The Urine-Compost Connection

Composting is all about re-using organic materials. And like the majority of us, you probably have been flushing away one of the most natural ways of all to condition your compost. By adding urine compost can be given a huge boost and that is passed on to whatever plants you will be using it to grow in the future.

A Surprising Coincidence

The nutrients that our bodies can’t use are filtered out by our kidneys and excreted from the body in our urine. Most people don’t realize that many of these nutrients are just what plants need. Urine is rich in nitrogen but also contains phosphorous and potassium.

These three nutrients happen to be essential to plant growth, life, and reproduction and that’s why they are used in fertilizers. You will see them represented on fertilizer packaging as the N-P-K ratio. N stands for nitrogen, P for phosphorous, and K for potassium. Human urine has an N-P-K ratio of around 11-1-2.5.

Get That Compost Started And Conditioned

Using urine in compost will help to give you an end product that is much more beneficial for your plants. But it will also help to get that decomposition started in new compost piles as well. Adding it to dry leaves, straw, and other “brown,” materials is a great way to jump-start the process quickly. Like other nitrogen-rich items, urine is considered a “green,” composting material.

Natural Benefits

There are many benefits to using urine in your compost and one of the best is that you get all of that nitrogen phosphorous, and potassium, just like with store-bought fertilizers, but in a chemical-free and totally natural form. Of course, urine doesn’t cost anything either.

So you can save cash by being a little more creative with where you get rid of it. Having these nutrients already in your compost means you often won’t need to purchase fertilizer. And, it’s a renewable resource, you’re constantly producing it. In fact, the average American can expect their pee to add up to around one hundred and thirty-two gallons or five hundred liters per year.

Backed By Science

Many scientific studies have shown a very strong correlation between plant growth and soil that has been enhanced by human urine. In one, red beets grew ten percent larger than they did normally when the soil was enhanced with standard fertilizers. By adding wood ash and urine together this was increased to an impressive twenty-seven percent.

Actually Not So Gross

While it may not seem very sanitary to grow food or plants in pee when it leaves the human body urine is actually sterile. So it is totally clean and free of any bacteria. This is in stark contrast to feces which contains harmful pathogens and bacteria.

Application

Of course, depending on where you live you may want to be a little more discreet when adding your urine. If you have neighbors close by peeing in a bottle or bucket and then pouring it in your compost bin or pile is usually the best way to go. Even though urine is sterile there can be traces of certain medications.

While in theory these traces should be burned off as the compost heats up, to be safe if you are taking medicine you should refrain from using your urine on compost that will be used for growing food items. Don’t forget to make sure you have enough “brown,” materials in your compost that are carbon-rich as well.

As mentioned above, wood ash and urine together make a great combo. And while you can pee on compost directly you shouldn’t pee in your actual garden. You can use urine as fertilizer for your garden soil but it will need to be diluted with water first. Typically a ratio of ten parts water to one part urine is ideal.

Other High Nitrogen Options

For those who want to increase the amount of nitrogen but don’t like the idea of using urine in compost, there are other materials that can help. Kitchen scraps such as coffee grounds, used tea bags, bone meal, and blood meal are all nitrogen-rich. Fruits too contain nitrogen and for added potassium and phosphorous many people specifically, place banana peels in compost.

By adding urine compost can be enhanced and given a big boost to help start the process off right. It’ll save you cash and when you want more of this secret natural ingredient all you have to do is drink more water!

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