As mentioned, feces contain pathogens that you dont want in your compost pile. (The Ideal Solution)Continue. Some Weird Human Urine Uses in the Garden 1. Quick Return Organic Compost Activator is a widely used pre-made herbal accelerator. Get the latest permaculture news stories straight in your inbox, The Advanced Permaculture Student Teacher's Guide, The Permaculture Student 2: A Collection of Regenerative Solutions (eBook), https://www.goveganic.net/article217.html, Espalier An Ancient Perennial Edible Art Project, The Australians who pioneered self-sufficiency, generations beforeNimbin, Agroforestry 101: Everything You Need to Know, The Environmental Benefits Of Donating Your Things. I know I was ready to spend a good chunk of change when I first got started in an effort to expedite things and ended up buying two different tumblers, an aerator, and several compost accelerators. This solution can be used on plants and lawns or to improve the nitrogen content in poor soil. In England, the National Trust for Nature provides a plant "pee bale" in strategic locations in . Your goal in this process is for your liquid mixture to grow yeast and adapt the wanted bacteria. It makes reading a very frustrating experience. Wait the requisite 24 to 48 hours and if the pile hasnt gotten hot, toss in another cup. Making quality compost takes a long time (see just how long it will take you) and it will probably take you several weeks before you notice any significant changes. Feature Photo: Urine (Courtesy of Ajay Tallam). The important thing about either type of composter, however, is that we start making the most of cycling the waste rather than contaminating our water sources. Residents can put some in a watering can, dilute it to their needs, and use it on their garden plots. This liquid nitrogen is the fastest method to ignite a slow compost pile. More work for a dev. Im glad you said something, I had the same issue page hopping all over the place! 2) Use the acidic nature of the urine to break down the alkaline claypan. Use simple things to kick-start the composting process and get your tumbler back to peak performance. Trees, shrubs and lawn should cope well without dilution, but it?? Your email address will not be published. As they load the page resizes to accommodate. You can use kitchen waste, grass cuttings, leaves, shredded newspaper and even coffee grounds. This high plant diet makes their manure and urine good for composting. This philosophy also spills over into lifestyle through a return to our ancestral roots by becoming more self-reliant, wasting nothing, and living simply. Urine can be regarded as a green layer in your composting process since it is high in moisture, nitrogen, and uric acid. 3 Benefits Of Urine For Your Compost Pile 1. Keeping your compost pile the right level of moist is really important. Suppose you rake up the fallen leaves in your garden. The addition of nitrogen drives the decomposition of the brown or carbon elements in the compost pile. Is urine 'green' or 'brown' compost ingredient? Avoid harmful chemicals and choose natural products like Jobes Organics compost starter or bokashi bran to keep your finished compost natural and chemical-free. I pee in an old Clorox bleach plastic container. The mxiture can be sprinkled on the soil, around the plants, or used as a foliar spray. We also know that our nitrogen elements are the fuel that drives the decomposition of carbon materials, and thats where pee can start to help. Urine, oddly enough, can be used to help clean things up. Whatever we find ourselves doing with our pee, the main point of it all is that we really should use it in some way. On the other hand, scientific inquiries into incorporating coffee grounds into garden soil as a fertilizer, or mulch, or in the compost have had mixed results. I am excited about this opportunity as my compost bin is just not breaking down. It may be better to add more brown materials in this instance such as twigs or sawdust. The high nitrogen content boosts the action of the decomposition by microbes. Its a solution. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. . When worked into the soil, blood meal gives off an odor that is practically undetectable to us but is very useful for deterring rabbits and other critters from munching on your crops. If you are already confident that you have the basics of your composting method correct and think that its a bit too much effort to brew up a homemade starter, there are a few other things you can do if you want faster results. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. When I make cookies, I dont really care why I need to add baking soda. So can you compost dairy products? I READ THAT I COULD DO THIS ONCE A MONTH. . (Amazon). My question is how often do you add urine? As long as you are not on any medications, it is perfectly okay to urinate on your compost. If you are new to composting, it might take a while to know exactly what you are looking for but with some practice and experience it will come! Urine Helps Fight Fungus In Your Garden Plants can develop fungal diseases such as leaf rot and downy mildew. I keep a #10 can with a plastic lid to seal it (minimize odors) in the garage for collection during the day. Many everyday items are ideal to use as a compost accelerator as a way to make compost faster so you can put it out in the garden. to speed up the composting process. These nutrients are released into the soil slowly, making alfalfa gentle enough to be used on the youngest seedlings and sprouts. Alfalfa meal can be used proactively to heat a pile by sprinkling it between brown and green layers. There are many options to try out. Urine is classed as a green composting material due to its high level of nitrogen, as opposed to a brown composting material (such as twigs and leaves) which add carbon into the mixture. To fire up a slow pile, add and handful or two before giving the heap a turn. Keep your pile or the contents of your bin or tumbler at no less than three cubic feet to ensure it generates enough heat to function and is damp, not wet. Composting is a fantastic way to reuse and recycle organic waste like kitchen scraps, grass clipping material, and dry leaves. Urine makes a fantastic compost accelerator. However, pee is a waste product and a method our bodies use to eliminate excess salts and other wastes, including heavy metals. This will increase loss of nitrogen. The best time let it rain down on your pile is in the morning when urea levels will be at their highest concentration. It then gets added to a watering can and diluted about 10:1 for fertilizing veggies, fruit trees, addition to the compost pile, or whatever else needs fertilizing (although I havent used it on the grass yet). Urine compost accelerator is one of the most popular. And as a compost enthusiast, this may have given you a bright idea! That accounts for over 90% of what we are peeing. However, the amount of urine should be regulated depending on the plant. Unfortunately, this is more of a wives tale than anything and doesnt stand up to scrutiny. Peeing on your compost is good for both the compost you are creating, and the environment itself. Kitchen waste is high in nitrogen so is a green material for compost. A small amount of an all-purpose garden fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, can also be added to supply nitrogen to the microbes. Birds love alfalfa too. Ive been doing this for years and there is NO odor. At the end of the day, making your own homemade compost starter is a method that takes minimal effort and possibly will help out your compost. Ultimately it may depend on how private your heap is or how bold you are as a person. This is, generally, the basis for compost activators/accelerators. These are in powder form, and are dropped into the bottle twenty-four hours before use. While humans will urinate several times a day, it is not necessary to add it all to the compost heap too much is not always a good thing. More than 30% of our garbage is compostable food leftovers and yard debris. I like their transparency and that they use a 100% bio-organic mix. ANSWER: Yes, as funny as it may sound, human urine is rich in nitrogen and should actually be added to compost regularly instead of flushing down the toilet, which is also a waste of water resources. A simple and rapidsoil testing kit like this oneis all you need. Nitrogen is a key component is the proteins that your compost-friendly bacteria need to build their structures. However, if your compost already has . Make your own compost activator to keep your pile working effectively and foster the perfect conditions to make high-quality, organic fertilizer for your houseplants and garden. Good compost needs the right mix of nitrogen-rich and carbon-rich ingredients. Urine is rich in nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus, the chemical makeup of any commercial NPK fertilizer. Although feathers are fibrous, insoluble, and resistant to degradation outside of the compost, inside the heap they will be exposed to keratin-decomposing microorganisms that will break them down completely. After enough has been gathered I bring both to the compost pile. Here we will look at the reasons why urine (from humans or pets) make a great compost accelerator and some of the logistics. Required fields are marked *, The financially unfortunate combination of travel enthusiast, freelance writer, and vegan gardener, Jonathon Engels whittled and whistled himself into a life that gives him cause to continually scribble about it. I read that 75% of anything we ingest in the way of meds is flushed out via urine and thus people should be made aware that we are are putting into our system will be coming out too so keep that in mind while using urine or allowing unknown public folks to add to your mix. The optimal time to collect urine for your pile is in the morning when urea concentrations are at their maximum. Can you recycle urine and add benefits to your composting process? I add a little phosphoric acid to my pee bottles, which lowers pH and inhibits conversion of urea to ammonia, conserving nitrogen. I was wondering how I might avoid excessive nitrogen in the compost, and turns out there are plenty of other uses. Fresh urine is high in nitrogen, moderate in phosphorus and low in potassium and can act as an excellent high-nitrogen liquid fertilizer or as a compost accelerator. In that case, they will undoubtedly have dog urine on them if they have fallen in the spot where your dog typically urinates. I have taken to peeing directly onto these areas. He has gone on to work as a professional gardener in historic gardens across the UK and also specialise as a kitchen gardener growing vegetables, fruit, herbs, and cut flowers. Also soil that has been manured with human (AND animal, of coursr) excrement helps to take out the bad carbon emissions in the air. Synthetic urea has come to occupy the largest space in chemical fertilizers. One other unexpected, and highly beneficial ingredient, you can add to a homemade compost pile is human urine. When mixed with animal manure into a slurry it makes high quality cooking gas and the liquid outflow diluted with about 4parts water goes on to my suburban permaculture jungle. An excellent natural fertilizer and compost activator, the urine of all animals contributes significantly to the nitrogen cycle on Earth. Most basic composting toilets are anti-urine, concerned about the high moisture levels, though some argue this neednt be the case, that the moisture is actually good for the thunderbox. Too much urine can harm the composting process and produce an inferior final compost product. Compost activators, also known as compost accelerators, help to speed up the decomposition process. The more people that do this, the better. Its typically used in the garden as an early season fertilizer that promotes explosive leafy growth. I pee into a 6 litre bottle and keep it closed until Im ready to use it. The straw will soak up the urine and the associated nutrients and can be added to your compost pile. Obviously, the stiff shot of nitrogen and a bit of moisture both help, and the uric acid (urea) is also very beneficial. Needing a compost catalyst to make things break down is usually an indicator that there is something more seriously wrong with your pile. Leave your bucket in a warm/sunny place for 24-48 hours. Automatic kitchen composting with Lomi If you want to speed up your composting process, composting with Lomi is a great option. Turn your compost frequently with a garden fork to speed up the activity of the microbes. Urine; Spent Coffee Grounds; grass clippings can be used as a compost . Easy. Composting toilets are a great thing. Good luck collecting the urine though. While well talk about whether or not you need a compost catalyst later in this article (after the recipe), let me go on record here and say that there is no reason that you should ever need to buy a commercial compost starter. They have a Urination Station, out in the middle of the garden. Thanks for the article. Others prefer a more exacting method of tossing 2 to 3 buckets of carbon for each bucket of nitrogen. Urine, in combination with compost, can help you in growing heavy feeder vegetables like cucumber, pepper, cabbage, and tomatoes, organically. What is ash? When the season is over, alfalfa plants can be pulled, chopped up, and added back to the soil as a green manure. Designing A Permaculture Backyard: How To Deal With Waste, The Lies That Keep You Trapped in Not Enough Time, Street Trees and Plants of Rome Italy 2022, The Rebellion Hypothesis: Extinction Rebellion and Civil Disobedience, Ecovillage Future: And How Access to Land is a Barrier, Post-Capitalism by Design not Disaster: A Grassroots Theory of Change, Life in Degrowth Economy: Envisioning a Prosperous Descent, Morocco Observations, Past, Present and Future Part I. This can be avoided by creating a fixed size container on the page and having the ad inside. Urea is widely used as a fertilizer in agriculture. Bird feathers are made up of approximately 90% keratin proteins and have nitrogen content between 12% and 15%. This is because the high nitrogen content in urine balances perfectly with the high carbon content of paper and card. And because Im an avid composter, I often look at things around me differently. 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