Anyway, as a kid I used to love going into the front yard and peeing on plants. I've always had that notion that urine is fertilizer. It is anyway. Of course it also helps that I don't have to flush plants. I don't know, but I've always felt that flushing is wasteful. That's why I'm also glad malls now have no-flush urinals. I bet the girls didn't know that.
But just to clear any doubts, I have since stopped going into the front yard to pee. It's now just a guilty pleasure that I indulge when no one is watching. ;-)
When I drive, I usually have all the strangest thoughts. These days, they're all coming out. Here's one.
I've always wanted to integrate a septic tank with an irrigation system. Let the though settle for a moment. What if all our waste is just watered down and spread back into plants? Let's say a hill with trees. That would be cheap and would definitely help fertilization efforts. We can even do it for rice fields, although for our own piece of mind, the last "fertilizer application" should be done months before harvesting. It just seems like it's a no-brainer but it doesn't happen.
Perhaps it's something the Lopezes & Ayalas can explore. Since they control the water sources anyway, take the next step and use waste water as fertilizer. Or is that being done already? There has got to be some profit potential here somewhere.
In the meantime, I will continue with my silent efforts to help the earth one plant at a time. I will pee secretly on plants whenever I can. I will start with my future mango plant.
FYI
- Urine is rich in nitrogen and should be watered down and used for fertilizer (1:5 to 1:10). Pure urine is too strong, but can be used to kill weeds.
- Fresh urine is better than stale urine for fertilization purposes.
- Urine as a fertilizer should be applied to the soil, not the plant.
- There is a research that shows one person's urine can be used to grow 160 cabbages over a year! It can also fertilize 6,300 tomato plants in one season.
- I found a board. Apparently, plant urination is common practice
- Urine keeps predators out of the garden (same concept as a male marking his territory)
- One study showed that human urine with wood ash performed just as well as expensive fertilizers
This post is either a strong message for environmental living or a defense for an old fetish...
I'm doing lots of research on this topic - did you know that in Mexico city the poor people were encouraged to garden on their rooftops using leaves, kitchen scraps and pig manure, but it was only after the missing ingredient was added that the idea took off!
ReplyDeleteAlso, for predator control, only the male of the human species can claim this award, bears don't care if females try and protect the garden...I get the man mad before I collect for perimeter sprinkling - gotta have the testosterone!