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Urine for fertilization and phosphorus
I’ve heard of using urine as fertilizer. Can you explain?
Urine is actually a good fertilizer source for your plants. Think of it as our body’s own miracle grow. Urine contains adequate levels of nitrogen (12%), phosphorus (1-2%), and potassium (2.5-5%) for plant growth. Each person contains enough fertility to fertilize their own share of garden plants, as well as trees and shrubs. It’s really important to NEVER DIRECT APPLY URINE TO PLANTS. I like to use diluted, aged urine at about 1 part urine to 8 parts water. Once mixed, apply it to the ground around where the roots are growing - out from the base of the plant. For perennial or woody trees/shrubs, don’t start fertilizing until the plant is about one year old. Until then use an organic fertilizer. Waiting until the plant is established in this way reduces the risk of any burning.Instructions:
- Start with a 5-gallon bucket with a lid. Fill about 1/3rd full of water and then pee in it until 2/3rd’s full. That’ll give you a 1 to 1 ratio of water and urine.
- Add a pinch or two of good garden soil and that will innoculate a bunch of fungi and bacteria that will modify the urine and add some beneficial bacteria to help break it down.
- Put a lid on it and let it age for 1-2 weeks.
- At this point it’s time to dilute more. I put about a quart of the urine mix into a 2-gallon watering can and fill the rest with water. This turns out to be about 8 parts water to 1 part urine.
- If you’re fertilizing a larger area, you can use a bucket system instead of a watering can.
- Ideally you’ve spread the urine/water mix during a rainy period. If not, water it in enough to get it down into the soil a bit deeper which will also help disperse the strong aroma.
- Another tip for dealing with the smell is to distribute late in the day so the smell can dissipate overnight.
Additional tips:
- After fertilization, keep the plant well watered.
- Use 1 quart to ½ gallon of the diluted amount of a shrub and 1/2 to 1 gallon on a tree, depending on size.
- The time to start with fertilization is after the plants break dormancy. Start about the time they’re getting leaves and/or buds in March/April. Do every month or six weeks until July 4th.
In general, you can use urine to water veggies, the lawn, or flowerbeds. Urine will activate a dormant compost pile better than anything else due to the high nitrogen content. Additionally, if you’ve got a lot of woodchips or sawdust, you can apply urine full strength right to a pile to age it quickly.
As a beginner, enjoy experimenting but err on the side of caution while you’re learning.
For a great website resource based on the book Liquid Gold, click here.
I need to apply a phosphorus product, based on my soil test. What’s the difference between bone meal and rock phosphate and which do you recommend?
Both of them are good phosphorus sources as neither will burn your plants. In short, bone meal is ground up animal bones and rock phosphate or collodial phosphate is a mined mineral. Interestingly, world phosphate supplies will be the most limiting factor in growing plants and feeding people into the future as it is a limited resource, found only in a few places worldwide.
Phosphorous is extremely important for stimulating root growth and increasing hardiness and disease or stress resistance. For fruiting plants it helps stimulate flower bud production which translates to more fruit. If it’s missing, you might have an apple tree that never blooms.
In our area (the Western NC mountains) soils are often deficient in phosphorus as it is mostly leached from our soils.
Phosphorous is relatively slow to release and easily tied up in the soil. A good application should last 5-7 years and ideally you will build up a phosphorus reserve in your soil. The more acidic your soils, the more the phosphate is going to be available.
If you surface apply it, it will only move ¼ inch per year ithrough the soil so you want to be sure to mix a generous amount into the planting hole - a cup to a quart depending on the size plant.
For an already established plant, if you’re trying to raise the phosphate levels because it’s not flowering or growing well, you can go around with crow bar and make a ring of holes around the drip zone (outer edge of the vegetative growth) about 12” deep. Add half phosphate and half compost into the holes.
Don’t ever use bone meal, colloidal phosphate or any other calcium-containing fertilizer, including egg shells, on blueberries as it is too alkalizing and will cause iron chlorosis. And as always, make sure to get a soil sample before applying fertilizer so you know what to apply.
From the UPN April 2010 newsletter.
111 Another Way, Black Mountain, NC 28711
(828) 669-6517