Urgent Advice Please - Will bleach kill turf?

I am a volunteer with Cardiff Dogs Home (local authority pound).  We have just had an outbreak of parvovirus. The virus has a high mortality rate and is spread through dog faeces. Household bleach is effective in killing the virus. We are currently clearing an area to build a sensory garden for our dogs, the land has been turned over and our next task is to put down top soil, then turf. Can we use bleach on the area before we put down top soil and turf? Any advice gratefully received. Thanks, Susie James
Friendsofcardiffdogshome.org.uk

I wouldn't -you are adding a household chemical to the soil-not sure what effect that would have on the worms or other living organisms in that soil or whether grass would then grow

Then you have to take into account the heavy rain at present-not only would that wash into the soil but perhaps into neighbouring water courses-you could be contaminating all sorts of things-despite the fact it is going to get diluted

It just sounds like a complete no-no-household bleach is not designed for such uses

Perhaps Jeyes Fluid might be the answer-not sure -but not bleach

Thanks for such a speedy response! Very grateful for this.

Baglady, how about Jeyes Fluid  ?  would that work and its ok for soil,we all use it on our allotments and such to dissinfect, you might want to look it out and check

Alan4711

Thanks so much. Our volunteers have been amazing and we are doing daily deep cleans in the yard and car park area. We have launched a 'Bring a Bottle' campaign, and the response has been overwhelming, people have been turning up with bottles of bleach for the concreted parts. I'll get a request for Jeyes up on our facebook, and will mention how kind and helpful you've been on this forum. Really grateful, I would have hated to make a mistake. Susie x

You can read something about the use of both Jeyes Fluid and Domestos Bleach in the link below. The article looks complicated, but just read on, and you get to the section about Domestos (you may have already seen this):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7bU6ZVsNWacC&pg=PA60&lpg=PA60&dq=jeyes+domestos+kennels&source=bl&ots=PL2B4a-Vfu&sig=RuMXDzxamuE7EmHvY96rOydSvds&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6JLVUIL8FuSq0QWAuoHIBw&sqi=2&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=jeyes%20domestos%20kennels&f=false

That article claims that Domestos breaks down rapidly after use and is environmently friendly.

If you're worried that concentrated disinfectant might kill grass, try a small test area first. You need to apply any disinfectant at the correct recommended dilution.

We do a job that calls for the use of caustic soda and bleach, never had a problem killing grass.

Lyn wrote (see)

We do a job that calls for the use of caustic soda and bleach, never had a problem killing grass.

The questions is more about using bleach as a disinfectant on land -which it is not designed to do-and is probably harmful- just wonder- Lyn- what this job is that involves caustic soda and bleach that you maintain does not kill grass-which it might- just seems a strange thing to do-and can't help the soil surely?

Thanks, we also need to be mindful of little paws that may come into contact with any chemicals. Thank you for the link Georg Faust - I hadn't seen it before, it looks extremely useful! S x

Shouldn't you be taking professional advice rather than just guessing what you should do?

I suggest you phone the Agricultural Division of the Welsh Office, Animal Health.  Not sure if that is what they are called. They are in the telephone book.  

Asking for help with disease control is not really appropriate on a message board.

Thanks Welshonion, the question was really centred around the effect of chemicals on turf, everything within the kennel block is being done 'by the book' and according to best practice models. I have not posted here to ask for help with disease control, but with care for soil and turf. Apologies if this was not explicit in my post. I am not here to ask about dog health. The Council has that covered.

Thanks to everyone else who has replied, your kind advice is appreciated.

Yes, bleach and caustic soda kills plants, turf and worms and seeps into the soil. I know from what it did to my neighbours soil. Please try disinfectant instead.We are pouring too much strong chemicals into our rivers already.