composting and urine

[urbanpermasuccess]

Does anyone know how beneficial urine is for compost making. It seems to be a really efficient way of applying nitrogen, but I have heard that there could be some issues relating to build up of salts that are readily found in urine. Considering we are all trying to decrease our toilet flushing then this issue needs addressing.

[adrian]

unsure about salts but i've always enjoyed urinating on compost piles once the trees are all well fed to add some extra N & speed them up a little. haven't seen anything negative come from it.

many say it's better to dilute it in water first (which my partner does) but i don't like pissing in buckets much myself.

[Nibbler]

I've been reading a bit about this lately, and it all seems positive. I don't have any personal experience to share with you, but check out the following:

"A Personal Experiment - Urine Activated Compost :
The writer has used urine for the past fourteen years as an effective composting additive. At no time have there been any vermin problems. The trick is to lay a nitrogen trap of woody fibre (e.g. sawdust, shredded twigs, shredded corrugated cardboard or shredded paper) at the base of the compost container to catch any urine leachate. Start the compost on this with a few spadefuls of earth or the previous compost, mixed in with more 'brown' and 'green' material. Continue with layers or mixes of 'brown' and 'green', wetted with urine and water from a collecting bucket for compostings. As the sawdust, cardboard or paper, takes up to 100 units of nitrogen to rot, as against the 1 unit for grass, it is remarkably effective at soaking up both the moisture and the chemical content. Most important of all, the smell is minimal and fly problems non-existent. However, it is a good idea to encourage oxygenation by mixing plant stems, shredded wood (e.g. from chainsawing firewood) or twigs, with such pulpy items as paper and cardboard. "

which is from this website (about half way down the page):
http://www.dalbeattie.com/domesticcivil ... ewage.html (http://www.dalbeattie.com/domesticcivildefence/sewage.html)

[Baisteach]

My mother told me that when she lived in Nth Sydney in the 1920s there was a family down the street who grew beautiful cauliflowers and that they would often give my grandmother one.

Mum was down at their house one morning early and one of the girls brought the plss pail down and threw it with a fine sweep over the caulis.

Seems it does work.

[hedwig]

the problem is building somewhat of a tiolet in a suburban garden. Or do you want your neighbours watching? and : getting swadust without too much nasties,

[kathleenmc]

Hey there....

Been using my own piss for fertilizer for a few years now. It comes down to what you put in to how much salt, etc comes out. Being a low salt, vege kinda person and a good water drinker my piss is usually a good pale to clear colour a lot of the time. If you go to the blog below you can see my garden and how well its been doing on my own additive. It certainly is loved by almost everything. (Haven't found it a problem for anything as yet).

I put it strainght onto the soil and below the plants and also put it into the compost bin. I have a really good organic mix and sand as my soil base. I add a bit of water if I want it to spread a bit further.

Happy ferting,
Kathleen

[Michaelangelica]

http://abc.net.au/science/news/stories/2007/1973803.htm


Recycling urine answer to P supply
Dani Cooper
ABC Science Online


Tuesday, 10 July 2007

Pee for P
Urine is one of the most accessible sources of the element phosphorus, chemical symbol P (Image: iStockphoto)
Recycling urine may be the answer to a looming global shortage of phosphorus, an Australian researcher says.

Associate Professor Cynthia Mitchell, of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), says the world's deposits of phosphorus are due to run out in about 50 years.

And she says recycling the 500 litres of urine each person produces a year is the solution.

"Urine is the most concentrated source of phosphorus," she says. "At the moment we dilute that through our sewage system and send it out to the ocean.
more at site.