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Frugal Gardening

Question on using Urine as fertilizer

15 years ago

I've started using Urine as fertilizer. Normally I dilute the urine directly in a watering pot, but I find this is getting unevenly distributed across my garden.

To distribute evenly, I'd wish to put my Urine in my water barrels - it will be much more diluted, but will given a more even coverage when I irrigate using the water barrel water.

Will the Urine being left standing in the rain barrel cause it to lose it's efficacy? Will it break down into something harmful, or not useful to the plants?

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Comments (9)

jroot
15 years ago
You should check out the compost forum. There has been a lot of talk about the use of urine.

Fresh urine is supposedly fairly neutral in bacteria, apparently, or so I've been told. However, once it is sitting around ( as it would in your rain barrel ), the bad bacteria grow rapidly. Personally I would not encourage you to do that.

Urine in a compost bin works wonders. It really heats up and composts much faster.

Straight urine on plants will cause burning. Diluted urine gives good nitrogen to the plant, and acid for those acid loving plants like Rhodos.

Check out the comopost forum for more information. ... and whatever you do, don't let your neighbours catch you peeing on your plants, ... or theirs.
medontdo
15 years ago
bad idea!! i do know that tha bad bacteria is not good, and that the distribution is 20/1 20 being water and 1 being urine. you could do that in one of those hose end sprayers. it'll break it down correctly for ya, i think. and you could put the urine in the "jug" and just dump it in as needed. i soooo need to get one!! LOL i keep needing to do that. and today we were supposed to do the urine in the compost, since i'm doing the compost tumbler, ihave to use the kid's, now you do know, if you take any kind of medications it's not good to use your own urine, especially if your using it on vegies and such.
when i told my son i needed his urine for the compost, man he was grossed out, he's 12, my daughter is 6, i've been getting after her about urinating in things, so she was more than happy to do this for me!! LOL **big grinn** gotta love the kids!! LOL he'll make my flower beds but give me heck about urinating in a jug!! LOL but he'll pee behind a tree!! hmmmm.....somethings wrong!!! ROFL!!! ~Medo

p.s. i hope i helped in ANY way even if it was to make ya laugh a LITTLE!! LOL **grinn** :')
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This has been discussed lots more recently than a decade ago. Indeed, urine is an excellent source of nitrogen, but be careful about dilution to prevent burn. Also, and this is important, don't use old urine. I knew a guy who peed in a pail and, months later, he'd pour it on his plants, expecting miracles. That doesn't work. The urease that is floating around degrades the urea in it pretty quickly. That's where you get the ammonia smell from urine. That smell is nitrogen that isn't going to end up on your plants. By the way, this isn't a revolutionary discovery. There is a long history of recycling of human urine as fertilizer.
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It's going to be pretty harmless :-) In fact, you can source out various recommendations for homemade fertilizer concoctions that include beer straight out of the bottle. They don't really do anything but they don't cause any fatalities either. The alcohol content is negligible and even more diluted once it has gone through your system. I'd be more concerned about the urea content of the urine causing burning of plant tissue if applied directly than I would about the alcohol.....much like the effect of dogs peeing on bushes. For best/safest results, I would the think the compost would be the best target. And yes, the mental image is a bit disturbing :-))
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Here's the study. Surendra K. Pradhan was interviewed on CBC radio this week. Discussing the benefits of urine as a fertilizer, on public radio - it's a new day. He suggested a time lapse of a few days between applying the urine and the wood ash, to avoid ammonia offgassing. By coincidence, or intuition, we've been tossing urine and wood ashes, and occasionally manure, on our scrubby roadside wild rose hedge in hopes it would grow and help block the sight and sound of traffic. The hedge, which was growing virtually in gravel, is now three times the height and breadth it was ten years ago, blooming beautifully, and admired by visitors. It's maybe not surprising that so much groundbreaking R&D on waste-separating toilets and waste as fertilizer is coming from northern countries like Finland and Sweden. My sister-in-law, an outpost nurse in rocky northern Canada, says heaps of disposable diapers can be seen in the brush around communities from the air as she flies in - there's nowhere or way to bury them. Here is a link that might be useful: study
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So, I'm currently experimenting using potted soil outside. I mix the golden fertilizer directly into peat moss and perlite, about a pint per cubic foot. I take a ph reading. It starts as highly acid (ph around 5) but the nutrient level is high. To bring it down, I water the soil with two gallons of water per teaspoon of baking soda, and add about a half pint of wood ash. I'm fixing to burn old deer bones I find in the woods, in fact, any bones I can find or use after making soup. Once I burn the bones, I'll mix the ash with the soil. This will increase the alkalinity of the soil and provide phosphoros and calcium. Since I live near the ocean, I'll also grind in some seaweed. Once the process is complete, I'll measure the outcome. It will probably be too concentrated (hopefully) but I can then mix this whole mixture into different concentrations of soil and experiment. I also have a commercial testing kit, so once I have my ingredients mixed, I'll test. A question for you all.. I've heard that if urine stands, it will eventually turn more alkali. Anyone know anything about that?
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kandaceshirley
15 years ago
you did make me laugh - i was imagining people squatting over their composter and hoping they didn't burn their behinds on the metal tumbler or fall off while trying to balance and keep the thing from rolling. What if you made your compost tumbler shaped like a tree or painted some branches and leaves on it, would your son be willing to "help" with the compost then?
legless_marine
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you everyone for your replies... I will head to the compose forum.
jenny_3947
15 years ago
If I have been a member before, I would have told my helper...
to "water" the plants and not the back of the shed!!!!!
Thanks for the laugh, I needed it.
joshgibson_gmail_com
13 years ago
Urine stored in closed containers tends not to lose nitrogen, however if it is stored in open containers it loses about 60-80% of its nitrogen within a month or so
taxus_man
13 years ago
I knew a college professor once who kept a jug of "recycled beer" in his half bath. He had healthy plants.
SoTX
13 years ago
Many other countries are far more sophisticated about this with toilets designed to collect and save urine in holding tanks. LIQUID GOLD by Carol Steinfeld is packed with information.
robertz6
12 years ago
I've read that urine should be diluted 1 part to 100 parts water because of salt content.

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