One of the most common questions people ask us about synthetic turf is: “Is it hard to keep clean?” The answer is simple: Artificial grass is extremely easy to take care of and keep looking good. Synthetic turf is called low maintenance lawn for a reason. Once it is correctly installed you no longer need to mow, edge or water your lawn, but what about spillages, leaves, dirt, dust and animal droppings? Synthetic turf has a very high resistance to staining, but getting onto spills quickly will help reduce the amount of effort needed to clean them up. 

Dealing with liquid spills and pet mess on artificial grass

Synthetic turf is designed to be porous so any liquids spilled, rain or doggie wee’s will flow right through and back into the soil, so you don’t need to worry about these at all. If your turf is laid onto a hard surface such as concrete, assuming your installer has checked the concrete allows for run off (this should be standard practice when laying any concrete slab) then these liquids will simply run off the concrete.  

For spillages such as food colouring, coffee, wine, sauces and condiments use a PH neutral soap such as dishwashing liquid in warm water with a soft cloth to remove any stains. For tougher stains such as mould, algae, mildew, lichens and ink we recommend using Urban Turfs Artificial Grass Cleaner. Please do not use chorine-based bleaches or caustic detergents on your surface as this will cause discolouration.

Now what about the pet poop? Treat this as you would on natural turf, pick up and dispose of the poop as per usual. If there has been a particularly squishy deposit, you can hose this off as you would on natural grass to prevent any unsuspecting bare feet standing on the remnants, then you are clean and good to go!

Cleaning leaves and dirt from synthetic turf

If you have lots of dried debris such as dirt, mulch, leaves etc the easiest way to remove this is with a leaf blower. If you don’t own a leaf blower you could also use a stiff broom to brush the leaves away. Using either the leaf blower or broom will also help the strands of synthetic turf to “fluff” up and look more natural. 

If your synthetic turf lives a tough life, for example its in a major walkway with lots of daily foot traffic such as in a commercial space, you could really bring your turf back to life by hiring a power broom. A power broom lifts the turf blades that have been flattened with wear and will “fluff’ your turf to looking as good as new again.  

There you have it, keeping synthetic turf looking clean is quick and easy. Compared to weekly or twice weekly, mowing, edging, watering and fertilising required to  maintain natural grass you will be saving an awful lot of time to have consistently pristine and manicured lawn.