Urine good for flowers?

Question

Ok I know this is a strange question. My local flower grower suggested putting diapers in the bottom of my pots to hold moisture during the hot summer months. My father-in-law suggested that since I have small babies - urine soaked diapers would work better. He said urea is good for plants. Anyone heard of this???

Answer 1

I can tell you if you consistantly pee on a plant it will die.

All of the plants and grass that my dogs pee on consistantly....are dead.

The acid in the urine is too strong for repeated exposure.

Answer 2

Urine does contain urea, which can help, but it also contains uric acid which can burn your plants. That is why where a dog pees it will burn the grass. After the pee dilutes down, then you notice the grass growing like crazy there and being really dark green, that is due to the nitrogen in urea.

It's kind of like fertilizer. Put too much of it on and you burn the grass or plant. But if it is diluted down or given in the right amount...it helps. Urine could help...but it needs diluted down so it doesn't burn the plants.

So if your dog ever pees on your yard...water that spot and dilute it down so the urine doesn't burn your grass.

Answer 3

urea is. urine is not. Urine has urea in it, but there is more in it than just urea.

The diapers contain a polymer that absorbs moisture. It can be wicked out as the soil above it as it dries.

just cut a little patch out to cover the bottom of the pot. put your soil on top of it.

.. and stop listening to your father-in-law.

Answer 4

Yes, there are well-known gardeners who profess to having a mix of urine and baby shampoo and several other things to help your lawns and trees. I don't know if it is to be used on flowering plants. But, you don't want to pee directly on the plants. Below is a recipe by Jerry Baker.

Thanksgiving is only a few days away, and we’re in the midst of preparations. But no matter how busy I get with holiday plans, I always make sure to get a little “outdoor chore” time in. Last weekend was time for the final installment of my fall lawn feeding program. I mixed 1/2 can of beer, 1/2 cup of apple juice, 1/2 cup of Gatorade®, 1/2 cup of urine, 1/2 cup of fish emulsion, 1/2 cup of ammonia, 1/2 cup of regular cola, and 1/2 cup of baby shampoo in a large bucket, poured it into a 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, and gave my lawn a good, healthy dose.

Answer 5

I have heard that there are little crystals in diapers that absorb water and some gardeners open a CLEAN diaper and mix the crystals in the soil.

I line outdoor containers with landscape fabric and mix in the horitcultural water retaining crystals (from garden centre) with the soil.

Re: urine, check out the lawns where dogs urinate. It turns yellow. I don't recommend it.

Answer 6

No way, urine is too acidic, the ph balance would be bad-especially for flowers. Human waste and dog and cat waste is bad for plants. Only cow manure is good fertilizer and that still needs to be mixed with soil. I have heard that plants thrive on beer, though.

Answer 7

I havent heard of that, but i piss in my bushes all the time when i'm out drinking beer and they're doing fine. Wow. Imagine what a crap-diaper buried under a plant would do.

Answer 8

Urea is good for plants, but not in high concentrations. You can pee in your garden but I wouldn't suggest placing urine in a flowerpot cause it might burn the roots, and also it will smell up th house.

Answer 9

I had never heard of this eather! hope it helps!

Fertilizers
Urine has applications in gardening and agriculture as a fertilizer. Gardeners often recommend a dilution of 10-15 parts water to one of urine for application to pot plants and flower beds during the growing season; pure urine can chemically burn the roots of some species. Urine typically contains more than 50% of the nitrogen and phosphorus and potassium content of whole sewage, and is widely considered as good as or better than commercially-available chemical fertilisers or stabilised sludge from sewage plants. Urine is also used in composting to increase the nitrogen content of the mulch, accelerating the composting process and increasing its final nutrient values.

Urine is also being actively considered as a fertilizer for use in food-crop agriculture in developed countries. Studies into its feasibility and safety usually indicate that it is an acceptable alternative to chemical fertilisers and stabilised sludge. However, the technology to implement its use on a large scale has not been developed, and is considered too expensive. There are also concerns over its safety regarding the potential for transmitting infectious disease and refluxing xenobiotic compounds (associated with toilet-cleaning products and prescribed drugs expelled in urine) in the human food chain. Proponents of adopting urine for this use usually claim the risks to be negligible or acceptable, and point out that sewage causes more environmental problems when it is treated and disposed of compared with when it is used as a resource. Critics generally agree that more research is needed into how the resource is to be collected, processed and handled.

A few people use urine as a crop fertilizer. These include organic farming cooperatives and eco-villages where special urine-diverting toilets with collecting tanks are installed. Many of these also employ concepts such as greywater irrigation and the composting of fecal matter. Many are the subject on ongoing feasibility studies sanctioned by governments and private organisations. These people generally reject safety concerns over its use on food crops provided that it is used with common sense. For example, application to fruit trees is considered safer than to bushes and especially root crops. It is also considered sensible to cease application at a safe interval before harvesting. However, the use of urine for this purpose is even rarer than its use on ornamental gardens.

In developing countries, the application of pure urine to crops is also rare. However, whole, untreated sewage, termed night soil, is often applied to crops and is considered essential. It is worth noting that this practice is not new and has been applied, along with crop rotation schemes, for thousands of years.

In Japan, urine used to be sold to farmers who would process it into fertilizers.

Answer 10

i think the diapers are more to keep moisture in the soil.small amounts of urine has a lot of nitrogen.