How to Create Urea Fertilizer

If you do much gardening, you know how the cost of fertilizer can add up over a growing season, but it is actually quite simple to create your own urea fertilizer at home. Urea is basically urine from any mammal, and you are a mammal. It is a little more complicated than simply moving your bathroom to your garden however, and there is a method to making the fertilizer.

Making urea fertilizer can save you money, not just on fertilizer, but on your water bill. By urinating into a bucket, you conserve water by not flushing. The average flush uses about a gallon of water, so if a family of four averages urinating 3 times a day, that's twelve gallons of water saved per day.

Step 1: Collecting the Urea

Using a bucket is the easiest method of collecting urine, but it is important to have a tight fitting lid. Instead of using the toilet, simply have family members, or just yourself, urinate into the bucket. Of course nothing but urine can go into the bucket.

Step 2: Making the Mixture

It is important that the urine is used within 24 hours from elimination because otherwise it will turn to ammonia and will kill your plants. Mix 1 tsp. of baking soda per gallon of urine. The baking soda neutralizes the acid in the urine. Add at least 10 times as much water as urine you've collected (example: 10 gallons water for 1 gallon urine) to neutralize the nitrogen in the urine. These ingredients can be mixed directly in the bucket or transferred to a smaller container for mixing.

Step 3: Transfer the Urea to a Watering

Using the funnel, transfer the urea from your bucket or other containing to a watering can. If the mixture is spilled, it can easily be cleaned with soapy water and is harmless to the skin and other materials, as long as it is wiped away quickly.

Step 4: Apply to Plants

With your watering can, apply around and over the plants. When using the mixture by itself, use sparingly and then water plants. If you mix the mixture with water, you can be more liberal with the coverage. It is recommended not to over water plants and gardens when using urea fertilizer so the mixture does not enter the groundwater. The fertilizer can be used once a week on plants, so if you start a cycle of fertilizing certain areas on certain days, you will easily have enough to fertilize your whole garden or yard.

Because of the combination of phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, plants will experience rapid growth, much more rapid than they would using water alone. The urea fertilizer is organic, and will not harm the environment. Chemical fertilizers can be hazardous to people and pets, and if not used properly, can damage your plants as well. Chemical fertilizers also work their way into public water supplies, and have been detected at higher levels over the years.