Naked Science Forum
General Science => General Science => Topic started by: neilep on 12/08/2007 01:15:26
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Dearest Urological Urine Ubers,
Not too sure if this belongs in chemistry, biology, or environmental so mods please move where ewe think it should be.
Notwithstanding the 'gross' factor....would I be doing any harm to the plants by wee weeing in my plant pots ?..or just the garden anyway ! ...if it's good enuff for some people to drink..then it should be good for my Flora Friends yes ?
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Urine is quite a good fertiliser but there is a chance that it is a bit strong for most plants so it is best diluted before putting onto plants directly. Where it will do most good however is on a compost heap where it will help the plant material decay more quickly. So you should pee on your compost heap and dilute it for your plants.
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Some years back, a friend and I had a competition to grow the tallest sunflower. Him being a heavy drinker, "Watered" his with his urine after his nightly visits to the local pub.
I used plain old tap water.
His outgrew mine by quite a lot, does this mean anything? Possibly not.
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Urine is quite a good fertiliser but there is a chance that it is a bit strong for most plants so it is best diluted before putting onto plants directly. Where it will do most good however is on a compost heap where it will help the plant material decay more quickly. So you should pee on your compost heap and dilute it for your plants.
This is wonderful. Thank you Ian.
I don't have a compost heap but next door does...I'll just jump the fence and pee on theirs from now on..I am sure they will be grateful.
Seriously though, that's very informative..THANK YOU.
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Some years back, a friend and I had a competition to grow the tallest sunflower. Him being a heavy drinker, "Watered" his with his urine after his nightly visits to the local pub.
I used plain old tap water.
His outgrew mine by quite a lot, does this mean anything? Possibly not.
I think it does mean something Paul..I think it proves the pint(point) perfectly !!
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When I was in Idaho staying with my sister one summer, My only flying experience, My sisters neighbors were this great Laotian family. They had a garden that plumeted every where. so lush and green. a vegetable garden that would put any one I have ever seen to shame. They always added this way to the compost pile. Their garden always thrived. Other neighbors hated it and there were rumors that it was not only Urine but feces also. I assume it was true as the health department came and said they had to stop. Said it was unsafe. They did however carry on with the urine even with all the health department regulations. They were told they could not sell the vegetable or share them with the public!
I often wondered if it really was something they were doing. We new about the urine but not feces!
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Urine makes an excellent fertiliser because it contains a lot of "fixed" nitrogen - in other words nitrogen that is in a chemically available form, such as urea. Although 80% of the atmosphere is nitrogen, this is in the form of di-nitrogen gas (N2), which is very unreactive and hence difficult to turn into chemical compounds.
As a result, the rate at which plants can obtain nitrogen is often the limiting factor that governs their growth, because it is a critical component of the genetic bases (DNA letters - A,C,T,G) that make up the genetic code, and in the amino acids that are used to build proteins.
With a few exceptions plants cannot themselves fix nitrogen from the air. Instead they are forced largely to rely on soil-dwelling microbes (called nitrogen fixing bacteria) which possess the necessary metabolic know-how.
These bacteria can be either free-living in the soil, or establish a specialised symbiotic relationship with the plants which takes the form of "root nodules". The bacteria stimulate the plant to produce a bulge in the root which gives the bacteria a home and feeds them sugars. In return, the bacteria use an enzyme called nitrogenase to convert nitrogen gas into ammonia:
N2 + 8H+ + 8e- + 16 ATP → 2NH3 + H2 + 16ADP + 16 Pi
(ATP = adenosine triphosphate, an energy source, Pi = inorganic phosphate)
But since the nitrogen supply can limit the growth of plants, if you supply alternative bio-available forms of nitrogen, like urea or nitrates (as in fertilisers), some of the restriction is lifted and the plants will grow more.
There is a caveat where urine is concerned, however. It can be very salty and if added undiluted to the ground over an extended period it could cause salt overloaded and poison the plants!
We have chatted about this biochemistry before in a therad about fish causing ponds to go green:
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=6347.msg65634#msg65634
Chris
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So, the first wee of the day needs to be treated with caution then !
Fascinating !
the reason I asked is because I recall my cat used to regularly ' spray ' on one particular patch of grass and it flourished!!
Thank You Chris