I thought I was cool, but according to Rodale Wellness, really cool people pee in their garden {or at the very least, use their urine in their compost piles}. Say what? Yep, studies have shown that urine is a pretty effective way to add a great “nitrogen-phosphorus-Potassium ratio” to the soil–and oddly enough, it is generally recognized as safe to put directly onto plants {though, it is really better suited directly on the soil, instead}.
So, in the off chance you want to give it a whirl…{Or a wizz? Sorry, bathroom humor has never been my strong suit} just collect your urine throughout the day and dilute it one part pee to five to ten parts water. Then, sprinkle it around the base of plants or on the base of the plants. It’s apparently particularly effective for “cabbage, beets, cucumbers, and tomatoes.”
I feel obligated to tell you that pee-fertilizer comes with a warning label: wash your veggies reaaallly well before you consume them {duh}, avoid using it if you have an infection {gross}, AND because of the high salt content in urine, make sure to water it in well and don’t over-use it {basic fertilizing rules apply}.
I guess it’s one way to go really green. Who knew you were literally flushing money down the toilet?
Now get out there and wet the {garden} bed.
~Mavis
John says
um……no.
Tammy says
Oh, that is so gross. It might be safe but…gross.
Daniel says
On a funny side note, in the movie “World’s Fastest Indian”, Anthony Hopkins who plays a real life figure from the past “Burt Munro”, has a lemon tree in his yard where he lives which was located in Invercargill, New Zealand. He pees on it every day. And when He travels to America to place a new land world speed record on his 1000cc 1920 Indian Scout, He asks his little sidekick friend, next door neighbor to pee on his lemon tree every day that he is away…..
Sam says
Love the film – and the citrus love the pee lol xxx
Miriam says
People are grossed out far too easily. That said, I wonder if you can use animal urine instead, like what would be collected in an indoor pet loo. That way, you don’t have to worry about collecting your own urine, especially if you are a girl, and you would have to empty and wash the loo out anyway.
Mavis Butterfield says
You own an indoor pet loo? I’ve need to get out more often. I had no idea such things were available.
Miriam says
I don’t, but my sister does. It saves her carpet so much and she wouldn’t have a dog without it. It’s not cheap though.
http://www.amazon.com/PetSafe-Pet-Toilet-Original-33-Inch/dp/B002DCWA4C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1440003655&sr=8-1&keywords=pet+loo
Ashleah says
This is also a good way to help keep pests (especially deer) out of your garden!
Rochelle says
Man-pee is reported to chase away gophers. My hubby refuses to try it for me.
;-p
Mrs. C. says
Luckily, at my request, my HH has taken to doing exactly that at our new house waaaaaay out in the country. I’m going to ask him to start working on the apple orchard since Bambi and his sister stripped one of our apple trees.
Mavis Butterfield says
Find some carpet tack strips and put the around the trunk of the tree. My friend Jane did this to her peach tree this year and it kept the buggers away. Carpet tacks and urine… would not fly here in suburbia. Lucy you.
Deborah from FL says
Is it really gender-specific? Very interesting.:)
Melissa says
I’d never heard of this! And for people saying gross to pee, which is pretty sterile – what do you think regular fertilizer that you pay for is??!? Chicken poo or something equally stinky, lol – how is urine any worse?
Karen says
You are right! Urine is sterile. Poop on the other hand…. not so much. I guess I should have my husband go pee on the compost pile and save the flushes of the toilet. 🙂
Lace Faerie says
It has to be fresh pee, if it smells of ammonia it’s too old to use. My sister lives on the big island of Hawaii and she has her HH ‘water’ the banana trees everyday! It works!
Mavis says
Great point Melissa.
Jenn in Indiana says
Sounds gross but I read one time that urine is actually sterile when it comes out. And I’ve heard that the urine will keep wild animals away from garden beds. But not sure that I would try this.
jumbe says
I am trying to picture the face of the HOA lady who said she reads your blog 😉
Dianna says
Bwahahahaha this made me laugh!! I was thinking the same thing.
Jen Y says
My husband told me the story of when he was a little boy. The first thing every morning when he woke up, he’d open the window & pee through the screen. Who knows WHERE this idea came from except little boys are just adventurous at heart. One morning he heard his parents outside his window talking. His mother says…’I don’t know why this plant won’t grow. Something is killing it.’ He assumed it was his fault. 😉
I know that dog urine kills plants. Anywhere the neighborhood dogs come through & mark their spot – nothing will grow.
Laura says
Jen, pure urine would kill plants or grass because it is in too strong a concentration – that’s why the instructions to use it on your garden say you have to water it down so much. It’s the same as using Miracle Grow – if you just dumped it on your plants without properly diluting it it would kill everything too.
The book “The Resilient Gardener,” which discusses growing your own food with a minimum of resources, discusses this issue. The author suggests using watered down pee on plants that are looking a bit pale, especially. She also says that pee provides the nitrogen needed to break down high-carbon materials – so if you have a big pile of leaves, pee on it and it will break down into compost much more quickly.
Stephanie says
Wow! When my two boys would start wiggling and couldn’t make it to the house I’d tell them to “water a bush.” I guess I should have said “fertilize a bush.”
Marcia says
The spot where my kid peed was the greenest in the lawn. Which is dead now because of the drought. Except for that one spot!
janet in woodway says
Oh the HOA is going to love this!!
Sam says
Urine is sterile so no problems there – also doesn’t give off any smells, himself and his mates all pee in the garden, would love to be able to train them to follow it with water – but hey I just go round the following day and make sure everything has a good water. Really does work and keeps the foxes away – also a nice clean bathroom floor -win, win, win lol
Donna Pearce says
That is very nasty to use urine! Come on Mavis!
Henrietta says
Reading these comments are hilarious!
Mavis says
I’m getting a quick laugh out of them as well!
David The Good says
I’m mailing you a copy of Compost Everything today… I think you’ll love it. It’s nice to see other gardeners as nutty as myself. 😉
Mavis says
That’s awesome! I think I’ll love it, too!
KAthleen says
The greenest spot in my lawn by a long shot, is the drainfield to my septic system…
Susannah says
I’m new to your wonderful blog, but I love that this topic is getting some attention! I’ve got a 2-year-old potty training with one of those little chairs, and all her pee heads to the compost. We’ve used grown-up pee around the garden when we’ve gotten really desperate to drive away veggie-destroying rodents, and we should probably use it more.
Really, our society uses ridiculous amounts of precious potable water to flush human waste — which could be an agricultural asset rather than the liability it is now (polluting, requiring huge amounts of energy to treat).
Some really good articles from Scientific American and TreeHugger on dong this on a larger scale if anyone’s interested:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-urine-is-an-effective-fertilizer/
http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-agriculture/toilet-table-peecycling-research-u-m-investigates-using-human-urine-fertilizer.html
Carol Strain says
You could always go that one more step.
Google “humanure”. 🙂
Mavis says
GROSS!!!
Dena says
I’d just make sure I wasn’t on any prescription drugs if I saved my urine to use on the plants. Studies have found that a lot of water that makes it through waste water treatment centers still contains a lot of meds, especially hormones. This greatly harms the aquatic ecosystems. So don’t add any of that stuff to the garden, or you might find yourself taking your meds & hormones again, through your vegies!
Ms. Sandie says
My Grandfather used to pee around his pepper plants (so he told me)