Human urine as a nute!

[kelticBlue]

Doesn't freak me out as much as bird guano, nah that doesn't concern me much, well maybe bat guano from the belfry, but i am not usually paying that much attention.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Man, none of the local growers wanted to buy my pee, even on sale. But ever since I built the belfry I've been getting filthy rich off guano sales.

 

[kelticBlue]

Weasel has got the goods....

I needed a good laugh

 

[jmills826]

Thanks for the info... AND YES YESTERDAY I FED MY GALS MY OWN URINE...LOL
I mixed about a 1 1/2 cups of fresh urine with a lil less than 1 gallon of water and watered my 8 gals with it, it was the perfect amount to properly water them all. Its been about 9 hours since i fed them and a few of them do seem to be all propped up looking like they usually do a while after a watering or feeding but a few of them do look like they have a extra lil pep in them. Idk maybe im overthinking it but this is the first time i gave them any kind of nute besides whats in the soil already...

 

[nivek]

Good stuff friend,, your plants love you a bit more today,, and, hey, you now have a direct link to yer friends in the pots, and they have a direct link to you.

Think in ecological terms, and you are an ecologist, simple

 

[dr.h00k]

...and you've marked your territory...lolool...cheerz...h00k...

 

[GreenProto]

...and you've marked your territory...lolool...cheerz...h00k...

Hahaha

When you give your friends to smoke the bud, you can say "I assure you guys, there's a lot of 'Me' in those buds."

 

[Pterostychus]

Yeah urine works just fine as a fertilizer. I know a grower who's used it exclusively (I think) for years. It's a little high in N but didn't seem to cause the guy any problems in flower. Might be best used with an EC meter because it comes out at different PPMs at different times, though this fellow doesn't and manages just fine.
There are no health issues with it that I've ever heard of. Urine at the source is sterile though it could pick up some bacteria on the way out. So there are less bacteria in urine than in tap water. It's pretty much non-toxic though drinking much of it would mean drinking a lot of salt. Urine is capable of transmitting very few diseases- minuscule compared to the most common everyday transmission routes, and obviously not transferable through a plant. Urine contains vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, hormones, antibodies and amino acids. The main drawback to it is smell, after it sits a while, and the fact that that people are deathly scared of the subject. Because we are a silly species in some (many) ways.

and it works only with fresh urine !!! if you let it sit for abit bacteria will go rampant and cause smell and other bad stuff. would be a last ditch resort it can help ppl that grow without nutes to pushback to early fading onset, thats what i did on my first ever bagseed grow. *yeayea i know*

Pt

edit: if your wee comes out smelling strong all the time you should go see a medic

 

[Pterostychus]

hahaha

when you give your friends to smoke the bud, you can say "i assure you guys, there's a lot of 'me' in those buds."

l o l

 

[Weaselcracker]

and it works only with fresh urine !!! if you let it sit for abit bacteria will go rampant and cause smell and other bad stuff. would be a last ditch resort it can help ppl that grow without nutes to pushback to early fading onset, thats what i did on my first ever bagseed grow. *yeayea i know*

Some very good info here - What happens when human urine ferments? - fertilizer organicfertilizer resolved | Ask MetaFilter

Including this post below- (links within this post aren't working now that I've re-quoted it, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to fix them. But there are some very good ones, so click the link above if you want to go to the source and get the full deal)

Urine comes out sterile, but immediately attracts microbes (the result of which is the smell). I've heard the best practice for fertiliser use is to store it in an air-tight container for several weeks or months to allow the microbial blooms to run their course, and also allow the high nitrogen content to reduce (it'll burn most plant roots if applied undiluted). After this period the n/p/k ratio should settle to around 1- 1 -1, which safe for pretty much everything.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 4:20 PM on January 21, 2012


So long as you use decent aseptic technique, a reasonably sanitized milk jug, and a collection of healthy sterile bladders fed by reasonably standard diets, after 7 days you will likely get a largely unchanged gallon of piss.

If what you are looking for is an exhastive report of what is in urine and what it could do to you, then you want to crack open NASA Contractor Report No. NASA CR-1802, D. F. Putnam, July 1971(PDF). Its pretty comprehensive.

Urine from a perfectly healthy adult aught to be sterile, though it isn't always, and so is still worth handling with respect, especially in terms of exposing folks who didn't produce the piss. This is a great guide to best practices for safe storage of urine for agricultural purposes. Here is their small scale agricultural guide Urine can be a great and safe way to fertilize your garden, but only if you understand the safety risks, make sure you do.

This is a great practical guide if you want to actually go ahead and do it:
"Keep in mind that urine is very high in nitrogen. You may need to pee daily, but your plants don’t need your daily pee. Choose plants that need lots of nitrogen, such as corn and squash, tomatoes and cucumbers during their fruit-bearing stage, and older plants that need a boost. Signs of nitrogen deficiency include yellow or pale green leaves, and some plants have key signs, like pointed cucumbers. Don’t overdo it at the beginning of the season, as excess nitrogen can lead to bushy, leafy plants that bear little fruit. Signs of excess nitrogen include curled leaves, and these plants may also attract aphids. For garden plants in need of a genuine nitrogen boost, once or twice a month is generally fine, though some people will add highly diluted pee a couple of times a week. If you have more pee to give, try your lawn, trees and bushes.

As a basic premise, the urine must be mixed with carbon-rich materials in order for the nitrogen to become accessible to the plants. Carbon-rich materials can include leaves, straw, or just good quality earthy soil. The nitrogen in urine is in the form of urea, creatine, and ammonia; when mixed with carbon-rich materials, the aerobic bacteria convert it into nitrates, which the plants can then uptake.

Here are a few possible ways to use pee in your garden or landscaping.

Recipe 1: Watered-down pee
For soil with good drainage that is crumbly and earthy-smelling. Also works well for container gardens.

Grab a reclaimed plastic container and take a pee. Dilute it with eight to ten parts water, and apply it to the soil. Easy peesy. Working the urine into the soil or applying the urine under the top layer of soil would ensure that less nitrogen is lost due to conversion to ammonia gas, and the presence of soil organisms would help neutralize the (rare chance of) pathogens, though just pouring it on the soil works okay too. After applying the pee, water the plant.

Recipe 2: Straight up pee
For soil with a thick layer of carbon-rich mulch, like wood chips and leaf mulch.

This is the easiest method. Just pee on the mulch. The mulch will stop the plants from receiving an overly-concentrated blast of urine, as well as helping to break down the nitrogen into a source the plants can use. Peeing between two layers of mulch will lessen nitrogen losses from conversion to ammonia gas.

Recipe 3: Compost pee
Urine can be composted. It’s very high in nitrogen, so it counts as a "green" in the compost, and shouldn’t be added to a compost bin that is already high in nitrogen-rich materials like food scraps. Be sure to add plenty of carbon-rich materials, like dry leaves, sawdust, straw and cardboard. Urine can act as a starter for a compost, encouraging the decomposition process, such as adding urine to a pile of leaves.

Recipe 4: Straw bale bathroom
You can urinate directly on a bale of straw until the straw decomposes, and this compost can later be added to your garden. We’ve even met a gardener from Montreal who plants directly in the decomposing straw bales to create a new garden.

Recipe 5: Greywater with a hint of yellow
Greywater is the waste water from showering, doing dishes, etc, and urine can be added to a greywater system. The greywater provides some carbon and significantly dilutes the urine. Ideally this should drain into an aerobic greywater system with natural filters like plants and gravel. Instructions for installing such a system can be purchased from the EcoWaters Project in the guide How to Build a Washwater Garden Plan.

Keep in mind: Urine is high in salt. This is one reason why it needs to be properly diluted. Not all plants respond well to high salt content. Reducing the salt in your diet can be helpful to your own health and improve the salt ratio in your urine."

Also of interest,
Human urine harvesting and utilization as an organic fertilizer(PDF)
Guidelines on the use of urine and faeces in crop production(PDF)
WHO: Urine Diversion: Hygienic risks and microbial guidelines for re-use(PDF)
posted by Blasdelb at 7:09 PM on January 21, 2012

 

[KingstonRabbi]

Now that we all know where the best fertilizer comes from let's take it a step further. In Tacoma we have a product called Tagro made from bio-solids from our sewage treatment plant. Yes, I grow with human poop. Pasteurized and mixed with sand and saw dust for consistency but mainly human waste. Plants grow like crazy in it.

I've had 20 yards of it delivered, still have 3 ft high pile of it in front yard for everyone to see. My kids play in it like any other pile of fresh dirt. At this point that's what it is, dirt.

 

[Pterostychus]

ive read that urine fermentation link... the airtight containers imply anaerobic bacteria cultures which are alot different from aerobic...
in many cases anaerobic bacteria are not beneficial (ponds, fishtanks, dwc-setups) however i have no knowledge on beneficial bacteria in urine but it makes sense as many farmers in dairy country use liquid manure (cow feaces and urine) to fert their pastures

pt

 

[Conradino23]

I'll toss my nickel worth of advice as well. Few years back after reading about urine and wood ash being complete fertiliser I grew an Afghan Kush using only this mixture throughout veg and flowering. Nothing else was used really and the plant was very healthy, yielded well and had great terpenoid expression. I can show you the photos if you want.

The thing is though that urine should be more used in flowering according to proper soil science cause ammonia and urea form of nitrogen stimulate reproduction. Properly used which means diluted it should raise Brix and keep the soil healthy.