I like how you think redneck grower! :)
I've been reading about composting poop and it seems all you need is a bucket to poop in, and shredded paper to cover it so it doesn't stink. A year later and you have a rich, earthy smelling compost ready for the lawn. Talk about adding organic matter to the lawn!
How long can I keep the fact, that I'm pooping in a bucket of shredded paper in the basement, from my wife? :)

lets see....using urine to fertilize the lawn and flower beds.....composting human fecal matter with shredded newspaper to make compost.

YUCK!!!!!!!!!

Just because you Can do these things SHOULD you? If someone is that concerned with nature, organics, green living etc. they might as well let the grass grow thin or thick no soy bean meal etc as nature intended alond with all of the weeds, insects, encroaching forest as nature aslo intended.

and me I'll just use synthetic fertilizers or nothing at all and use the restroom like the rest of modern civilization.

and me I'll just use synthetic fertilizers or nothing at all and use the restroom like the rest of modern civilization.

Except on long trips, of course, when even I have been known to Fertilize Nature.

Wow, this post is fun!

I always thought I was told to go "in the bushes" for the privacy. I never realized that it was a "targeted" application of fertilizer!

Apparently it's BETTER than synthetic on cabbage crops, producing more robust growth although the nutritional value is the same. Here's the news story from researchers in Finland...

and the abstract of the research paper...

Use of Human Urine Fertilizer in Cultivation of Cabbage (Brassica oleracea)
ÂÂImpacts on Chemical, Microbial, and Flavor Quality
Surendra K. Pradhan,* Anne-Marja Nerg, Annalena Sjöblom, Jarmo K. Holopainen, and Helvi Heinonen-TanskiÂ
Department of Environmental Science, University of Kuopio, P.O. Box 1627, FIN-70211 Kuopio, Finland, Västanfjärd Municipality, Lammalavägen 105, FIN-25830 Västanfjärd, Finland
Received June 18, 2007
Abstract:
Human urine was used as a fertilizer in cabbage cultivation and compared with industrial fertilizer and nonfertilizer treatments. Urine achieved equal fertilizer value to industrial fertilizer when both were used at a dose of 180 kg N/ha. Growth, biomass, and levels of chloride were slightly higher in urine-fertilized cabbage than with industrial-fertilized cabbage but clearly differed from nonfertilized. Insect damage was lower in urine-fertilized than in industrial-fertilized plots but more extensive than in nonfertilized plots. Microbiological quality of urine-fertilized cabbage and sauerkraut made from the cabbage was similar to that in the other fertilized cabbages. Furthermore, the level of glucosinolates and the taste of sauerkrauts were similar in cabbages from all three fertilization treatments. Our results show that human urine could be used as a fertilizer for cabbage and does not pose any significant hygienic threats or leave any distinctive flavor in food products.

Here is a link that might be useful: Human Urine As A Safe, Inexpensive Fertilizer For Food Crops

Another interesting read, this one in Africa. Talk about two birds with one stone...

It's user friendly, repels pests such as aphids, not as labor intensive as making compost...

"Patrick Makhosi, also a soil scientist with Kawanda Agricultural Research Organisation confirms the efficacy of human urine as a fertiliser. He says that applying urine once every week for at least two months will more than double the yield of vegetables."

They even give instructions for safe use...

Here is a link that might be useful: Uganda: Human Urine Safe As Fertilizer

I have been all over Mexico, the Caribean, several places in Asia and Europe and in all of those places taking in both urban and rural locales and believe you me in the cities they don't walk out the door to take a dump or urinate on the lawn on the lawn and in the rural and depressed areas they didn't have "lawn" in the general sense that we are speaking of so by all means do as you please in your lawn, just glad you don't live near me!

In addition, there is a big difference between a person trying to eek out a living in some third world country by utilizing all that is available to him to farm a small plot of land and some guy in PA urinating in a thermos in his office to spray on his lawn and taking a dump in a bucket to make compost to save a few bucks for a lawn which is for you true naturalists a waste of resources anyway.

Waste not, want not.

No, but you can use someone elses...

Have a keg party and lock all the doors...I think it will keep the coyotes away as well....

dbig.....my gosh, don't leave us hanging....sooo, did the urine experiment work out? How did you do it? Just put it undiluted in a hose-end sprayer? Details man, details. (g) thanks

...and if you think that the concept is icky, do not investigate "auto urine therapy".

I'm wondering if the poster sits down to meals such as what she wishes to give to her lawn.

Potatoes.....nothing but potatoes. For breakfast, potato pancakes...no syrup allowed.
For lunch, potato fries.....no salt....no vinegar, no ketchup.
For supper mashed potatoes...sans the butter and the milk.

That's exactly what you are expecting your lawn to live on....straight nitrogen.
What about its soil needs....the phosphurus to expand its roots; the potash to strengthen the roots to stand up to adversity....and yes, the nitrogen for green strong growth.

I assume you will be applying it in its natural form..a liquid. Liquids have a habit of running where it wants to go....not where you think it should go.
On heated ground, it will evaporate much before gaining entry. Where it congregates in puddles, it percolates..in time, down to where the tender roots are....and if the nitrogen is anything like what a dog can do....
voila, you have killed what was once a great looking lawn.

If you cant afford giving your lawn what it needs, then maybe you should consider stopping smoking, eating less desserts, not drinking alcohol, .....heck....you could feed your lawn all the fertilizer it needs and not tell anyone....you could stop paying for the internet.

Also, rip up the lawn....put down clover....there you go, it takes nitrogen right out of the air. Its green, doesn't need feeding, looks good....and,if you have to go, then it stands up to urine.

I think I've solved your problem......and the neighborhood's wondering where all that smell is coming from.

I was wondering what the little lawn sign would look like? "Lawn treated by pee, stay off if you want".

I was surprised to read through this whole thread and discover that no one has posted a link to the humanure handbook. gbig2 mentioned it, but he didn't give the name.

So I will oblige... mainly for redneck grower, because he asked...

Most synthetic fertilizers are petroleum based, and most of our organic fertilizers require petroleum to plant, harvest and ship them to the final destination. Its a matter of a national security to reduce our use of petroleum products.

Hence, one of the most patriotic things you can do is to reuse your own waste...

Here is a link that might be useful: The Humanure Handbook

I think the 'question' I asked that joepyeweed referenced was: "Now, if there were only a way to keep poop from smelling . . . "

Thanks for the link to The Humanure Handbook! It's great! If you haven't visited the link yet, perhaps the following chapter titles from the monograph will arouse your interest:

Crap Happens
Waste Not Want Not (I used the same quotation in another post to this thread)
Gomer The Pile
When the Crap Hit the Fan
Global Sewers And Pet Turds
Fecophobia and the Pathogen Issue
Fecofrigginfobia
Environmental Potty Training 101

Cheers!

. . . just a few excerpts of the rave reviews of The Humanure Handbook

"From the squatting position, I request a copy of the Humanure Handbook."

"Thank you for your wonderful book about an environmental threat most people are unwilling to discuss, yet contribute to daily."

"I have taken three dumps since finishing the Humanure Handbook, and all of them have been in plastic buckets and have been covered with sawdust."

"I am stupefied after reading your turdly book! What a masterpiece of modern literature."

"Your book was extremely well-written and answered all the questions I had been having for several years. I knew that somehow there was some missing info about what to do with all the Âdo-do'."

"The book is extremely moving, in all sorts of ways."

. . . I just can't seem to give up on this thread! Guess I'll just "grow with the flow."

Here's another book:

Liquid Gold: The Lore and Logic of Using Urine to Grow Plants

More excrement anecdotes (ask me to leave if you get too much of this):

To my neighbor who I saw pooping in his yard yesterday - w4m

Here's the first thing I pulled up on Auto Urine Therapy:

"Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well." -The Book of Proverbs 5:15

I thought this post was dead and buried. :)
Well, I collected the liquid gold in my Thermos for a couple days and sprayed it on the lawn. But as expected I got tired of that and decided it's best to add it to my compost pile and use the compost in my garden.
BTW, urine is more than just nitrogen. It actually contains phosphorus, potassium and vitamins.

Here's a news article about how the Swedes are getting phosphorus from their urine:
"And it looks like we might have a looming shortage of the former, which could be solved by recycling the latter. Cynthia Mitchell, an Associate Professor from the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS), figures we are quite literally flushing a fortune down the toilet, while global ground reserves of phosphorus are unlikely to last more than 50-100 years. And human urine, of which we pass some 500 litres per year, is rich in phosphorus, a key ingredient in agricultural fertilizers. "Urine will soon be too precious to flush down the loo," Professor Mitchell said. "Already in parts of Europe urine separating toilets are being introduced." Apparently all new homes in the local council of Tanum, in south-west Sweden, are required to have urine-separation toilets. That is the pee goes down one tube, and poo another. She goes onto say, "Sweden has set a national target that 60% of phosphorus in organic waste, including sewage, must be recycled. At least 30% of that goes to fertilise agricultural land." The Prof is calling on drought plagued Australia to realise "a revolution in sanitation, as dramatic and far-reaching as the construction of LondonÂs sewers during the Industrial Revolution." But first she believes the country needs to escape the poo taboo of outta sight, outta mind. Via ::UTS and ::ABC"

"PS. Source separation for pee and poo has long been a design factor in some brands of compost toilet, because it speeds up the rate of dry composting of human waste, giving the toilets greater capacity. "

Here's a link to the story about how we may run out of phosphorus in the next 50 years.

Here is a link that might be useful: peak phosphorus

I remember way back(in the middle ages) We use to sprinkle lime in outhouses to prevent the smell of said outhouse. Is lime good for fertilizer? Maybe we should bring back ye olde outhouse.A 2 seater or even a double decker.
oakleif

This whole thread reads like something out of Monty Python...

I'm no rocket scientist, but IMO I know that to much fertilize is not good !!! cause when I let the girls out,(get your mind out of the gutter LOL) Peanut & Burbon, (the house ladies)--(dogs) it works very well for weed/grass killer hahaha ")

If anyone actually brings back the double decker outhouse, please count me out for participating on the ground floor.

(!)

;-)

Paul

Once I killed a bonsai after pouring straight urine on it. Urine as fertilizer is messy and odorous, it could bring bacteria if you don't take good care of what you doing. Why to use urine when you can use urea??

The thread that never dies...

OK, so I can't use my pee instead of all other fertilizers. But every whiz in the garden saves 1.5 gallons of water flushed down the toilet. Besides, in Texas, the garden and lawn ALWAYS need more moisture, and the other stuff is good for the plants and soil. But it has been recommended that the urine be diluted before "application," and I'm wondering why. Too acid? Too basic? Too salty? What specifically might be the problem with undiluted pee on the grass, or the roots of the rose bush?

Too much available nitrogen in one place for the soil microbes to handle all at once. If you have a very healthy soil, it can probably handle peeing in one spot. Female dogs, for example, usually empty their entire bladder in one spot. If the soil is dry and hard, the urine is not soaked up all in one spot so that tends to spread it out and not cause the problem. If the soil is soft and absorbent, it might all soak in to one small spot and you'll see yellowing of the grass or plants. I have been successful treating my dog spots with a handful of sugar scattered on the spot. The sugar stimulates the soil microbes to reproduce to populations that can handle the urine much more quickly. The result was a very dark green spot of very fast growing grass.

I read this entire thread at 2 am and I could not stop cracking up for at least half an hour.

Long live pee

" * Posted by takadi 7 (My Page) on
Fri, Jun 19, 09 at 2:13

I read this entire thread at 2 am and I could not stop cracking up for at least half an hour.

Long live pee"

You read it at 2:00, laughed for at least half an hour, then posted about it at 2:13.

Let's do the time warp again.

Gbig2 try opening your drain plug to your house sewer line and you can have a premix dumped on your lawn every time you flush. Some people put up signs showing a dog taking a poop on a lawn with a red line through it which means please don't let your dog poop here. Perhaps you could make a sign that encourages pets and even people to pee on your lawn. That seems like it might be more effective than peeing in a thermos at work - but heck - why not? Do both.

Good troll by original poster. It is funny how this topic is reacted to in different forums. Bottom line is that diluted urine works well as a fertilizer. I have used it on several plants with universally good results in promoting green growth. Here is a summary of the benefits of this practice.

1. Free
2. Prevents eutrophication
3. Makes the right people go "eww"

Using your urine as a fertilizer on your plants isn't going to clean up the gulf oil spill or reverse global warming but it is a positive and progressive practice.

I collect my shower water each morning to water my fruit trees. I will now pee in that 5 gallon bucket! Thanks for the tip.

I have been doing this for years. I'm a mobile technician and when I have to go, I go in a 1 gallon jug. I either dilute it and water my garden or dump it into my sprayer and spry my front lawn. I have 5.5 acres. I also occasionally dump it on my compost pile. I have read the Humanure Handbook and love it. Waste not want not. Our country is plagued by sewage problems. I have chosen to turn a problem into a treasure. I also have a bucket to do #2 in and put on my compost.

I think it's funny that you snooty stuck up a-holes turn you nose up to this idea, but you will stick you bare hand in a bag of cow crap to put on your flowers. To me there is no difference!

I have been looking into composting toilets because my water bill has gotten so high. This all makes good sense to me.

Haven't been on garden web in a long time, it makes me grin to see this thread is still alive. ;-)

This is SO a guy thread.

guy thread? really? hmmmm.....

Yes, a guy thread. I don't know of any females who would keep a thermos under their desk to pee in. And it's difficult for females to casually step behind a tree and let it rip, so to speak.

Though I am reminded of a thread on the Soils forum years ago about females who used the blood of their "monthlies" diluted with water to fertilize their houseplants.

It was brought home to me that all guys will be guys when we recently moved next door to a CPA whom I have known for over 40 years. A typical CPA, he is solemn and proper. So I really wanted to LMAO the day his wife told me he pees outside! Also, she told me his favorite spot, which, if I am vigilant, I can observe while seated at my dining room table. :(

I think it's funny that people get upset over people peeing outside. Some people are so domesticated. For example, Most people eat meat, but if they had to kill it and butcher it starting tomorrow most would get grossed out and wouldn't eat it. I live out in the woods where you cant see any neighbors. When I get up in the morning the first thing I do is go out and pee outside. I only go inside if the weather is bad or I'm really sick. Right after pulling the guts out of my deer I cut the tenderloins out. What I'm thinking is boy these are going to be good fried in butter and garlic tonight!
Don't forget people only started peeing in the house in the last couple hundred years!

I am so sick of people reviving this thread.

This post was edited by yardtractor1 on Sat, Jun 21, 14 at 1:01

I'll revive this thread just to piss you off!! No pun intended. LOL! I also "golden garden" and have had fabulous results!

Excellent pun, well done! Original poster here. Funny how this old post from eight years ago keeps getting found somehow. Brings back memories... For the record, I was not trolling. I was just in one of my frugal phases and looking for a cheap way to fertilize my lawn. I still can't believe I was peeing in a thermos behind my desk, that's crazy! My bosses were oddly okay with it too!

I, too, collect urine and use it to fertilize my lawn, trees, and flowerbeds. I'd be foolish not to. All upside, no downside, and the place looks beautiful. CAUTION: URINE SHOULD BE DILUTED PRIOR TO APPLICATION. The nitrogen is concentrated enough to cause fertilitizer "burn", if you don't dilute it 5:1 with water. Some researchers recommend dilution of 10:1 or more, to be safe. Does this mean you'll kill something in your yard, every time you whip it out? I think we all know that doesn't usually happen, but it's a risk. As with expensive, eutrophying, globe-warming, big-ag fertilizers (what's not to love, right?), drought-stressed plants and seedlings are particularly vulnerable to burn.

WTF

I spent a decent amount of time looking for a hose end sprayer that could attach to something larger than a quart size container. Lafferty Model 51 Sprayer does just that. It comes with an attachment that connects to a gallon jug, but you can easily drop the ten foot line in a five gallon bucket. It does come with several metering tips that allow you to dilute at various ratios, but the standard ratio it uses without a meeting tip is 5:1. You have to call in your order, no online ordering, but the best I've seen. Great quality product. Anyone have suggestions on reducing the odor?

Plenty of naysayers and self-righteous shamers on here... I'd rather spend my time looking into how something valuable could work better, than focusing on the challenges.

Sure, it's gross in concept, but aren't nearly all natural processes?Composting is appalling to some, but when done right doesn't even have a smell. I work for a company that is in the Fortune 100 best places to work and we have compost bins on every floor.... it's not just for the farm. There were naysayers there too, but they stuck around and are getting used a lot. It's about doing what's better, not saving a nickel.

Many times what's better is harder work, which is why even I like the idea of spending a little on a bag of inorganic fertilizer I can drop in a spreader and be done in five to ten minutes, but I know it's not better for soil health.

i pee on my lawn and can definitely claim that the grass is greener, lusher, faster growing. i do it off my deck at night and the areas that i aim for are clearly healthier. there is no problem about feeding the same areas full strength, repeatedly, regardless of what i consumed. i thought there might be fertilizer burn or salt/sodium harming the grass, fescue, but all good.

I can categorically say that I know pure urine is great! I have peed in a container before and threw it out my window, the grass below grows much greener and is far longer than the rest of the lawn! Maybe I have magical pee!

I just recently started fertilizing my lawn with my urine much to the chagrin of my partner after stumbling across it on the interwebs. I can say that I have seen results. I use a dilute solution of 2 oz of urine per gallon in my hose-end sprayer. I only spray what I collect in a 24 hr period, as "fresher is better ", in other words, I do not stockpile it to spray the entire lawn in one go. But go in sections as my output allows. From what I have read, the urea starts to break down to ammonia after 24 hrs. I have sprayed once a week for a month now and can see the difference. My lawn has actually gotten thicker.