a few more to keep in mind if you want to keep your turf pristine.
 If you or anyone in your family is a smoker, make sure they don’t toss live cigarette butts on the artificial grass. Doing so will create burn spots all over the yard. You also need to be careful if you do a lot of grilling on your yard; the flying embers may land on the artificial lawn and leave a burn spot. Of course, the burnt spots can always be replaced, but frequent repairs will cost money.
 Also, make sure that you’re not dumping or leaking stuff like motor oil and battery acid on the artificial grass. Not only are those hard to clean, but they can also leave stains that are tough to remove.
 

Final thoughts

Even though artificial grass still requires some work to maintain, it’s not as demanding as keeping a yard full of live grass. So before you even begin researching for the best artificial grass to put on your yard, you need to study and prepare for a few things. Regular cleaning ensures that your artificial lawn is always pristine, and deep cleaning sessions guarantees that your perfectly manicured turf will last a long time. 
Treat your artificial lawn with care to continue enjoying its benefits.
 

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