my question is about urea and urine is would any "drugs" such as hormones or prescription medication be in the urine and have negative effects on the plants?

The body absorbs (or should anyway) the medication the remnants if any would me in the parts per million or billion ratios.

P.S. I have O.C.D. so I will not be touching human urine.
P.S.S. Lol

i have read somewhere or seen on the news that there are traces of medication found in tap water from urine so im not completely convinced... and wear two sets of gloves!!!! :)

At this point in time we can test for so much I wouldn't worry about it unless you are using some urine from someone that just over dossed or something ridiculous like that.

LOL i can see it now... stealing urine not for drug testing but for orchids.

Over the years I've used orchid fertilizer, diluted regular plant fertilizer, time release fertilizer, and homemade compost (not at the same time, of course.) They've all worked ok for me, but despite my fears of exposing my orchids to rotting material, the homemade compost worked best. Some of my orchids will put up a spike and bloom immediately after a good shot of compost.

Camille and Aboutorchids, great use of natural materials! I've heard about nettle tea and other "teas" but never actually tried them. Compost tea or solid compost is also great. For anyone who's interested, the reason these work so well is because they have natural chemicals that most plants make or consume anyway. Adding the tea just gives the plants more, so they can grow better. I hadn't heard about the horsetail tea though. They must produce higher levels of natural fungicides and other defensive chemicals than other plants. Thanks for the tip!:biggrin:

A couple other points in this thread I noticed, not to sound like a know-it-all, as I'm anything but. Fertilizers derived from urea contain other chemicals besides the nitrogen plants need, and form more salt and mineral deposits than other forms of nitrogen. I think it was Violacea who mentioned the urine. That probably worked because the excess mineral deposits were flushed out during the rainy season. And as was already mentioned, the actual make-up of urine varies widely.

Also, there are ways to determine the N-P-K ratio in your homemade mix Blakeeboo. Home test kits are available from garden supply resources and can give you an approximation of the ratios, or you can go to your local Extension office and ask them to do an analysis. There may be a fee for the second one, I'm not sure, but the people at the Extenion office can give you advice to improve it if necessary. :goodluck:

Personally, I'm trying worm poop once I run out of synthetic fertilizer, as I've seen "liquid worm poop" bottled in recycled soda bottles in stores and I have my own worm bin. First I need to expand my collection to use it up faster though!:evil:

Great site Camille, thank you. It does mean that the Nitrates that result from a healthy pond ecosystem are what plants need and what they can easily use. Good info on nettles as well, I haven't seen them here but now I will look for them.

Have you considered mail order. I know a wonderful website for homemade fertilizer but you have to order all the ingredients which come in large quantities and are not cheap. I do use crushed sea shell (Chicken scratch)in a lot of my potting mix to give plants an extra calcium source and have used egg shells. Plain old Dolomite Lime goes into the mix at 1 tbl spoon per gallon but it buffers the pH and adds a little magnesium. Wheather or not it supplies any nutrients is a little debateable.

Homemade fertilizer?this is great how you do this fertilizer?this is made from what material?can you tell,




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