General

How Do You Use Urine?

Composting toilets are a great thing. They take what has become a problem in modern systems—human excrement—and make it into something useful: rich compost. Despite simple and effective ways of making composting toilets, humanure does still bring about some controversy with those who are worried about pathogens. Confident composters won’t hesitate to put a well-rotted humanure compost in vegetable gardens, whereas less trusting composters opt for applying it to fruit trees. 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.

With all of that said, urine is a completely different excretion, one that really doesn’t need to set off the same alarm bells. Most basic composting toilets are anti-urine, concerned about the high moisture levels, though some argue this needn’t be the case, that the moisture is actually good for the thunderbox. Nevertheless, the idea remains that urine is something else we should be thinking about. Unlike solid waste, urine applied to gardens doesn’t come with the risk of pathogens; rather, it is just, some would say, pure gold. In fact, it can be used in many different ways for boosting production.

Make Wee for the Garden?

Urine Bucket (Courtesy of SuSanA Secretariat)

Urine is very high in nitrogen, so much so that it should be diluted a minimum ratio of 1:10 with water before being used on plants. The wee of one person is said to be rich enough to fertilize a tenth of an acre of vegetable garden for the year. Once diluted the micturition mixture, or tinkle tincture if you like, should be applied within twenty-four hours of the urine being expelled. Older urine can become a bacterial issue, and a smelly one at that. The mxiture can be sprinkled on the soil, around the plants, or used as a foliar spray. The boost in nitrogen should also liven up the mulch and soil life beneath.

Formulating Fertilizers?

Urine Trials (Courtesy of SuSanA Secretariat)

To get a little more technical, urine is mostly water with trace minerals and vitamins dissolved into it. That accounts for over 90% of what we are peeing. Much of the remaining percentage is perhaps a bit more interesting, as it is an organic compound called urea. Urea is wicked high in nitrogen. Synthetic urea has come to occupy the largest space in chemical fertilizers. Of course, our healthy bodies produce a cleaner, organic version, and it’s of such high quality we have to dilute it in order not to burn our plants.

Another option, one that might have a bit more lasting power than a foliar spray is mixing urine with ashes. Urine is high in nitrogen, as well as potassium and phosphorus (that’s NPK), while ashes fill in missing trace elements, such as calcium and magnesium. This combination actually has a lot of research proving its effectiveness, and it outperforms commercial fertilizers. Seeing as both of these components are readily available on homesteads, it’s only sensible to combine their powers and grow some tomatoes.

Stoking Up the Compost?

Pee Bale (Courtesy of FALTAZI STUDIO)

There are many ways to fire up a slow-burning compost. Aerating (turning the compost), adding volume (a cubic meter is about the minimum), and maintaining moisture levels (like a damp sponge) are all classic ways of doing this. In permaculture, we are fans of adding comfrey leaves or tossing in some road kill. We also know that our nitrogen elements are the fuel that drives the decomposition of carbon materials, and that’s where pee can start to help.

Urine, too, is a great compost stimulator. Obviously, the stiff shot of nitrogen and a bit of moisture both help, and the uric acid (urea) is also very beneficial. Uric acid levels are said to be the highest in the morning, so that’s the best time to rain down on the compost pile. Another popular method for composting with urine is creating a ‘pee bale’, which is used for a while and then added to the compost. This is a pretty clever way of collecting the pee without having to walk out to the compost heap or deal with chamber pots.

Torch the Weeds?

When urine is diluted, it’s aces for helping the garden thrive; however, in its pure form, the stuff is just far too potent for little plants to deal with. This is why a spot that gets peed on repeatedly, as the ground beneath a fire hydrant, will often turn yellow and die. There’s just so much nitrogen and acid that the plants burn out. Knowing this, if there is a particularly problematic spot with weeds, it possible to use 100% urine to try to get rid of the issue. Of course, if done without regard to the weather forecast, a rain could dilute it, and the plan might backfire and encourage the weeds to grow.

Defeat the Fungal Diseases?

Fungal Leafspot (Courtesy of Scot Nelson)

Urine, oddly enough, can be used to help clean things up. For plants that struggle with fungal disease or mildews, a bit of diluted pee (1 part urine to 2 parts water) can make an effective foliar spray. Similarly, legend has it—and this widely disputed—that urine can be and has been used to help with curing human fungal problems, like athlete’s foot.

Fresh urine is known to be a great sterilizer and has been used medicinally for centuries. It has been applied topically to treat rashes, stings, burns, and sores. Fresh urine has been used to sterilize areas, especially on battlefields, because it is far safer than using water. Some doctors have even recommended that patients drink their own urine—moderately, of course—for health purposes. I’ll leave those recommendations to the professionals.

Marking Territory?

Deer in the Garden (Courtesy of bagsgroove)

Some claim that early morning urine from a male is effective for keeping animals out of the garden. Early morning urine is the most pungent, and male urine has specific hormones that help with the repelling. Apparently, deer, rabbits, groundhogs, and skunks all detest the smell of masculine, half-asleep human urine.

There are many options to try out. Urine can be collected in a spray bottle and diluted, and that solution can be applied directly to plants that are being eaten. Stronger urine can be poured around the perimeter of the garden. And, yet another option is to soak something, perhaps a cotton ball or a bit of the old “pee bale”, and put that around the garden. Whichever method one chooses, it’ll be necessary to reapply the urine after a rain or watering.

Whatever we find ourselves doing with our pee, the main point of it all is that we really should use it in some way. Urine is not something to be flushed away like a problem. It’s a solution. Whereas composting toilets might be difficult for folks in densely urban areas, using pee rather than flushing it poses no health risk and is easy to do. It’s actually an amazing commodity for those willing to take advantage of it. Plus, it’s a great excuse to have another beer.

Feature Photo: Urine (Courtesy of Ajay Tallam)

Jonathon Engels

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. He has lived as an expat for over a decade, worked in nearly a dozen countries, and visited dozens of others in the meantime, subjecting the planet to a fiery mix of permaculture, music, and plant-based cooking. More of his work can be found at Jonathon Engels: A Life About.

30 Comments

  1. I’ve used straight urine on corn and bamboo without any adverse effects.
    Mixing urine with ashes will raise the pH and drive the chemistry and biology to produce ammonia, which is volatile. This will increase loss of nitrogen.
    I add a little phosphoric acid to my pee bottles, which lowers pH and inhibits conversion of urea to ammonia, conserving nitrogen.

    1. When I was growing up in rural England it was customary to have a bucket of ashes near the back door for the males to pee in. Once the bucket of ashes was thoroughly soaked it was diluted (considerably) and used on the vegetable patches as fertiliser, Having read above that urine and wood ash make a useful combination I wonder if the wise old gardeners of 80 years ago knew somehow how beneficial it was.

  2. Thanks for writing about the benefits of urine. Last week, my husband and I visited Kailash Ecovillage in Portland, Oregon. They have a “Urination Station”, out in the middle of the garden. It is an outhouse with a urinal and a composting toilet. The urine goes to a 55 gallon drum with a tap on the bottom. Residents can put some in a watering can, dilute it to their needs, and use it on their garden plots. With 60 people living in the Ecovillage, there is always a good supply of urine to be used. I did not find any odor or flies in or near the Urination Station. Here is their website: https://www.kailashecovillage.org/

  3. How do I use my urine? I live remotely on acreage. Unless someone is directly walking past and looking up – my driveway is not able to be seen by passers by. It is compacted soil from the car. I have choosen to extend my garden onto the driveway. However the compaction and lack of nutrient there is a problem. I have taken to peeing directly onto these areas. If the rain does not come every couple of days – I water (dilute) it with regular garden watering. My aim is to…1) Find a good use for the acidic & nutrient packed urine. 2) Use the acidic nature of the urine to break down the alkaline claypan. 3) Deliver nutrients to the soil. I am pleased & proud that social constraints do not affect my ability to make the most of such a valuable resource.

    1. Brilliant. Please spread the information. Also soil that has been manured with human (AND animal, of coursr) excrement helps to take out the bad carbon emissions in the air.

    2. HOW DO I USE MY PEE? I AM 85 AND I DO NOT TAKE ANY MEDICINE. ONLY A FEW VITAMINS EVERY MORNING AFTER BREKFAST. I SAVE MY MORNING PEE AND POUR SOME OVER MY COMPOST PILE AND POUR SOME IN MY 20 BY 4 FEET PLANTER WHERE THERE ARE NO VEGETABLES GROWIN WITHIN 12 INCHES. NOW WILL I BE ABLE TO PLANT SEEDS THIS SPRING WHERE I HAVE POURED THE PEE.? I ALSO DILUTE THE PEE , ONE PART PEE AND TEN PART WATER THAT I POUR AROUND MY VEGETABLES. I JUST DID THIS LAST MONTH. I READ THAT I COULD DO THIS ONCE A MONTH. SHOULD I STOP OR KEEP DOING THIS EVERY MONTH? I AM KINDA NEW AT THIS, BUT LEARN MOSTLY BY WHAT I LEARN FROM THE “YOU TUBE” SIGH…..THANK YOU FOR ANY ADVISE YOU GIVE ME!!!!!!!

  4. I use it, diluted 1:4 with water, to fertilise all my plants, veggies, fruit trees and flowers the same. I pee into a 6 litre bottle and keep it closed until I’m ready to use it. I don’t only use fresh urine, it often is 4 or 5 weeks old before I get round to using that particular bottle – the plants love it just the same as if it were fresh. More info here https://www.goveganic.net/article217.html

  5. I knew about the nitrogen part but didn’t know about the ammonia. Maybe I better watch how often I water the garden.

  6. Question: Are there any issues or concerns in using diluted urine from a person who takes prescription medicines for high blood pressure, or statins for cholesteral?

  7. I keep a #10 can with a plastic lid to seal it (minimize odors) in the garage for collection during the day. 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 haven’t used it on the grass yet).

  8. My urine goes into a biogas digester I built in my back yard. 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

  9. Glad to know I am not the only one doing this. I started 7 years ago when first establishing my garden. One of my neighbours said people traditionally peed on lemon trees. I keep a saucepan in the loo for use at night. Each morning I mix it with water in my watering can and water my fruit trees or the compost pile. I feel a real glow of satisfaction.

  10. I can certainly appreciate this article and feel like this has so much more importance than might have been stated! The use of fresh water to simply flush away urine is a crime in my mind, the amount of pharmaceuticals in the rivers, streams and the coastal regions are causing huge affects on the flora and fauna. 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. personally I have made every effort to avoid water bowls connected to our oceans for the last 25 yrs and quite proud of the amount of water I have not used for that purpose!!!

  11. Pee is great for speeding up the ‘ol compost bin.
    No smell !! and great for plants when fully composted.

  12. I have been saving urine and pouring it on my compost pile. I also sometimes add veggie cooking water, whey from making Kiefer, The liquid that comes from making tofu, and some kombucha that got to sour.
    Today when I poured the urine jog onto my compost, I noticed that it smelled sweeter than usual, and a big healthy mother came sliding out onto the compost pile. I mean a kombucha mother, a SCOBY. That made me wonder about what was going on in my urine jug, and if there might be some advantage to colonizing it with kombucha. It certainly smelled very wholesome. Does anybody have any ideas about this?

  13. Very nice article! I was wondering how I might avoid excessive nitrogen in the compost, and turns out there are plenty of other uses.
    Thanks!!!

  14. I am excited about this opportunity as my compost bin is just not breaking down. I know I need more nitrogen and my hubby is only too happy to oblige. My question is how often do you add urine? Pee 1x daily?

  15. Your information is very interesting and valuable but maddeningly difficult to follow with ads jumping the paragraphs to different places – whilst trying to refind the last piece of text. I would prefer to find this information elsewhere under the circumstances. MOST FRUSTRATING!

    1. Hi Sam,

      I am not seeing the issues that you have raised, so that we can look into this could you please email through a screen shot of the issue you are seeing and let us know what device and browser you are using.

      Thank you

      1. On a mobile phone- ads are different sizes. As they load the page resizes to accommodate. Using iPhone 10 s. This is a constant irritation on many sites, not limited to yours. It makes reading a very frustrating experience. That’s just the trade off for free content driven by ads. This can be avoided by creating a fixed size container on the page and having the ad inside. More work for a dev. Have a great day and thanks for the info!

    2. I’m glad you said something, I had the same issue… page hopping all over the place! Good article once I finally was able to get through it!

  16. Thanks for the article. I have worked doing repairs in local sewer treatment plants and have seen the vast amounts of water needed to be processed. Not to mention the drinking water which gets turned gray. Family members and guests at my home have been asked not to flush for just urine to help address this. This article makes me think further and for that I thank you!

  17. I have increased my composting during this severe California drought.
    I pee in an old Clorox bleach plastic container.
    I also throw used toilet paper into a bag.
    After enough has been gathered I bring both to the compost pile.
    This practice is great for the compost and reduces impact on our overloaded sewer systems.
    I’ve been doing this for years and there is NO odor.
    This morning I used the above to help compost a rat I recently caught in a trap.

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