fertilizer to the sustainable growers....who fertilizes with their urine?

Doelman said:
I think the trick is, store undiluted urine in an opaque bottle so she has no idea what it is, write PP on it so you don't forget what you have in there.  When you're ready to fertilize, mix it up when she isn't looking.   :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
 
Playing with fire, there, buddy.    :shocked:   MRS would get creative if she caught me at this.. and being there's urine involved..   :halo:
 
Doelman, maybe grow a peepee plant next year as an experiment?
 
 
 
peeing-duck.gif
 
Uncle_Eccoli said:
 
Playing with fire, there, buddy.    :shocked:   MRS would get creative if she caught me at this.. and being there's urine involved..   :halo:
 
Doelman, maybe grow a peepee plant next year as an experiment?
 
 
 
peeing-duck.gif
Click to expand...
 
haha I just may... I know it does work, people have been doing it for centuries and still do it, I just wonder how well compared to modern means.
 
Have you fellas ever smelled piss after it's been bottle up for even a day?  
.
Moment of truth:  I have a friend who does this.  His plants don't really look that great. (like I said, urine is very incomplete as a fertilizer)  But his place smells like a septic tank.  He keeps it stored in 1 gallon milk jugs, so there's no mistaking it.  Even I'm repulsed, and I'm the guy with the black soldier fly death pit.
 
solid7 said:
Have you fellas ever smelled piss after it's been bottle up for even a day?  
.
Moment of truth:  I have a friend who does this.  His plants don't really look that great. (like I said, urine is very incomplete as a fertilizer)  But his place smells like a septic tank.  He keeps it stored in 1 gallon milk jugs, so there's no mistaking it.  Even I'm repulsed, and I'm the guy with the black soldier fly death pit.
Click to expand...
I don't really have any interest in storing the stuff, you're right and it would smell horrible. My vegetable garden is only about 120 square feet so if I were going to do it, I would simply take a piss in jug, dilute it, pour it on the plants, then water them like normal once a week.  I compost my beds every year, I've tried growing without feeding and letting the plants grow with just the compost from that year, they don't grow nearly as big compared to when I also feed them, I'm pretty sure the extra nitrogen is the difference.  Urine is mostly nitrogen, I believe my compost will provide the rest of the nutrients the plants need.  I would like to get to the point where I'm not buying any fertilizer what so ever and having a free nitrogen source in urine may be the last piece of my fertilizing puzzle.
 
But I'm really not sure, only one way to find out.   :shh:
 
Doelman perhaps you could also try compost tea? I as well use compost. In my case I dig it into the soil at the beginning of the season and then use compost tea at regular intervals throughout the season.
 
MBGardener said:
Doelman perhaps you could also try compost tea? I as well use compost. In my case I dig it into the soil at the beginning of the season and then use compost tea at regular intervals throughout the season.
Click to expand...
I've tried years ago, don't think it hurts but its nutrient content is really low compared to other fertilizers.  Halfway through the season I switched back to my normal feeding routine, the plants while healthy weren't nearly as big as I felt they should have been.  
 
Doelman said:
I don't really have any interest in storing the stuff, you're right and it would smell horrible. My vegetable garden is only about 120 square feet so if I were going to do it, I would simply take a piss in jug, dilute it, pour it on the plants, then water them like normal once a week.  I compost my beds every year, I've tried growing without feeding and letting the plants grow with just the compost from that year, they don't grow nearly as big compared to when I also feed them, I'm pretty sure the extra nitrogen is the difference.  Urine is mostly nitrogen, I believe my compost will provide the rest of the nutrients the plants need.  I would like to get to the point where I'm not buying any fertilizer what so ever and having a free nitrogen source in urine may be the last piece of my fertilizing puzzle.
Click to expand...
 
That's why I started composting the meat.   And fish carcasses.  I'm not a believer in not fertilizing my raised beds or containers, because honestly, while it might be more sustainable, it just doesn't grow as good of plants.  I don't have the luxury of fertile soil.  Nitrogen comes in many different sources, but most of them are pretty mobile.  So they deplete the fastest.  No till helps, but there's no substitute for a good 2-tier feeding plan.  If you were to combine your compost, with an every week manure tea - and by "manure", I also mean urine, if that's what you have - you'll probably do well.  But it's gonna be a lot of work.
.
I made my own fish fertilizer a couple years back.  I made so much, it'll probably last me for 10 years.  But I live next to the ocean.  I get seaweed (sargassum), also.  I also had rabbits for about 4 years, so I have rabbit poo.  So it's like this:  Rabbit poo as the go-to, fish fert every other week, or so, Compost tea at the beginning of the season to get everything rock 'n' rolling, and to combat the torrential downpours, a dry fertilizer.  Alaska fish pellets, Dr Earth, whatever.  I could probably roll my own, but it gets to be a lot of work.
 
solid7 said:
 
That's why I started composting the meat.   And fish carcasses.  I'm not a believer in not fertilizing my raised beds or containers, because honestly, while it might be more sustainable, it just doesn't grow as good of plants.  I don't have the luxury of fertile soil.  Nitrogen comes in many different sources, but most of them are pretty mobile.  So they deplete the fastest.  No till helps, but there's no substitute for a good 2-tier feeding plan.  If you were to combine your compost, with an every week manure tea - and by "manure", I also mean urine, if that's what you have - you'll probably do well.  But it's gonna be a lot of work.
.
I made my own fish fertilizer a couple years back.  I made so much, it'll probably last me for 10 years.  But I live next to the ocean.  I get seaweed (sargassum), also.  I also had rabbits for about 4 years, so I have rabbit poo.  So it's like this:  Rabbit poo as the go-to, fish fert every other week, or so, Compost tea at the beginning of the season to get everything rock 'n' rolling, and to combat the torrential downpours, a dry fertilizer.  Alaska fish pellets, Dr Earth, whatever.  I could probably roll my own, but it gets to be a lot of work.
Click to expand...
 
that's a great feeding plan and way more work than I would want to take on, I'm a very recreational grower.  Currently the beginning of every season I spread compost in my beds from the kitchen scraps and lawn debris that I've composted the previous year.  Once my plants get established I'll feed them with a high nitrogen fert every other week and will stop toward the end of the season.  If I can switch the store bought fert I feed them every other week with urine, I'll be completely self sustainable on the nutrient side.  I know what I'm doing right now isn't optimal and with the urine it wouldn't be either, but I like to think my plants are getting at least 75% production and with just the two of us, that's way more peppers than we'll ever need.
 
So, sorry to take this thread in so many directions... But you were asking about BSF.  This is my compost bin today.  I will update with photos in a few days, to show you how efficiently these fellas work.
 
48145264201_11548f690a_z.jpg
[/url]
 
When I laid out the bales for the hay bale pepper patch and started melting them down with ammonium nitrate, I taught my boydog to piss on the bales. After they were composted and planted, we switched him to a pile of shredded leaves next to the garden.
 
Doelman said:
So I peed on one of my Aji Limons, that's going to be my pee plant this season.  I figured the pods are already yellow so it's practically begging for a golden shower.  I'm not weird, you're weird :)
Click to expand...
 
We don't call it weird...  It's "deviant".
.
Next up... Cleveland steamers. (not just for people in Ohio)
 
I work in plumbing/construction.  Above post was about what we do when we find the bottles.  Not constructive to the conversation at hand.  Anyways! 
 
We find piss bottles in places where other trades are too lazy to go up/down 3-5 floors to an outhouse.  They generally tend to smell, more offensively than other types of urine/poop to be honest (animal urine or manure).  Found a 'piss-gallon' once too. 
 
So, I guess if it works as a fert, great, but will it smell up the garden?  Would you store it in a fridge? 
 
ThePickler said:
I work in plumbing/construction.  Above post was about what we do when we find the bottles.  Not constructive to the conversation at hand.  Anyways! 
 
We find piss bottles in places where other trades are too lazy to go up/down 3-5 floors to an outhouse.  They generally tend to smell, more offensively than other types of urine/poop to be honest (animal urine or manure).  Found a 'piss-gallon' once too. 
 
So, I guess if it works as a fert, great, but will it smell up the garden?  Would you store it in a fridge? 
Click to expand...
I've used it twice on one plant, smells the same as all the other plants.  Not really sure what my plan will be if I do it widespread, could always freeze it in my deep freeze.  My wife is pretty laid back, as long as the outside of the bottle was clean she wouldn't care if I buried it at the bottom.  Can't imagine needing more than a gallon undiluted each week for the size of my garden.
 
I pee around my garden, or around my beds, but never directly on them.
This is not to be taken as a fertilization routine - I just see it as I have extra Nitrogen, my plants are in great soil with no other fertilization, and my backyard is big enough that I can become one with nature without the neighbors seeing (at least at night).
But I never pee directly on plants, I understand that Nitrogen will eventually become available as it becomes digested by organisms in the soil, and try not to pee in the same place too frequently.

I have never done this as an experiment to gauge what positive or negative effects the nearby puddles have on the plants. However, I have never noticed a detrimental effect (not on the plants, nor on the air quality.)
I would hesitate on storing or concentrating your urine for use as a fertilizer though - as I kind of alluded, it is my understanding that the urea molecule is not bio-available to our plants, and that it must first be worked on by an enzyme called urease (from common soil bacteria) to produce ammonia, which is bio-available. Also, if you're a stickler on pH, be careful with your peeing - ammonia is very basic, and its presence will raise your pH.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top