Urine as fertilizer

[watervole]

I've been wondering about this for many years, ever since visiting the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales where they had collection bottles in the gent's loos.

I've just found a report of a study done in Finland that says it works every bit as well as conventional fertilizers and that urine is virtually sterile and thus there is no health risk.

This link also makes interesting reading (it appears to be about growing canabis, but the comments would apply to any plants).  It basically says that you can use urine directly to water plants, but it is best to dilute it by a factor of 10 or 20 to avoid scorching the roots.

I may well try this on the allotment.

And a post of mine from just over a year ago which refers to the fact that vegans who eat plants fertilised with human faeces do not suffer from vitamin B12 deficiency (gut bacteria produce it too far down the gut for us to absorb it when it's in the body).  I'm not sure I'll try that one right now, but maybe someday.

Comments

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

Urine does seem to be a good fertilizer, but the problem is that it also contains whatever medicines we swallow or their breakdown products. So if you're on the pill, then waveney will be ingesting female hormones as well along with the tomatoes.

Medication in urine

[(Anonymous)]

Do the tomatoes absorb the hormones?

Re: Medication in urine

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

I've no idea, I suppose it depends on the complexity of the molecules. I do remember reading about a project where urine was collected separately (in Sweden, I believe) and that there were some concerns about this for exactly that reason. But I read the article just before posting the answer and as you can tell from the date, that's more than a year ago, so the specifics are a bit hazy by now.

Re: Medication in urine

[watervole.livejournal.com]

Read http://www.ramiran.net/doc04/Proceedings%2004/Richert_Stintzing.pdf

It's Swedish, but I don' know if it's the study you had in mind.

They seem to conclude that the risk is low becasue of degradation of hormones in soil and the root barrier reducing the uptake of complex molecules. However, there hasn't been a lot of research done in this area.

Re: Medication in urine

[jthijsen.livejournal.com]

It may be, but I probably read something about it in the New Scientist. And as I said, it's been more than a year and since we don't collect urine separately here, I didn't think it important enough to remember.

roots?

[grizlbr.livejournal.com]

Ions in solution cross the cell membranes NPK. So in the plant where is a transport mechanism for complex molecules? I spray my tomatoes with calcium due to missing in soil not much in the atmosphere will enter through leaves or roots.