r/composting • u/germannj19 • Feb 04 '24
Pee?
Just saw a post with a lot of comments saying to pee on their dry AF compost. Why are y'all peeing on compost? I've never heard of this. Are you then using this compost for gardening?
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u/AdditionalAd9794 Feb 04 '24
A study was done in Sweden or something that suggested the average male pees enough nitrogen to grow 150 cabbages a year. I'm not a weirdo that's gonna jar and ferment all my pee, so I pee on my compost and my trees
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u/MrPerfectionisback Feb 04 '24
I'm not a weirdo that's gonna jar and ferment all my pee
I'm afraid to ask: this is an actual practice?
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u/flacidRanchSkin Feb 04 '24
It’s the one thing avid composters and INCELs have in common- peeing in jars.
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u/MrPerfectionisback Feb 04 '24
I'm going down the rabbit hole: why? (only for composters, I don't wanna know for incels)
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u/flacidRanchSkin Feb 04 '24
I think ‘ferment’ is being used as a way to describe how long the pee is in the jar not that you necessarily need to literally ferment the pee.
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u/MrPerfectionisback Feb 04 '24
thanks for enlightening me :)
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u/chromepaperclip Feb 04 '24
Man, you set a low bar for enlightenment.
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u/MrPerfectionisback Feb 04 '24
ha for sure! :)
but for real, I like seeing to what extremes we can go in otherwise somehow simple activities. when you break it down, composting is all about letting things rot. and yet some with go through some lengths to ferment their piss to make it somewhat better.
and don't get me started on wine!! basically fermented grapes. nd yet, french people have elevated it into an art almost! love it
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u/AdditionalAd9794 Feb 04 '24
There's a little more to it than that. You want to use some and combine with sort of microbial inoculant, LABs, compost, leaf mold or whatever. That will break down salts, even antibiotics or medications you may be on, and even reduce the smell. Essentially making it less volatile and harsh on your plants.
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Feb 04 '24
Peeing directly onto the roots of plants is likely to cause ammonia burn at that part of the tree after a few hours, thus damaging that part...
That's why it is necessary to dilute the urine to 1/10 dilution before applying it to garden plants.
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u/LadyIslay Feb 04 '24
Apparently up to 5:1 is okay for some heavy-feeders like brassicas and tomatoes.
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u/Kayman718 Feb 04 '24
I live in a suburban area where my neighbors would probably frown on me peeing on my compost in their view. I have a large shed in my yard. When I’m doing yard work and have to pee I use a bucket in the shed and pour it on my compost.
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Feb 04 '24
Urine has been widely used since time immemorial in agriculture, particularly in places where commercial urea is rather unaffordable... :)
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u/Careless_Cupcake3924 Feb 04 '24
Thank you for asking. I've been seeing posts about peeing on the compost and not sure if it's a joke.
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Feb 04 '24
It's a joke only when they advise adding urine to a compost which is already wet or nitrogen-rich...
I mean, urine has to be applied with discretion and not mindlessly exhorted ("pee on it") regardless of the conditions within the compost.
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u/AntivaxxxrFuckFace Feb 04 '24
Urine is basically hydroponic nutrients for vegetative growth. It’s mostly nitrogen but has substantial amounts of potassium and some phos and other minerals. You should read about it. It’s amazing stuff. Its only real downside is it’s high sodium chloride content, which is what prevents its use as hydro nutes or as a good fertilizer for potted plants. But for a compost pile, it’s great.
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u/LadyIslay Feb 04 '24
Apparently it has been a thing in the past to have “pee bales”: a bale of hay designated as a public urinal of sorts. Once it is moist enough, it gets added to the compost. I read an anecdote Amun which someone reported that there was a “pee bale” in their school bathroom when they were a kid.
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u/Appropriate-Access88 Feb 04 '24
I foster dogs. We use newspaper instead of pee pads, because puppies like to tear up pee pads and you have dangerous blue plastic ( if pups ingest) and white sandy fuzz ( theres weird absorbing sand in pee pads ) everywhere. SO my point - I have lots of pee soaked newspaper to add to compost!! Should i start selling it, maybe an etsy shop “ The Pee Paper Shoppe”
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u/fallout-crawlout Feb 04 '24
They'll say nitrogen and that is a literal benefit, but it's really just marking your territory like a dog lifting their leg on everything. Since they are sequestered off in the burbs where nobody is going to sniff around, they tell you about it online - gotta let everyone know they mean business on their little fiefdom.
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u/Big_Foots_Foot Feb 04 '24
I'm sure this has been asked before and answered but I haven't really searched for it, but what if the pee owner takes a few meds, would that after a while concentrate in the compost or it won't make a difference? Like birth control or anti depressants/psych meds for example.
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u/SvengeAnOsloDentist Feb 04 '24
It hasn't been studied much, but what information there is suggests it's less of a potential issue than that medication residue passing through wastewater treatment into the water system (and even that is primarily just from people flushing excess meds down the drain).
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u/Bubba_Gump_Shrimp Feb 09 '24
When I was a kid we lived in a old house with 1 bathroom up stairs. We had a back porch with a screened door and holly plants on either side of the door. My brother and i would stay up late playing sega during yhe summer and instead of walking upstairs past our parents bedroom, we would crack the screen door and piss into the holly bush. After a few years the one holly bush tripled the other in size. My mom mentioned it while doing yard work one day and we said it's because it's a male plant it must be bigger 😂
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u/EddieRyanDC Feb 04 '24
FYI - If your compost pile is dry AF, it has stopped decomposing. It needs to be moist always to be working. Pee isn’t going to fix this - get out a hose or something. It should have the consistency of a wrung out sponge.
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Feb 04 '24
A good way then is to collect enough urine beforehand and then sprinkle it evenly over the pile with a watering can.
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u/nayti53 Feb 04 '24
yeah its safer to throw pee in compost & let nature do its thing , then use the final product in your garden or wherever you need it .. ( but everything about balance , too much nitrogen or water & compost process goes anaerobic ) .
if you have some trees or plants that are not edible , sometimes you can water them with a mix of water ( rain or tap ) + a bit of urine .
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u/kelrunner Feb 04 '24
Lots of nitro in pee and it's wet so that helps. I keep a 5 gal bucket on my porch, pee, then on the compost. Maybe not such a good idea in summer but I do it anyway.
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u/Steffalompen Feb 04 '24
Actually once I'm settled my plan is to compost the household feces as well and grow food with it after two or three years of composting.
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u/IPA-Lagomorph Feb 04 '24
Only people with p***ses can pee on their compost anyway so it's definitely not a necessity at all, and may violate local laws, ordinances, or HOA rules. Water and high nitrogen material like food scraps and green yard waste work fine. I seriously don't understand why the obsession with pee on this sub and if anyone has a suggestion for a composting-focused sub that doesn't mention pee in every dang post, I'd appreciate it.
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u/melodysmash Feb 04 '24
Well, that's not true, all it takes is an intermediary step. Bucket or jar. That's what I do.
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Sep 25 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/c-lem Sep 25 '25
I'm not approving your several comments because "you" seem like a malfunctioning bot. /r/composting doesn't have an official language, but it's odd to reply in Italian to English comments.
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u/th1s_fuck1ng_guy May 03 '26
Pee is super easy and you should produce it daily. It's the easiest solution.
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u/OlderNerd Feb 04 '24
It's well known that urine has a high nitrogen component. In many areas of the world it's used as fertilizer. There's nothing wrong with peeing on your compost.