And that’s an enormous volume of grounds which are used and then tossed in the trash. Studies in countries such as India have shown that using cow urine as fertilizer can greatly improve soil quality in a cost-effective and natural manner. I fertilize with diluted urine and leachate from my bokashi compost. In fact it’s estimated that the average family of four people produces enough urine on a yearly basis to equal roughly the equivalent of a one hundred and ten pound bag of store-bought fertilizer. By using your coffee grounds in the... It’s estimated that over two billion cups of coffee are consumed around the world each and every day. © 2020 Scientific American, a Division of Springer Nature America, Inc. Support our award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. But are you accidentally causing it harm? Here’s what you’ll need to know when thinking about using it. Here’s everything you’ll want to know about using coffee grounds for... Are coffee grounds good for grass? Not only is it a great plant food. A positive result on this test with no RBCs present may indicate the presence of hemoglobin in the urine (which can occur when RBCs have broken apart) or myoglobin from muscle injury. Gardening has a variety of benefits for your mental, physical and spiritual health. Future local ... management, to the use of urine as liquid fertilizer including detailed application recommendations and alternative urine use options. For the recent experiment with beets, the urine was obtained from specialized toilets in private homes. Those grounds can actually be used to feed and increase the health of your lawn. Your pee makes an excellent garden fertilizer. You can also, of course, just pee on the compost pile. You bet you can! Human urine is a good organic fertilizer for the crop/ plant growth and contributes positively to the better crop yields. A lot of people wonder what I use as fertilizer, how much and how often. In fact it contains three of the most vital of all: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. And you can use this simple solution to keep your plants safe from those slimy plant-eating pests. Urine is chock full of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, which are the nutrients plants need to thrive—and the main ingredients in common mineral fertilizers. Your urine contains salt and that can suck up moisture from plants. In spring 2019, the urine of the schoolchildren – after sceptization through storing – was used as a fertilizer on a maize field of the local medical doctor. Basically what that means is that you need to add about 8 times more water than what’s already in your urea before you use it in your garden. Green sand, kelp meal, granite meal and wood ash are all good sources of potassium. But urine recycling may never become a part of large-scale farming in industrialized countries, because implementing it would mean drastically remodeling sewage systems in order to collect and transport liquid waste. The mixing solution may depend on the type of soil and the crop variety. While bananas offer us some extremely important nutritional benefits that help us to stay healthy, their peels can be used to add to the health of your compost pile as well. Wondering how tending to plants can help you tend to your health? Trees look beautiful and majestic through the changing seasons, but at times, they are unable to achieve their optimum potential because of both internal and external factors that compromise their growth. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. Though Jönsson is skeptical that micturition farming will ever happen on a large scale, his own family does practice urine fertilization: He and his wife use what they collect from their separating toilet to nourish their garden at home in Sweden. Urine has been utilized as a crop fertilizer for thousands of years, but has been getting a closer look in recent years as a way to create a circular nutrient economy. But before you get started you’ll need to... A healthy vegetable garden can provide you with hours of stress-busting, mental health-boosting fun and give you and your family healthy, organic produce to eat for months. By adding urine compost gets a huge boost when first starting out. These results suggest that the presence of a photocatalyst promoted the ammonium ion formation. So here are the critters you can expect to keep out of... Slugs can be a big problem, yet most people don’t realize that the waste produced from their morning cup of coffee can be used help to protect their plants from these slimy pests. Experts Say It’s Possible With These Tips! To supplement your "liquid nitrogen", you need a good source of potassium. It allows you to recycle organic material which can then be used to help to enhance your soil. It was also uncovered that urine fertilized plants produced more biomass and exhibited faster growth rates compared to plants receiving a chemical-based fertilizer. The beetroots from the urine- and urine/ash–fertilized plants were found to be 10 percent and 27 percent larger by mass, respectively, than those grown in mineral fertilizer. Using egg shells in compost is not just a great way to help reduce waste but also boosts the nutrient content of the soil you are... Once you learn how you can use egg shells in the garden you won’t just think about eggs solely as food. Using coffee grounds for roses is a fabulous way to improve the health of your plants, helping them to produce those gorgeous flowers you’ve been dreaming of. Here are... Compost is an excellent soil conditioner and natural fertilizer. So here’s your fast guide to composting this When composting, you’ll need to include a mix of both carbon... Composting is all about re-using organic materials. Installing an artificial lawn is an easy and attractive way to improve and revamp your garden. Heinonen-Tanski's group planted four plots of beets and treated one with mineral fertilizer, one with urine and wood ash, one solely with urine, and one with no fertilizer, as a control. With an average of 33 inches of rain per year, this is especially true in the U.K. where it is rare for a day to pass that it is not raining somewhere. However, on the down side, urine is so rich in salts (especially sodium) that the standard recommendation is to dilute it in 10 to 15 parts of water. Since founding the Institute, we have heard countless stories from people using urine in home gardens, often with spectacular results. But before you get there, there’s a lot of work to be done to get the garden ready. That’s why the prospect of relocating or moving houses can induce anxiety in gardeners. It stands to reason then that it should be one of your highest priorities when it comes to maintaining your yard. The results indicated that the urine and fruits were free of harmful bacteria (largely due to high pH). “There’s nothing wrong with … And despite the gross-out potential, urine is practically sterile when it leaves the body, Heinonen-Tanski pointed out. In other words that pee just needs to be watered down first so that it’s not so concentrated. And of course it’s an environmentally friendly way to reduce trash. They need to receive the right amount of hydration to grow and thrive properly. The results were published in the February 10 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. When using urine as fertilizer dilution is the key. Human urine provides an excellent source of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and trace elements for plants, and can be delivered in a form that’s perfect for assimilation. The researchers also tested urine as fertilizer on cucumbers, cabbage, and tomatoes and also saw positive results. This article is provided by Scienceline, a project of New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. But there are few things you’ll need to know before getting started. They nourished the root vegetables with a combination of urine and wood ash, which they found worked as well as traditional mineral fertilizer. So go forth and pee (and dilute!). “Urine Separation — Closing the Nutrient Cycle,” the exhaustive Swedish study of using urine as a fertilizer, compares the pros and cons of using solid human waste and liquid human waste to help grow crops. I will write more about this subject shortly… While gardening isn’t necessarily the most dangerous pastime one can think of, injuries do occur. Results indicate that in general attitudes were much more positive towards the use of nitrified urine fertilizer than raw urine as a soil amendment. Full of nitrogen, phosphorus, and other nutrients. Spring garden prep can be intimidating, especially if your... Composting has many excellent benefits. Spinach is an amazing leafy vegetable that is loaded with nutrients and many health benefits. Effective fertilization is not the only benefit of recycling urine, Heinonen-Tanski suggested in a review paper in the January 2010 issue of Sustainability. That is a significant... With the winter months slowly coming towards an end and spring on the horizon it is time to start considering whether or not your garden could benefit from a facelift. Recent data suggests that in the US alone, over 300,000 gardening injuries occur annually. In fact it contains three of the most vital of all: nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. This detail is a roadblock, Jönsson says, because many people don't want a toilet that looks strange. Luckily the grounds from your morning cup of coffee can help you to achieve those gorgeous blue blooms. Many are keen to get back into the garden once the colder weather has... A lush lawn increases your home’s curb appeal as well as its value. So which plants like coffee grounds? The different treatment showed varying results to the degree of the amount of fertilizer added. Looking for a fun hobby to help your relax? that plants need, but almost no heavy metals. There have actually been multiple studies which have shown that when used in the soil to grow a variety of plants and vegetables human urine can produce added growth. However, there is one that is often overlooked. The average person’s urine has an N-P-K ratio of about 11-1-2.5. Wood ash, of course, contains every micronutrient except S. Most vegetables have requirements in the proportion 2/1/2 to 4/1/4, so a reasonably balanced mix is one liter of urine with about 70 gr of ash (about 2.5 ounces). Farmers can also establish business through public urine harvesting toilets that can be a good addition to their income, said Phiri, Director of the company who makes Bionitrate fertilizer. How much you dilute your urine can depend on the type of plants you are using your urine fertilizer for and their needs. Unlike feces, which can carry bacteria like salmonella and E. coli, urine poses no health risks—astronauts on the International Space Station even drink the stuff—after it's purified. And it turns your morning cup of coffee can contribute to their diet. "It's enough for the vegetables and the flowers," he said, "but I can only fertilize very lightly on the lawn. However it can take quite a while for it to break down into a form that you can use. Digging up a shallow trough, adding the solution, and then covering it back up is another option. It would also mean swapping regular flush toilets for separating toilets, where a divided bowl and independent set of pipes separate urine from everything else. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, How To Use Coffee Grounds For Garden Pests, 5 Eco-Unfriendly Things You Do That Kill Your Garden, 7 Reasons You Need to Start Gardening Now, 6 Common Types Of Soil Deficiency And How To Solve Them, The Best Places To Find Free Composting Materials, 4 Steps to Get Your Garden Ready for Spring, How To Build A Vegetable Garden That Is Both Tasty And Attractive, Common Gardening Injuries And How to Avoid Them, Just Moved? Fertilize with Urine. While we can’t eat them, using orange peels in the garden has many surprising advantages. Another benefit is that you don’t need to dilute your urine before you add it. Urine is 95 per cent water, 2.5 per cent of which is urea, and a further 2.5 per cent of which is a mixture of minerals, salts, hormones and enzymes. "Acceptance is a big problem for this kind of system," he adds. The mulch helps to protect the roots from the high nitrogen content of the urine, and the urine provides nitrogen needed to slowly compost the mulch right in my garden. Water-Wise Landscaping: Avoid Cultivating These Types Of Plants, Starting A Vegetable Garden: Motivational Tips For Beginners, How to Grow Spinach in Your Vegetable Garden, Situations That Require A Professional Tree Service, Turf-less Landscaping – Pros Introduce Xeriscaping, 8 Reasons to Make the Switch to Artificial Grass in Your Yard. (Of course results may depend on a variety of factors). And of course the end result is soil that is very nutrient rich so you may not need to fertilize later on. There's no way around it: If you want a lush lawn, you have to work for it. Whether you plant ornamentals, or if you grow your own vegetables, having to start... Those traditional window boxes overflowing with flowers may remind you of summer cottages or childhood dreams. Farmers at Fair Wind Farm in Brattleboro, Vermont, also used urine collected by the Rich Earth Institute as fertilizer on their hay fields. By using urine instead of chemical fertilizers you’re also doing a service to the environment and potentially protecting your health from any unwanted and unknown side effects of those chemicals. You shouldn’t get too excited and give your lawn or vegetable garden a soaking of pee right away. Although there are a few things you should know when doing so. While we all love our pets, sometimes what they leave behind can be a real mess. In fact you can use your morning coffee as non-lethal weapon against them. Instead of contributing extra waste to landfills you can help the environment and your garden by placing used tea bags in the... Any budding gardener out there wants to do the best for their garden and their plants. Urine is composed of 95% water with about 0.6% nitrogen, 0.1% phosphorus, 0.2 % potassium, magnesium and many essential minerals for plants ( from : L’Urine, de l’or liquide au jardin, Renaud De Looze).. Those average NPK urine % were also confirmed by independant tests at the University of Vermont ( … Dog poop not only stinks but can quickly turn your gorgeous garden or lawn into a mine field of epic proportions. You can use human urine as fertilizer for plants because it has some very important nutrients that they need. Does copper tape stop slugs? How To Safely Transport Your Plants Into Your New Garden, Filling Those Window Boxes: Flower Species That Thrive With Container Gardening, Why You’ll Want To Revamp Your Garden with Artificial Grass, The Best Grass Types For Creating A Drought Tolerant Lawn, Garden Drainage: How to Avoid a Waterlogged Garden & Patio. In fact in many instances there was even more growth than when chemical fertilizers were applied. Urine Fertilizer Results lawn Care/Services: Liquid weed control organic granular fertilizer/weed control (They’re a grass – they like lots of nitrogen.) While using coffee grounds in the garden offers quite a few benefits, they can be slightly acid and therefore not appropriate for all plants. There are many locations around the world that unfortunately for your lawn don’t get much rain throughout the year. The nutrients in urine are also in just the right form for plants to drink them up, says Håkan Jönsson, a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Uppsala who was not involved in the beet study but has researched urine recycling for over 15 years. "It is totally possible to use human urine as a fertilizer instead of industrial fertilizer," says Heinonen-Tanski, whose research group has also used urine to cultivate cucumbers, cabbage and tomatoes. The urea in urine is already diluted by about 95%, but it needs to be diluted by about 900% total to be safe for use as a natural fertilizer. I don't really have a particular fertilizing schedule. Traditional landscaping requires the use of a massive amount of resources, especially water. Many locations around the world get a lot of rain. By adding urine compost can be given a huge boost and that is... Can you put banana peels in compost? Subscribers get more award-winning coverage of advances in science & technology. This something many gardeners wonder, especially since feeding roses coffee grounds has been a practice that’s been around a very long time. We’ve tried it in our demonstration farm, and it worked well. Instead, I just do it wherever there's a need. If you’ve ever wondered can you compost orange peels, the answer is yes. Your morning cup of coffee can help you to not only start your day off right, but in the garden as well. Recent scientific studies have shown urine is a safe and very effective fertilizer for cabbage, beets, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and pretty much anything else you want to grow. The urine that one person produces can fertilize about one square meter of soil a day, Jönsson said—but there's been less to go around since his three children left home. Urine has been utilized as a crop fertilizer for thousands of years, but has been getting a closer look in recent years as a way to create a circular nutrient economy. And like the majority of us you probably have been flushing away one of the most natural ways of all to condition your compost. Unless someone told you, you'd never know the beets were fertilized with human urine. And you may have wondered after finishing your morning shake or afternoon snack whether those peels you’ve been throwing away for years could be used for other things. The beets Surendra Pradhan and Helvi Heinonen-Tanski grew were perfectly lovely: round and hefty; with their skin a rich burgundy; their flavor sweet and faintly earthy, like the dirt from which they came. With a constant, year-round and free supply of this resource available, more and more farmers and gardeners are making use of it. Here’s what you’ll need to know about... Worms are an extremely helpful component of any compost bin or pile, not to mention worm farms. Aeration As worms travel from place to place in the soil below your lawn, they create a... You don’t have to kill those annoying garden snails in order to keep them from eating your plants. You can pour it in or simply pee right on your pile. Just be sure to keep them in mind for added growth and don’t forget to dilute your before you give your plants a golden shower. And here some of the best! Instead you can put them to work helping increase the beauty of your lawn. The Big Three. You bet they are, and here’s why! "Agricultural and health organizations should encourage people to use human urine as a fertilizer," Heinonen-Tanski concluded in the paper, especially in areas where wastewater treatment is unavailable or ineffective. You may want to dilute it as little as 1:1 so equal parts urine and water. The answer is yes, so you may want to think twice before throwing away your used grounds after your morning cup of coffee. While many people love their hydrangeas, they often would love them even more if they were blue. Pradhan and Heinonen-Tanski, environmental scientists at the University of Kuopio in Finland, grew the beets as an experiment in sustainable fertilization. Researchers say our liquid waste not only promotes plant growth as well as industrial mineral fertilizers, but also would save energy used on sewage treatment. From The Washington Post: “Urine is “a good natural nitrogen-containing substance and probably could be easily utilized” as a fertilizer, said Dr. Philip Tierno, director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Medical Center, New York City. A study out of Finland has found that plants fertilized with urine performed four times as well as nonfertilized plants and just as well as plants given commercial mineral fertilizer. By subjecting some of the beets to chemical analysis, the researchers determined that all of them had comparable nutrient contents—and according to a blind taste-testing panel, their beety taste was indistinguishable. ORIAZ Solar-Dripper on French TV FR3. Many people don’t realize that human urine is sterile so you won’t have to worry about any bacteria or pathogens when using it in the garden. Though they may not realize it, they are continuing an ancient practice, as there is a long history of recycling of human urine as fertilizer. The team plans to perform more experiments with actual urine samples. They believe this will work because the artificial urine and real urine have the same primary and secondary elements needed for plant nutrition. And even if you are hiring experts in lawn care, you will still need to shoulder some of the... Water is one of the primary needs of all plants. There are actually many great uses for used tea bags in the garden. You want to place your diluted solution directly into the soil surrounding your plants. Yet, keeping up with lawn care and maintenance quickly adds up to a major expense involving both money and time. After 84 days, about 280 beets were harvested. Explore our digital archive back to 1845, including articles by more than 150 Nobel Prize winners. If you have a compost pile or bin you may want to consider using your pee there too or as an alternative. You can ensure your plants get the hydration they need by watering them regularly using a garden hose or watering... Back in the day our ancestors did not have to go very far to buy vegetables, they just had to step out in their garden and pick up free, fresh veggies. Although urine has a good amount of nitrogen, applying urine as fertilizer is not enough, as it is lacking in both macro and trace minerals. Repel Slimy Garden Invaders Without Harm Despite being relatively small and very slow moving,... For many of us, there’s nothing we’d rather do than relax with a cup of coffee near the flower garden. That is right folks. The Rich Earth Summit 2020 organic granular fertilizer/weed control ( They’re a grass – they like lots nitrogen! 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The supermarket, fresh, homegrown spinach, however, there is one that often! Spinach is an easy and attractive way to improve and revamp your garden including articles by more 150. Don’T get much rain throughout the year save your hard-earned cash instead of purchasing fertilizer from the supermarket,,! Available cow urine has an urine fertilizer results ratio attitudes were much more common ratio would be 1:10. Urine before you add it phosphorus, and it turns your morning cup of urine and water that the. Encounter coffee grounds has been used successfully as a fertilizer as well, meal... Bottle or jug is usually the most vital of all to condition your compost, the answer is,!