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Posted by royn45 (U3572483) on Monday, 4th October 2010
Hi, A couple of weeks ago on gardeners world there was an item about composting, in it they said about after turining the compost heap apply urine a comment was made on this site that it was wrong to use it undiluted. What i want to ask what is the ratio to use it diluted.?
well Bob Flowerdew always reckoned to apply it direct to the ehap as long as the neighbours cant see you not much dilution there
I would agree with him
unfortunately my garden is far too public!
I agree. Direct application is best and saves mucky boots wandering through the house too.
Apparently it has to be male too as, apart from the obvious technical difficulties, we women have the wrong hormones for composting.
some people do anything not ot do their public duty!
sorry not too public duty
Apparently it has to be male too as, apart from the obvious technical difficulties, we women have the wrong hormones for composting.Â
Another job I will have to nag the OH to do.
memories!
Of putting a large empty jar on the cistern with a post-it attached saying please pee into this.
The sticky note got detached and ended up on the toilet seat - so dear H thought i was having a go at him for faulty aim.
I wonder if female urine is any good after the menopause?
we women have the wrong hormones for composting.Â
This is and 'old wives tale'
Nothing at all wrong with female pee, though the male variant does -in general - contain more urea.
Women on the pill will have a high amount of estrogen in their urine, which is not too good for the environment - especially in the water for fish etc, but it's not easily extracted from sewerage anyway so isn't any worse on the compost.
Male pheromones - good for compost heaps. Female pheromones good for catching BIG salmon. I know which I would prefer! Cheers, Tony.
Margaretstar - I queried this too, being female, but everything I found then suggested male was best.
A google around for info today seems to conclude the only difficulty with female urine is the physical logistics. Other than that, using human urine from either sex saves loads of water from all that non flushing. In addition it contains high levels of nitrogen and minerals so is an excellent activator and nutrient and it is sterile as it leaves the body. Brilliant.
Hi Obelixx,
I have an allotment and some compost bins and an implement to assist in female compost accelarator.
It's called a bucket!
royn45, maybe it was just a dream, but I could have sworn that when I repeatedly added undiluted (female ) urine to my compost heap, all the vegetation in it got burned . And, no, estrogens don't burn, but perhaps neat nitrogen is to blame? In any case, from then on I diluted 50/50 at least.
Just drink more beer, that`ll help dilute it.
, in reply to message 12.
Posted by Playingtimeaddedon (U14150224) on Tuesday, 5th October 2010
The 'Gardening Guru' on Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio Solent advises 'One part Urine to Seven parts water.'
I guess it makes a little go a long way.
I agree with Obelixx and margaretstar: there's no problem with female urine on compost. My heap gets both, but when Mister went on a certain type of medication he decided not to contribute for a while until he was off it. Missus, meanwhile, continued to contribute regularly. No difference in the compost - just as good as usual. Breaks down very fast, full of compost worms, grows great veg.
There's a lot of mythology about what women "can't do" (e.g. reading maps, navigating by the sun when without a map, reversing the car, etc.) None of these is based on universal fact. Probably there are a lot of women who can pee very accurately, just as they can do the things listed above. Maybe a lot of men can too?
Personally, I have an old pan which is useful for collecting said liquid which I then use without dilution on the compost heap. Not noticed any problems with this technique. All it needs is a quiet corner.
dwarfbean
Hi royn45
Hope your well and enjoying your garden,
Now to reply to your question, the victorians we're the ones for using the potty under the bed full of urine on the compost heap and it was just as it came, (no diluting used)
Now to add a bit of interest to the use of urine and again during the victorian period "urine" was used to deter the molds in your garden,
If you could just picture your next door neighbour on his knees delivering his offering of urine down the "mole" hole and being caught doing such a thing?
I wonder what he's say to you?
"Honest it's not what it looks like" Im really trying to get rid of the "mr mole"
Pinxit mentioned not contributing when on medication. I've read queries in the past about whether it's wise not to contribute when on medication and they've never been answered. Do any of the clever people on here know? I'm on nine different drugs, permanently, so I play safe and buy the organic compost maker.
By the way, at 4.30 this afternoon there's a programme on Radio 4 called The Secret Science of Pee, "an insight into the scientific applications for urine, revealing how the public's squeamish attitude has prevented it from becoming a valuable resource". The mind boggles.
(Sorry if this post appears twice, I had problems when it disappeared and I couldn't retrieve it.)
thanks for all your replys my urine is pure males
no being sexist but she wont pee into a 4 pint milk bottle. but will eat all the produce when it is ready. ( to much a Lady!!!!)
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by thevodkarose (U13048111) on Wednesday, 6th October 2010
I use mine, and don't dilute it. Straight onto the top of the compost heap/bin.
I think a lot of the silly do and don't tales about using urine come from people using it all the time. Just half a day to a days worth only when adding lots of new material or turning is all that's needed. More than that, and there will be problems as the high ammount of ammonia this would introduce would ward away or kill beneficial creatures and funghi that help make the compost.
, in reply to message 1.
Posted by gone with the fairys (U14602461) on Friday, 8th October 2010
HI ALL
this has cracked me up i cant stop havin a little giggle, can't wait to get the hubby out in the middle of the snow doing his bit for the garden... as questions prev i am on tablets so not know if i can but got a little boy who will be potty traing in the next year.... you learn something new every day
Hi all. Know nothing about this subject, but there is one thing I do know, gardners have a wonderful sense of humour! This thread is hilarious. Keep up the good work.
, in reply to message 21.
Posted by MuddyMeldrew (U6844617) on Saturday, 9th October 2010
When I was a youngster, me and my mates used to see who could pee up the wall of the outside toilet at school the highest. I'm almost 60 now, and sadly the ability to pee straight onto my compost heap or into my bins seems to have wained. I do however have an ash tree very close by that almost overhangs the bins, and since I can still at least shin up a tree, I suppose I could aim it from there. Or perhaps do a Tarzan act, swinging and peeing at the same time. What do you reckon?
Giggle on, GWTF, but just wait till you see the quality of the compost!!
!
Lottie
How on earth do you catch salmon with pee Tony? - albeit female pee.
The sad thing is that Which?Gardening have just reported that adding urine to a compost heap doesn't speed up decomposition. If you have a well-balanced heap - that's 50/50 green[nitrogen] and brown [carbon] - it'll rot quite happily and quickly without any sort of activator, human or otherwise.
, in reply to message 26.
Posted by thevodkarose (U13048111) on Tuesday, 19th October 2010
A typical garden compost bin isn't always going to have that perfect balance though, is it? The nitrogen that will be released as urine decomposes is great for the times when there's a lot of brown waste still to rot down.
Not to mention the practicalities! Now that I have finally trained OH to pee in the compost bins he gets a lot more done in the garden. No wasting time to come in, remove his boots, visit the loo and then ........check the latest sports results, emails and phone messages or whatever.
So, what's your thinking on soaked cat litter removing any solids.
All cats womed.
, in reply to message 29.
Posted by BaraGwenith (U14257539) on Tuesday, 19th October 2010
My thinking is - NO.
Hi Playingtimeaddedon,
Nice to see a fellow Pompey fan over here in the gardening world!
Thought I recognised your name!
, in reply to message 31.
Posted by germinator (U13411914) on Wednesday, 20th October 2010
I have participated in this practice personally for many years and believe it works; but I wonder if any experiments have been done to prove its efficacity?
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