You poured it all in one little spot. I suggest using a sprinkling can and spread it out throughout the pile as you turn the pile. Make sure the pile is moist throughout.
@ArizonaAdventures Re: your question of how often I pour gallons of urine on my leaf compost pile... I don't bottle my urine when I am at work (too much hassle to drive it home), but for the ~ 1/2 of my life when I am at home, peeing in a jug and then pouring on the compost later works out to maybe 4 gallons of urine per week. That gets poured/spread on a compost pile that is 40-50 cubic feet in size. Since my dry leaves are almost all carbon, the pile needs nitrogen/water = urine, lots of it.
@OrganicGarden123 maybe this is a stupid question, but what do you do about the flies? Could be just bad timing from when I started pouring urine on the compost pile or from the large amount of juice pulp in the pile, but the flies are pretty bad. Any tips? Thanks :)
@ArizonaAdventures Hmmmm. I don't really get any noticeable flies on my compost pile. If you add kitchen scraps or fruits, don't leave them on TOP of the compost pile... instead just throw a shovel/handful of leaves on top of those items, to keep it too deep for the flies.
@OrganicGarden123 must just have been bad timing with some fruit that had some eggs in it I suppose. I do cover all the kitchen scraps with newspaper and then a small amount of alfalfa straw, but I can see these guys shooting out from deep insdie the pile when I move it around. Going to turn it tomorrow and try and break up some of thier habitat. Good to know you don't get any flies from the urine...I'll have to try more when I get the flies under control. Thanks
urine works beautifully,if you want to make leaf compost quickly,grind or shred the leaves as close as you can to dust with your lawnmower,wet the pile thoroughly and add as much urine as you can collect or add a few pounds of dried blood(in layers,mixing well)to the wet leaf dust.the bigger the heap the better and put an insulating lid on it.the heap will get hot very quickly but it is extremely important to empty and refill the heap every few days to keep it aerated and rotting very fast!
@Hibbleton666 Yes, I agree that "urine works beautifully" when added to leaf compost. I admit my compost would do better if, as you recommend, it was aerated/turned often. Personally, I have a lazy-man's compost where I don't get around to turning it for months, so it takes longer to compost. But this way works for me since I don't have any rush and it's important that everyone does what they can and what works for them. Happy composting!
My compost has a plethora of ants, worms and little squiggly critters living in it. I would feel bad pouring all that harsh urine on them. Wouldn't it burn my helpful bugs and make them leave or die? I don't want to chase them out because my compost just say there dry until they started moving in. then we got a good rain, some critters moved in, it's breaking down nicely, and I don't want to upset that balance. Does it hurt them?
@CimaraNyx If you are concerned, you could dilute the urine (e.g. with water from a rain barrel, etc.). Conversely, what do you think happens when birds, squirrels, deer, etc., pee in the wild? Their urine goes to the soil and all the bugs in the soil, so I'm not too worried.
@OrganicGarden123 I rather think of it as a cat using a littler box versus a cat using the whole yard.. it just seems so concentrated in such a concentrated area. Squirrels and rabbits and such don't use one specific spot. My dogs urine kills my grass in spots, so I'm wondering if this human urine would be too strong in such a concentrated area. Are there any .org guidelines on this?? Or, yeah, I guess diluting it would be good too, I'm just wondering when too much urine becomes not so good.
@meentree2009 Short answer: I don't know. For me, I don't smoke or take any meds, so my urine is OK. For smokers, nicotine is in urine. Many prescription meds get excreted via urine, too. My guess is that most such chemicals would get broken down by the composting process, or be no different than the remnants of meds that are already in our municipal water (studies have shown that) that we ingest directly. If you're on chemotherapy... probably keep your urine out of your garden or compost.
@mondiablue Human urine is sterile (except in cases of urinary infection, which is very rare in males, and in males or females would typically be known by burning when urinating, stronger color/odor, etc.). I've never had a urinary infection in my entire life, so I don't worry about spreading disease via urine. However, I have no current interest in making the leap to composting human stool/feces, which may pose a disease risk, but others do compost their poop. Happy gardening.
@deasttn If I am outside, pee-ing right onto the compost is fine. But if I'm inside, barefoot, while it's wet/rainy/cold outside, etc., then urinating in a jug is soooo easy, and from a time management perspective I only have to swing out to the compost pile once or twice a week. Thanks for commenting. Happy composting!
Another thing to do when composting leaves with urine is to cover your pile lightly with plastic. This will help hold in the moisture and much of the heat that would evaporate in steam. Your pile will break down faster, and more completely by the time it cools off. Leave the sides open and poke a large hole in the top of the middle. This will allow some air to escape (and some heat), while drawing fresh air into the pile.
@PANDSCORP I tried covering my composting leaves with a plastic tarp the first year I composted, but I think that I over-did it.... it got no rain, and little air, and I didn't "turn" the compost often, so in the spring I still mostly had a pile of still-dry leaves. There's probably a happy middle-ground. Happy gardening!
Another benefit to using urine to compost leaves is that urine is the most expense material to treat in our residential waste stream. Researchers say that if we diverted all the urine from a municiple watse water system, it would lower the cost to treat the water by 30%.
Hi, thanks for the vid. I'm a soon-to-be first-time gardener. Have just read that leaves can't be composted for several months, until the tannins have leached out. Are you using newly fallen leaves and putting urine on to speed up the process?
@walktheworld My leaves do take a full year to be pretty well composted. I add gallons of urine all year long (I pee in my bathroom, and when a jug or two are full and I'm heading outside anyway, I pour them on the compost). Yes, I certainly believe the urine speeds up the process of composting the leaves. Leaves are mostly dry carbon, so the compost needs wetness and Nitrogen... Urine gives both. Cheers!
You might look into humanure. Search on YouTube and/or Google and you will find lots of info on humanure composting. This way, you won't have to waste ANY toilet water.
When I move to Alaska, my wife and I are going to create a 5 gallon bucket humanure composting system...it's very cheap and simple, and it will increase crop yields!
@GoRambling Well, I'll stick with composting my urine for now and continue to flush my poop down the toilet. That way my wife won't leave me! BUT... I totally support the idea of composting human poop/manure. Regardless of whether someone wants to take their composting/gardening down the poop route, it seems reasonable and REALLY really easy to AT LEAST start with composting URINE. Happy gardening!
@jude1c9v: yeah, some of gardening is getting over the misperceptions of ickiness. Healthy soil with great biodiversity can seem "dirty" and "infected". Cow dung is great for compost. Human urine (which is sterile) can seem like it has the cooties, when really it is a great source of Nitrogen + Water for your compost. I look back and think of the thousands of gallons of water per year that I used to spend just flushing urine down the toilet, and I think "eeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuu". Be well!
good concept ....BUT too much will be too salty! Salinity could be a problem for many plants! Horticulturist here...just be moderate with the amount of urine you use.
@swaispunk: "Some" salt is great for soil. Average urine sodium (Na) = about 150 mmol per day = 55,000 mmol/year. Multiply that by 23mg/mmol = 1,265,000mg, that is = 1265grams = 44.6 oz = 2.8 pounds of sodium that we pee divided per year.
Meanwhile, fertilizers also have sodium, such as sodium nitrate (NaNO3).
Maybe someone can work out for us here how salts in fertilizers compare to the pee (our pee is ~ 3 pounds of Sodium per year, even IF we got ALL of a persons pee into compost).
@keithallenlaw: I never thought about pee-ing into a compost tea brewer.... presumably the buys that you are multiplying/growing in there need nitrogen, so maybe it would help? I've heard that they need sugar to grow (e.g. molasses). If any other viewers know or have thoughts on this (urine in compost tea) please post your comments so we can learn from each other.
yes, absolutely you can pee right onto the compost. That is great if you are out in the yard.
Urinating into a jug and pouring it on later is really convenient if I am indoors, since I don't have to put on my shoes, coat, raincoat, etc., and I don't have to worry about mosquitoes!
Yeah, I don't bottle my urine when I am at work. It would be too big a hassle to drive it home from the office. But for the 1/2 of my life when I am at home, peeing in a jug and then pouring on the compost later is VERY easy and to me makes sense.
I've tried this as well, or sometimes I just go out to the compost piles directy and urinate right into the pile - making sure that no neighbors are watching. :)
You poured it all in one little spot. I suggest using a sprinkling can and spread it out throughout the pile as you turn the pile. Make sure the pile is moist throughout.
alan30189 3 weeks ago
how much is over kill? How often to you pour a gallon onto the pile? thanks!
ArizonaAdventures 3 months ago in playlist More videos from OrganicGarden123
@ArizonaAdventures Re: your question of how often I pour gallons of urine on my leaf compost pile... I don't bottle my urine when I am at work (too much hassle to drive it home), but for the ~ 1/2 of my life when I am at home, peeing in a jug and then pouring on the compost later works out to maybe 4 gallons of urine per week. That gets poured/spread on a compost pile that is 40-50 cubic feet in size. Since my dry leaves are almost all carbon, the pile needs nitrogen/water = urine, lots of it.
OrganicGarden123 3 months ago
@OrganicGarden123 maybe this is a stupid question, but what do you do about the flies? Could be just bad timing from when I started pouring urine on the compost pile or from the large amount of juice pulp in the pile, but the flies are pretty bad. Any tips? Thanks :)
ArizonaAdventures 2 months ago
@ArizonaAdventures Hmmmm. I don't really get any noticeable flies on my compost pile. If you add kitchen scraps or fruits, don't leave them on TOP of the compost pile... instead just throw a shovel/handful of leaves on top of those items, to keep it too deep for the flies.
OrganicGarden123 2 months ago
@OrganicGarden123 must just have been bad timing with some fruit that had some eggs in it I suppose. I do cover all the kitchen scraps with newspaper and then a small amount of alfalfa straw, but I can see these guys shooting out from deep insdie the pile when I move it around. Going to turn it tomorrow and try and break up some of thier habitat. Good to know you don't get any flies from the urine...I'll have to try more when I get the flies under control. Thanks
ArizonaAdventures 2 months ago
urine works beautifully,if you want to make leaf compost quickly,grind or shred the leaves as close as you can to dust with your lawnmower,wet the pile thoroughly and add as much urine as you can collect or add a few pounds of dried blood(in layers,mixing well)to the wet leaf dust.the bigger the heap the better and put an insulating lid on it.the heap will get hot very quickly but it is extremely important to empty and refill the heap every few days to keep it aerated and rotting very fast!
Hibbleton666 4 months ago
@Hibbleton666 Yes, I agree that "urine works beautifully" when added to leaf compost. I admit my compost would do better if, as you recommend, it was aerated/turned often. Personally, I have a lazy-man's compost where I don't get around to turning it for months, so it takes longer to compost. But this way works for me since I don't have any rush and it's important that everyone does what they can and what works for them. Happy composting!
OrganicGarden123 4 months ago
It'd suck if someone drank that thinking it was lemonade.
W4V3MAKER 4 months ago
Peeing liquid nitrogen !
gazzaka 6 months ago
The world is my urinal.
PantsPooperEd 7 months ago
My compost has a plethora of ants, worms and little squiggly critters living in it. I would feel bad pouring all that harsh urine on them. Wouldn't it burn my helpful bugs and make them leave or die? I don't want to chase them out because my compost just say there dry until they started moving in. then we got a good rain, some critters moved in, it's breaking down nicely, and I don't want to upset that balance. Does it hurt them?
CimaraNyx 8 months ago
@CimaraNyx If you are concerned, you could dilute the urine (e.g. with water from a rain barrel, etc.). Conversely, what do you think happens when birds, squirrels, deer, etc., pee in the wild? Their urine goes to the soil and all the bugs in the soil, so I'm not too worried.
OrganicGarden123 7 months ago
@OrganicGarden123 I rather think of it as a cat using a littler box versus a cat using the whole yard.. it just seems so concentrated in such a concentrated area. Squirrels and rabbits and such don't use one specific spot. My dogs urine kills my grass in spots, so I'm wondering if this human urine would be too strong in such a concentrated area. Are there any .org guidelines on this?? Or, yeah, I guess diluting it would be good too, I'm just wondering when too much urine becomes not so good.
CimaraNyx 7 months ago
@meentree2009 Short answer: I don't know. For me, I don't smoke or take any meds, so my urine is OK. For smokers, nicotine is in urine. Many prescription meds get excreted via urine, too. My guess is that most such chemicals would get broken down by the composting process, or be no different than the remnants of meds that are already in our municipal water (studies have shown that) that we ingest directly. If you're on chemotherapy... probably keep your urine out of your garden or compost.
OrganicGarden123 10 months ago
Can this practice spread disease?
mondiablue 11 months ago
@mondiablue Human urine is sterile (except in cases of urinary infection, which is very rare in males, and in males or females would typically be known by burning when urinating, stronger color/odor, etc.). I've never had a urinary infection in my entire life, so I don't worry about spreading disease via urine. However, I have no current interest in making the leap to composting human stool/feces, which may pose a disease risk, but others do compost their poop. Happy gardening.
OrganicGarden123 11 months ago
I agree with the others. Why bother with the bottle? In the evenings I regularly add filtered beer (high in nitrogen) to my compost pile. :-)
deasttn 11 months ago
@deasttn If I am outside, pee-ing right onto the compost is fine. But if I'm inside, barefoot, while it's wet/rainy/cold outside, etc., then urinating in a jug is soooo easy, and from a time management perspective I only have to swing out to the compost pile once or twice a week. Thanks for commenting. Happy composting!
OrganicGarden123 11 months ago
I would CHANGE the poem FROM "If its brown flush it down. If its yellow let it mellow." TO:
"If its brown flush it down. But the urine you should keep, put it on your compost heap." (my son helped create this poem)
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
Thanks for the video. Drink more water, you're pretty dehydrated having urine that yellow!
paulaontologist 1 year ago
Another thing to do when composting leaves with urine is to cover your pile lightly with plastic. This will help hold in the moisture and much of the heat that would evaporate in steam. Your pile will break down faster, and more completely by the time it cools off. Leave the sides open and poke a large hole in the top of the middle. This will allow some air to escape (and some heat), while drawing fresh air into the pile.
PANDSCORP 1 year ago
@PANDSCORP I tried covering my composting leaves with a plastic tarp the first year I composted, but I think that I over-did it.... it got no rain, and little air, and I didn't "turn" the compost often, so in the spring I still mostly had a pile of still-dry leaves. There's probably a happy middle-ground. Happy gardening!
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
Another benefit to using urine to compost leaves is that urine is the most expense material to treat in our residential waste stream. Researchers say that if we diverted all the urine from a municiple watse water system, it would lower the cost to treat the water by 30%.
PANDSCORP 1 year ago
My neighbors hate when I add urine to my compost pile since I skip the bottle step.
Imigra 1 year ago 11
Hi I did the same thing working so good, also if you like drink coffee it add more nitrogen to the formula.
fastrabbit07 1 year ago
@fastrabbit07 Yes, adding used coffee grounds to compost is awesome. Worms LOVE them! Happy gardening.
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
Hi, thanks for the vid. I'm a soon-to-be first-time gardener. Have just read that leaves can't be composted for several months, until the tannins have leached out. Are you using newly fallen leaves and putting urine on to speed up the process?
walktheworld 1 year ago
@walktheworld My leaves do take a full year to be pretty well composted. I add gallons of urine all year long (I pee in my bathroom, and when a jug or two are full and I'm heading outside anyway, I pour them on the compost). Yes, I certainly believe the urine speeds up the process of composting the leaves. Leaves are mostly dry carbon, so the compost needs wetness and Nitrogen... Urine gives both. Cheers!
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
You might look into humanure. Search on YouTube and/or Google and you will find lots of info on humanure composting. This way, you won't have to waste ANY toilet water.
When I move to Alaska, my wife and I are going to create a 5 gallon bucket humanure composting system...it's very cheap and simple, and it will increase crop yields!
GoRambling 1 year ago
@GoRambling Well, I'll stick with composting my urine for now and continue to flush my poop down the toilet. That way my wife won't leave me! BUT... I totally support the idea of composting human poop/manure. Regardless of whether someone wants to take their composting/gardening down the poop route, it seems reasonable and REALLY really easy to AT LEAST start with composting URINE. Happy gardening!
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
I'm sure it works, but ..... eeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
jude1c9v 1 year ago
@jude1c9v: yeah, some of gardening is getting over the misperceptions of ickiness. Healthy soil with great biodiversity can seem "dirty" and "infected". Cow dung is great for compost. Human urine (which is sterile) can seem like it has the cooties, when really it is a great source of Nitrogen + Water for your compost. I look back and think of the thousands of gallons of water per year that I used to spend just flushing urine down the toilet, and I think "eeeeeeuuuuuuuuuuu". Be well!
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
My own concern with urinating directly into the pile, is that there is a nest of yellow jackets in my compost.
scott97 1 year ago
holy good god
teenmod12 1 year ago
good concept ....BUT too much will be too salty! Salinity could be a problem for many plants! Horticulturist here...just be moderate with the amount of urine you use.
swaispunk 1 year ago
@swaispunk: "Some" salt is great for soil. Average urine sodium (Na) = about 150 mmol per day = 55,000 mmol/year. Multiply that by 23mg/mmol = 1,265,000mg, that is = 1265grams = 44.6 oz = 2.8 pounds of sodium that we pee divided per year.
Meanwhile, fertilizers also have sodium, such as sodium nitrate (NaNO3).
Maybe someone can work out for us here how salts in fertilizers compare to the pee (our pee is ~ 3 pounds of Sodium per year, even IF we got ALL of a persons pee into compost).
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
Wonder if I can pee into my compost tea brewer?
keithallenlaw 1 year ago
@keithallenlaw: I never thought about pee-ing into a compost tea brewer.... presumably the buys that you are multiplying/growing in there need nitrogen, so maybe it would help? I've heard that they need sugar to grow (e.g. molasses). If any other viewers know or have thoughts on this (urine in compost tea) please post your comments so we can learn from each other.
OrganicGarden123 1 year ago
I've found myself laying huge mud monkeys directly onto my compost piles.
The only problem is that I happen to live in a condo where everyone can see me laying the fugde dragon down.
I think I'm just going to start crapping into a 2 liter coke bottle.
frank2796 1 year ago 6
I wouldn't store it, but I might start urinating on the compost pile when I'm hanging out in the backyard
thetmaxx 2 years ago
yes, absolutely you can pee right onto the compost. That is great if you are out in the yard.
Urinating into a jug and pouring it on later is really convenient if I am indoors, since I don't have to put on my shoes, coat, raincoat, etc., and I don't have to worry about mosquitoes!
Happy composting!
OrganicGarden123 2 years ago
i compost but i would look really gay if i asked to go to the washroom in school with a bottle lol
theweirdthings 2 years ago
your face probably does the gay part without the bottle
JJtocoolforu 2 years ago
@JJtocoolforu lol your nice
theweirdthings 2 years ago
Yeah, I don't bottle my urine when I am at work. It would be too big a hassle to drive it home from the office. But for the 1/2 of my life when I am at home, peeing in a jug and then pouring on the compost later is VERY easy and to me makes sense.
Happy composting!
OrganicGarden123 2 years ago
I've tried this as well, or sometimes I just go out to the compost piles directy and urinate right into the pile - making sure that no neighbors are watching. :)
theroilsoil 2 years ago
That was just funny, humans are getting rid of gallons of liquid nitrogen a day. I know what you meant but it didn't sound like it.
HomeworkHelper1 2 years ago
I add urine to my cold compost pile irregularly, as I am near it when I need to go... I've never bottled it though!
bakcompat 2 years ago