Human urine!?

[Muleskinner]

I remember the lead character in "Corelli's Mandolin" always pissed on the kitchen herb garden in Greece.

Urine is usually sterile. I'm surprised at how squeamish people are! YES we already use human shit for fertilizer - Milorganite, manufactured out of Milwaukee shit. People have been using it for decades.

I pile all my dog's shit into one place in the yard, let it sit for 6 months or so, and then put a big shovelfull under each plant that gets transplanted into my garden, mostly perennials. They were all kicking ass & flowering like crazy this year with no nutes added.

 

[mad librettist]

Urine is usually sterile.

Urine in your bladder is sterile, assuming no health problems.

Urine that has left the urethra is not sterile.

I don't recommend the use of milorganite to grow most consumables, especially leafy greens. I guess root vegetables that get peeled would be ok, as would fruit trees and bushes, or tomatoes... Definitely not spinach, lettuce, raab, turnips (unless you discard the greens), kale, etc... really it is easier not to use the stuff so you don't need to remember what doesn't go where.

Dog poo is fine for ornamentals if you are 100% sure you will never grow food there. You might get better results with perennials in the long term if you avoid digging it in. Spread it along the surface, and put some mulch nice and thick on top that is high in cellulose and lignin. Even better, put some leaf mold under the mulch. Even better than that - a layer of cardboard under the leaf mold.

Even better than even better than that - make a dog poo composter/leaching bed. It's a trash can with lots of holes on the sides and the bottom cut out. Dig a hole and bury the trashcan, making sure to paint the lid a bright color to avoid a nasty accident. Dog poo goes in, along with septic starter. Now you are keeping dog poo out of the waste stream and the water table, and you aren't loading your soil up with meat eater poo.

 

[jaykush]

in india they have a system where they have two fields, say 100' x 100' x 5' deep. one is filled with water, everyone around takes a dump and pisses in here. the trick is the pond is filled with talapia fish which eat the human shit. they "clean" the system by processing the waste. after that the fish are harvested for food, the water is drained and used for irrigation somewhere else(more food), and then all the sediment is now the new growing field all rich and fertile(even more food). they fill the other field with water and repeat the process.

not saying its a perfect system but smart as hell and they have been doing it for generations.

 

[Muleskinner]

thanks guys, some great advice here. ML I think you may be right that Milorganite is not to be used on veggies & fruit.

re: the dog waste - basically it is composted when I use it. It just looks like regular soil. Every time I shovel waste I throw a shovelful of loose soil on top. After sitting for a 6-12 months you can't visually tell it apart from regular soil.

But this is a rental apt., I'm just fooling around, I"ll be gone next year. I wouldn't use the dog waste for a serious vegetable garden, etc.

 

[johnnyjae]

human piss on compost pile Id use it.... However human shit... NEGATIVE WOULD NOT USE ON COMPOST PILE.....

 

[mad librettist]

thanks guys, some great advice here. ML I think you may be right that Milorganite is not to be used on veggies & fruit.

This is where things get counter-intuitive. Milorganite fed tomatoes? no problem. Potatoes? Ok as long as you peel them. Lettuce and spinach? NOT OK.

What I'm going by is the protocol for growing food in lead contaminated soil, since my second biggest concern with human waste derived fertilizer is heavy metals.