Yet Another Cycling Forum
Random Musings => Miscellany => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: Charlotte on 10 November, 2008, 10:35:21 am
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Wise old gardeners' lore or big no-no?
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Very good idea for many reasons.
But
don't get caught by fellow gardens
mind the nettles
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The Japanese knotweed will grab an ankle and suck you into the compost bin if you try it.
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As I was told it, tis good for blokey pee, but girlies tis a no-no, cause it have the wrong chemical-y stuffs* in it
* Do tell me if I'm getting too detailed & technical here.
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I thought it was just a good source of nitrogen, and was gender-non-specific. We compost the cat litter (not the poos, just the soggy sawdust) and that has the same effect. And it keep the rats out of the compost :)
I used to wee on the compost when gardening at the former Volio Towers, when I couldn't be bothered going back to the house.
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From the council website:
"Human urine is a highly effective compost activator or catalyst and can help speed up the process of decomposition."
Unlike bloody avocado skins that will be there until kingdom come.
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Bloke pee is for tanning leather.
Anybody pee is for compost.
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Or for making gunpowder.
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Really? Cool! :demon:
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Really? Cool! :demon:
Leave it a long while, then take the earthy stuff off the bottom (best if you have a solid base rather than being on earth) and boil it up in some water. Filter off the gunk.
Keep boiling to reduce the liquid, then cool. Remove the white salt crystals, dissolve, filter to clean, and reduce, recrystallise. Should be Saltpetre or similar. This acts as a very effective oxidising agent.
Carbon is easy to obtain. Not sure about ready natural sources of sulphur (or should I say sulfur).
A fun book to read is 'Caveman Chemistry'.
..d
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That's how they used to make saltpetre (potassium nitrate) for gunpowder. (http://saltpetre (potassium nitrate) for gunpowder.)
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That's how they used to make saltpetre (potassium nitrate) for gunpowder. (http://saltpetre (potassium nitrate) for gunpowder.)
Yup, precisely what I was describing. Bat droppings are supposed to be good as well. Maybe I should boil up the chicken manure?
My daughter has been doing a chemistry masterclass (thanks RSE) for the last few weekends. I'd love to organise a 'big chemmistry' summer holidays masterclass where we can do things like making natural dyes, make charcoal, smelt iron, make bronze and glass, boil up bird poo to make gunpowder, making plastics of various sorts and so on. H&S would be interesting. But it would be sooo much fun to excite people in understanding how we get to where we are with chemistry.
..d
..d
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I thought it was just a good source of nitrogen, and was gender-non-specific.
The real reason men do it is because it's easier than going indoors. Good for the compost indeed! A nice story.
The reason women don't do it is because it's harder for them to pee standing up.
d.
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The top of our compost bin is quite high :-\
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Human urine is a good compost activator.
Girly wee and man wee do not differ chemically in any significant way (if the girly wee is not infected) though man wee may be simpler to collect and distribute.
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If you've a leaf blower the shredded leaves are a great activator too, a few bucket loads on and after a couple of weeks they're covered in a cobweby mould- great stuff. The heap must have anaerobic acivity so turning and mixing is better than peeing on the heap.
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Something else I need to teach the dog to do, clearly.
My compost bin is as yet not that full and took flight with the wind last night. It has obviously been watching the modern Dr Whos where the Daleks can fly...
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Don't wee on the compost heap too often. I reckon once a fortnight is sufficient, otherwise it becomes very smelly and unpleasant.
If it's too high for you, Charlotte, you can always lift Liz on. :thumbsup:
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Can I out myself as a CHM?
About once a month seems to be enough to stop it from drying out.