Urine on garden plants?

[ChefRob]

I'll eat it. You've got to consider, the only farmer who's going to be using diluted pee on his crops, are farmers that know what they're doing. And you're not going to be eatng pee, just nutrients from pee, which you get from other sources anyways.

Oh, and if you were stuck in a desert for two weeks, would you rather drink your pee or die? It's an eas choice, considering pee isn't all that bad. You just gotta deal with the ammonia

This isn't Fear Factor; I'm not asking you what you would do in a desert and I know you wouldn't be eating pee-flavored veggies. I'm simply saying that its a barbaric practice and doesn't provide much more than nitrogen, water and salts in abundance. A good organic farmer who knows what he's doing would make a good compost or use other proven, professional means to fertilize his crops. Introduce me to a farmer who pees on his crops, show me his abundant harvest, and then I'll believe in the method you guys keep defending (even though none of you actually do it).

Is there no one else who finds this odd?

[GeorgiaGirl]

This isn't Fear Factor; I'm not asking you what you would do in a desert and I know you wouldn't be eating pee-flavored veggies. I'm simply saying that its a barbaric practice and doesn't provide much more than nitrogen, water and salts in abundance. A good organic farmer who knows what he's doing would make a good compost or use other proven, professional means to fertilize his crops. Introduce me to a farmer who pees on his crops, show me his abundant harvest, and then I'll believe in the method you guys keep defending (even though none of you actually do it).

Is there no one else who finds this odd?

If you're going to call bull on the "stuck in the desert" scenario, I'm going to have to call bull on your "organic farmer routinely peeing directly on numerous edible crops to be sold to unwitting customers" scenario.

What was mentioned here were situations such as 1) a private gardener using urine in his OWN plants, not vegetables meant to be sold to others, 2) using greatly diluted urine on a lawn for a quick nitrogen infusion, etc.

I don't think anyone here is arguing, "YES!!! Everyone needs to be madly peeing all over their plants" -- but rather, in some situations when a quick organic source of nitrogen is needed and nothing else is readily available, it's not outrageous to consider it.

[GeorgiaGirl]

I'm sorry if you're offended that I'm disagreeing with you.

Goodness, what on earth would make you think I was offended? I love a good spirited discussion! Unfortunately I'm on a deadline and can't chat too much more on this tonight, but I leave you with a few interesting sources I discovered in trying to find evidence that urine contains a detrimental amount of salt:

https://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-use-urine-as-a-fertilizer
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=21381
https://www.ecosanres.org/pdf_files/ESR-factsheet-06.pdf
https://www.cloudforest.com/cafe/forum/26679.html

Cheers!

[cynthia_h]

The original post on this thread was the *only* post ever made by its author. That discussion was mostly damped down by yours truly and one other experienced forum member. Take another look at the first posts in this thread for confirmation.

This thread sat, accumulating views but not energy, for 14 months.

Perhaps it needs to rest for another 14 months? days?

I know it's fun to go What If? Well, what IFFF? etc. but it doesn't seem to advance composting, gardening, or even...waste disposal.

Cynthia H.
Moderator

[dan1003]

Your second link states that salt content is 30 grams per liter of urine, which equates to 2 tablespoons of concentrated human salt build-up when 1 liter of urine has evaporated. Humans produce about 2 to 3 liters of urine daily. The daily recommended amount of dietary salt in humans is 1 teaspoon. Do the math. Over time, salt build-up of this magnitude can pose detrimental effects to plants.

I agree with you that salt buildup could potentially be a problem... I don't know enough about plants.

Normal lab values
for urine sodium: 40-220 mEq/day (2.9 to 14.5 g NaCl/day)
for urine urea: 60 to 90 mg/dL (6 to 17 g urea/day)

That website's 30 g/L of salt is unrealistic. Unless you are a fish.

[a0c8c]

I'd like to add something I found recently. Interesting read.

https://www.popsci.com/environment/article/2009-09/fertilizer-future-might-be-closer-we-think

[Diane]

My dog pees in my potted plants and has killed more than a few. I don't know how often he does this but I've never noticed any of these plants looking better after he peed on them.
I will water these plants when I notice him doing this, but it is often too late.

[F0od]

Hi, this is my first post. Figured this topic was important enough to make an account, and post my uneducated opinion. I do love reading the topics here, and I thank you all for your information, advise, and positive outlooks . I know we're probably off topic, but I think the salt in urine issue should be addressed with good old compost magic. Here's a few videos, and one of the studies I found in haste.



https://www.midwestbiosystems.com/faq-using1.html

Can salt levels be managed or reduced by composting?

Yes. One of our Nevada composters saw sodium readings in a pasture drop from 799 parts per million (ppm) to 53 ppm after application of his ACS compost. Base saturation percentage sodium dropped from over 29 percent to below 3 percent during a six month period.

Humification allows the effective transformation of salt ions in manure and other compost feedstocks into a benign substance. If the composter gets the windrow into an "active carbon" phase, which includes both the thermophilic (carbon reacting with nitrogen) and the biological activity of the beneficial microlife (introduced through inoculation), he will be able to succeed in transforming or binding salt ions.

If the composter fails to do this, the salt situation actually worsens, because a 50% volume reduction doubles the problem. Microbe degradation will take the electron of the salt and pull it into a carbon chain, neutralizing and transforming part of the electron. Part of the salt will be converted into fulvic acid — an energy force for plants. Mixing 5-10% clay, which is the foundation for the humus crumb, into the windrow can help with this process.

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_aa0kpKsRQ[/url]

and of course the classic example of desalination

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sohI6vnWZmk[/url]

[F0od]

I'm a little late I now realize, but who knows maybe this topic will come back into the light o_O

[Dixana]

When I read this thread I could not help but comment...

I know a LOT of farmers. Organic, not organic, it doesn't matter I can PROMISE you something about their fields.
They DO NOT come all the way back to the main farm just to go to the bathroom. They hop off the tractor and go-period.
Every field in this country has been urinated in by someone, almost guaranteed.
Is human urine gross? Not really. Urine is sterile when it first comes out. Dose it have the capability to infect you with diseases and/or bacteria after some point? Yes. Are those things going to stay "alive" on your pepper or corn for any length of time? No.
And aside from all of that, peeing directly on a plant will burn it, if not kill it outright. Ask my BIL about peeing on the peas
No one is talking about going right on the produce, but instead in the soil or compost. A plant can't and won't "drink" urine in it's pure form.