MiracleGro VS Pee: Which Fertilizer Is Better? Surprising Results!

In this video, I find out which fertilizer is better: MiracleGro fertilizer or pee! Some natural gardeners promote human urine as free homemade fertilizer, and human urine has an NPK ratio surprisingly similar to MiracleGro All Purpose (24-8-16). But how does it stack up in a controlled experiment? I designed an experiment to put human urine fertilizer to the test. In the end, we got shocking and surprising results!
With recent increases in fertilizer costs, finding ways to make homemade fertilizers and reduce costs is attractive. Using pee as fertilizer has a long history of use, but how does this free fertilizer stack up against "real" fertilizers sold at stores? This experiment was filmed over 5 weeks from design to final results. Be sure to stay until the end to see an explanation of the findings.
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The following articles were consulted:
goveganic.net/gardening-how-t...
www.lowimpact.org/posts/takin...
www.permaculturenews.org/2011...
TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 Using Urine As Fertilizer
2:05 Setting Up The Experiment
4:05 Making The Fertilizers (Rocky Montage)
6:25 Experiment Rules And Fertilizing Plants
9:58 Follow-Up Fertilizing And Progress
10:52 Experiment Results!
12:24 My Explanation Of The Results
17:56 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to use human urine as fertilizer for plants, have questions about growing fruit trees or want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and "how to" garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #urine #freefertilizer

[@enochroot9438]

I've been using urine as a fertilizer on my plants for years....ever since my wife started locking the door when I come home late from the bar

[@bestdjaf7499]

It's how I kill a beautiful bush of roses. At the beginning they were blooming like crazy, but after a couple of months they were dead.

[@MickSupper]

@@bestdjaf7499 You have to dilute it, not concentrated.

[@bestdjaf7499]

@@MickSupper I don't dilute my drinks. I am not gay. Why would I dilute my pee!? 🤣😂

[@atashalynn]

🤣🤣☠️

[@airealalexander684]

😂😂😂

[@paulmcwhorter]

We live in a slum in East Africa and teach sustainable, regenerative agriculture to the locals. We have a rabbit house with 170 rabbits, and the cages are designed where all the urine from the rabbits is automatically collected in a holding tank connected to our irrigation system. When we irrigate, a fertigator mixes the urine with the irrigation water and the dilute urine is sprayed on the crops. It is a gentle, balanced foliar fertilizer, and seems to discourage all manner of pests. When we turn the sprinklers on, you can sometimes see a cloud of bugs escaping the raised beds. We use the urine primarily as a fertilizer, but it seems to handle most pests. If that is not enough, tobacco grows on our compound almost like weeds, and mixing smashed tobacco leaves and some smashed hot peppers with the urine seems to take care of any pests not taken care of by the dilute urine alone. The cages also automatically collect the rabbit poop which is an excellent manure, and can be applied directly to raised beds without composting. We dedicate some fraction of our raised beds to growing timothy hay and alfalfa to feed the rabbits, so we have virtually no input costs in keeping the rabbits, and they provide most of our nutrient and pest controls needs for the compound. This alone justifies the keeping of the rabbit project. Now, this size of rabbit colony produces a great abundance of meat, and the meat is just a free benefit of the nutrient/pest control program. We are now investigating to expand the nutrient program by adding several tilapia tanks. Rather than recirculate and filter the fish water, we will simply use the fish water as a nutrient spray for the farm. Sort of like an open loop aquaponic system. Anyway, I am learning a whole lot from your channel, and we are finally achieving some really amazing results on this farm.

[@eastcoastnews9529]

Wow ❤ amazing 🇵🇷✊🏻🙏🏻

[@terriem3922]

Great ecology. I wish people didn't need to eat meat, but most do. But your use of resources is incredible.

[@kendexter]

Good Work

[@ahowl7mx]

Yep rabbit waste fertilizer is known to be pretty good. I think I saw some setups where the rabbit hutch was placed over the plants.

[@stevebricks]

Love it and thanks for the explanation 🇨🇻

[@johnnievillalobos9920]

You need to add wood ash to the pee for fruit bearing plants. Also, the pee you used was too strong. The ratio is 1 part pee to 10 parts water.

[@scottmurray2961]

Dude, I absolutely love the part where you faked out with the garden. Hose, that was very comical that was fantastic. You had me for a split second.

[@TriniVell]

Yeah I agree. Definitely a good sense of humor helped with the entertainment factor of this vid. Reminded me of the bro science lifting guy.

[@annmoody4186]

Me too. I was impressed by the flow.

[@pamalamartin4059]

For seedlings you need to mix 1 part urine to 20 parts water. The pepper was most likely burnt. For larger plants 10 parts water to 1 part urine. You were using it way too strong. Been using urine in garden for years.

[@avgrim7729]

It depends on how dilute your urine is. If you're dehydrated your urine will be dark. If you just drank a gallon on water it will be clear almost.

[@saintmichael3879]

THANK YOU!!! I can't believe he dumped a cup of urine directly onto the plant. No wonder the pepper up and died and the lettuce had issues. I've used urine for 20 years.

[@pamalamartin4059]

@@saintmichael3879 🫶

[@GMCLabs]

Thought the same thing, used straight pee on a plant once and it died within hours. Figured it just needed to be more dilute. I use MG, but I do like 1/4 the recommended strength and just fertilize more often/as needed. Since your plant basically is forced to absorb chemical fertilizers, I figure consistent low doses are better for the plant, then hitting them hard every 2 weeks.

[@D.Cooper420]

Also depends on diet

[@paulajohnson1096]

If you conduct this experiment again, may I suggest that you dilute the urine down 1:10 into a separate container and mix it well before you feed your plants. In order to dilute the solution down it needs to be properly mixed with water before not after. Essentially you fed your plants full strength urine and washed it down with some water.

[@dingo5842]

Yes, I was surprised to see this as well. When he poured the 50% urine solution, (and not more diluted to say, 10%) I thought to myself "he's burning those tiny baby roots!" Well, live and learn... Is there any way to mitigate the sodium content? Mixing at 1:10 and using it as a supplement fertilizer only reduces your fertilizer cost by 10%. Also, maybe a little mycorrhizae or lactoferment solution as a mediator would be helpful in both, and might help synthesize whatever nutrients are available in both. Either way, this was a great experiment, and I'm grateful that he conducted it!

[@amyturpen4726]

Also if he only used the urine from that 1st collection it would start to turn to ammonia after sitting for time and fermenting.

[@johnnylambert6003]

If you ad a teaspoon of baking soda it will kill the acid in the urine an mix 50/50

[@flatsville9343]

​@@johnnylambert6003 1 teaspoon of baking soda per gallon of straight urine?

[@rodionromanovich449]

This is why I flush my plants with water before I feed them

[@9n2f3]

turns out an engineer makes some of the most easily digestible and informative gardening videos out there!

[@valquirsouza1329]

I'd like to see a part two with: 1. More Samples of seedlings 2. Fresh urine vs aged (test if there is nitrogen gased off due to N cycle) 3. Your local top Soil test instead of no nutrient test, (since is probably how most people will be using it) 4. Intensity and PPM of urine vs MG (I'd like to know if they would perform the same with more diluted more frequent feedings )

[@williamslater-vf5ym]

So you want more samples, and fresher pee...and you have no idea why that might be a problem. I've seen the same thing with people who advocate electroculture. When somebody runs an experiment, and conclude thst its bullcrap, everyone has an excuse for why it didn't work. You have a favored result, and you're embarrased. So you try to discredit.

[@A.E.Lanman777]

Where is this guy getting the urine? Is it clean, healthy, pee or not. Is there RX drugs in the pee? What's the person's water/food intake? Miracle grow is poison. That's a fact that's not going to change, but if dude is not taking care of himself and peeing straight medicated acid, he could change what he is doing to see different results.

[@williamslater-vf5ym]

@@A.E.Lanman777 I love how pissed off people are at his results. Poor babies.

[@connecticutwormsgardens]

​@@A.E.Lanman777Clearly you didn't watch the entire video He explains in detail where, when and how the urine was collected, What the donor's diet consisted of and what medications could possibly be in it. Why are you asking us to watch the video for you?

[@rizzm.eickelman3960]

Nitrogen in urine does gas off and the nitrogen changes form. Urine is recommended to store air tight and use as fertilizer fresh, that is, within 24 hours. I am also interested to see the results of fresh vs month old.

[@FrederickDunn]

Human urine is a good fertilizer for plants. It is a natural source of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, which are essential nutrients for plant growth. Urine is also a good source of other trace elements, such as calcium, magnesium, and sulfur. Urine can be used as a fertilizer in a variety of ways. It can be diluted with water and applied directly to the soil, or it can be composted and then used as a fertilizer. Urine can also be used to make liquid fertilizer, which is a concentrated form of urine that can be diluted with water and applied to plants. When using urine as a fertilizer, it is important to dilute it properly. Urine is very concentrated, and if it is not diluted, it can burn plant roots. A good rule of thumb is to dilute urine 10:1 with water. It is also important to note that urine should not be used on plants that are sensitive to nitrogen, such as tomatoes and potatoes. These plants can be damaged by the high levels of nitrogen in urine. Overall, human urine is a safe and effective fertilizer for plants. It is a natural source of nutrients, and it is free and easy to obtain. If you are looking for a natural way to fertilize your plants, urine is a good option. Here are some additional tips for using urine as a fertilizer: Collect urine in a clean container. Dilute urine 10:1 with water. Apply urine to the soil around the plants, not directly on the leaves. Do not use urine on plants that are sensitive to nitrogen. Be sure to test the soil pH before applying urine, as urine can lower the pH of the soil. If you are using urine to make liquid fertilizer, be sure to store it in a cool, dark place.

[@buhingkalbaryo]

how about for eggplant?

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

Excellent reply, sir!

[@johnwest3287]

What about urine that is tainted with pharmaceutical drugs? There is nothing natural on pharmaceutical drugs.

[@jeffk464]

From being a fish keeper I understand the nitrogen cycle. Basically pee is ammonia, not great, you want bacteria to convert it first to nitrite, and then to nitrate before you put it on plants. So if you want to a really good fertilizer you want to setup a mini sewage treatment plant in your backyard. When I had my large fresh water aquarium setup I used to pump dirty tank water out onto the lawn and also dump all the muck from cleaning the filters on the lawn.

[@jeffk464]

By the way, next do poop

[@didiwin78]

Salt! We excrete like 90% of our excess salt through our urine, so it really depends what your diet was like when you filled that jug.

[@tracycottrell5146]

Yeah like if you just added straight fertilizer with no water

[@tracycottrell5146]

Like maybe dont "ferment" ?

[@chyfields]

Fresh pee vs stagnant pee, may also be a variable?

[@ifyourepeatalieoftenenough8500]

Salt. Good point 👍

[@littlejimmy7402]

Brawndo's got what plants crave, electrolytes!

[@teachoc9482]

Awesome! Great job doing a video that was fun to watch, nicely paced, and very thought-provoking. I definitely want to try a test like this, too. I had a garden expert tell me that plants need different amounts of N,P,K during the lifecycle, because N is good for green growth, P is for blooming/roots, and K is overall health.

[@TbirdMan]

Thanks for your thoughtful and informative experiment. I have been gardening and composting for years and I did my own experimentation by adding urine to my compost at various intervals. One result was a more rapid breakdown of the materials being composted and the end result was a robust, high nitrogen soil amendment. I used NO chemical fertilizers or pesticides and got great results. I didn't use a control along side the compost / soil mixture, but I had used Miracle Gro in previous years and the results were comparable. Gardening is the process of growing soil, not plants.

[@JanicePhillips]

I went 100% organic a couple of years ago and I've never had healthier plants than when I began fertilizing with pee! It works wonders for building soil and getting your compost...to compost! lol I do a weak application a couple of times for seedlings and then a stronger feeding or two went the plants are established and that's really all it takes. I'm raking in a massive harvest so far this year. Canning, dehydrating, and freezing my homegrown food every day for the last month or so. Shelves are stacked!

[@JanicePhillips]

Ah...yep. I grow in the dirt with compost and I remineralize my soil every year with a complete mix. I think you burnt that poor pepper right up. LOL That way WAY too much pee for those little guys...

[@suppaduppa]

you should try applying electroculture. Amazing technology

[@Miguel_Gabriel_]

The moment I got to “weak application”, I could not stop seeing in my head scenes in which I made fun of you for this.

[@happydays2190]

​@@JanicePhillipsquick question why is pee diluted by ten parts water but the fertilizer is diluted 1 part to 100?

[@carolmoore1038]

Yes, i put mine into the compost. Also compost chicken poo ans vegetable scraps.

[@breeze787]

Glad you didn't delete this video. Every failure or success must be recorded and now that you've published this on KZbin your theory and results are cast in concrete. Whether your experiment is flawed is for the next KZbinr to resolve. However you've answered a lot of questions and gave us closure for this. Great experiment you handled this like a real science project thanks for putting this up!

[@maxschon7709]

Add wood ass and burnt eggshell to the urine and the plants get much more nutrions.

[@GreenLegendRan]

Or just don't pour it without properly diluting it. Lots of studies were done on this and the piss needs to be dilute with 5-10 parts water. Not poured directly on a plant and then an equal measure of water, which would be 50-50.

[@esmilner3]

I started trying it at home, and I disagree with most of the ratios I see here. I've decided dilution of 30:1 is my baseline. I wouldn't bother going below 20:1, perhaps 15:1 if it's a plant thta can really use the mineral ratios in our bio-product. Of course, I began this experiment with repotted plants and dracena cuttings, in store bought potting soil. Even though I mixed together all my spent soil, and the unopened stuff, I'm sure it had significant added minerals anyway. But once I started diluting it much more the results have been pretty good.

[@Byrod1]

No, he did not answer any questions, the whole experiment is so flawed that it is useless. People do not grow anything in sterile coir.

[@MarkTrades__]

This is the scientific process not a failure! 🙂 The goal of growing healthy plants with only urine failed I suppose. But as an experiment, evidence was obtained that could lead to the next iteration of the experiment. I think millennial gardener was hard on himself saying that.

[@a.scottclement6967]

A friend gave me some heirloom lettuce sets. I planted them in a planter. He stopped by a few days later an noticed that they were nitrogen deficient by the color of the leaves. He had some commercial fertilizer in his truck and offered me some but I told him I wanted to try diluted urine instead. I did, and in a couple of days the leaves were beautiful. I was sold.

[@HildeAzul]

Newer flower / rose gardener here. I live in a townhouse that recently allowed me to remove a dying bush from two areas in front of my unit. The plants weren’t doing great. Actually, one perennial flowering plant wasn’t flowering, my Stalk flower weren’t growing tall, my delphinium looked like Sh!t and my rose was all but dead. I tested the soil and found the P,K were both “adequate” but the Nitrogen was depleted. I peeeeeeed and diluted it approx 1/10 and watered the garden with that (and cheated with fish emulsion 0-10-10 and bone meal 0-20-0) and I think it works! Within a few days my rose has new red shoots (red are blooms and not leaves) and my stalk is flowering / growing and the delphinium is growing new shoots. I also added this to the flowers in an already established garden and same, the rose is going nuts with new shoots. My honeysuckle is flowering like mad and growing new shoots. I am a believer. I don’t use Miracle grow as I prefer organic Alaska Fish Emulsion, Dr earth’s and superthrive.

[@Sabbathissaturday]

I can say that urine is all my corn needed one year. It had a few yellowing leaves and I added some of my yellow and it’s yellow disappeared and it was the best corn I’ve ever eaten. I was going to plant it for shade (high desert) and let the deer eat it, but it was so beautiful and delicious I didn’t share with them. I did give them all of my broccoli this year and most of my cabbage 😊 I’m a carnivore.

[@shirlebug]

I should try that cuz I live in high desert too.

[@truthonly7699]

yeah since going carnivore i dont grow as much veg. have you seen sun hemp for tall cover crop, deer prolly love it,

[@mkshffr4936]

I am planning to plant food for rabbits and squirrels on my suburban lot and get myself a pistol crossbow. Seems like the easiest way for a carnivore to get food from their property.

[@brianboe3774]

Best venison I ever ate was the one I caught trespassing in my corn patch

[@bradspaugh9827]

Just tell everyone how you did it after they eat it

[@MoparRob440]

This is why you have a fence around your property isn't it..

[@mslea13]

10’!!! 😂😂😂

[@darla123]

😆🤣😂

[@hazelscott88]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@guywilliams3108]

Can't put raw urine on any type of plant. You Oughta try just putting raw chicken shit on a plant see what happens

[@RennLea]

😅😂

[@ronwoodward716]

The Pee also has Salt (NaCl). Miracle grow does not have any salt in it. Romans used Salt to poison the soil. That is what pee does poisons the soil. If you could remove the salt the pee would work better.

[@MAGATRON-DESTROY]

I drank pee and it didn't taste salty... But seriously most salt comes out of your body in sweat not urine

[@MrBeeologo]

Besides the 10-1-4 application being a bit strong at 1 to 1, better at least 1 to 5 dilution, consider the gradual concentration of salt, NaCl, from your diet. Most of our western diet is a bit rich in salt, tasty in our food, but easy to accumulate in the planting medium. Some folk are learning to moderate the NaCl but most of us use more than MDR 1,500 mg/day. Some plants can tolerate salinity, but not as much as we need, or like, so have to consider that.

[@danielvonbose557]

Add the urine to compost. It helps break the cellulose from wood down to lignins. As far as testing, you could run a parallel test feeding MG to a compost. Then use the compost to grow plants for the experiment.

[@Eduardo_Espinoza]

Tnx, I'm having trouble breaking down compose, will try that next :)

[@larrytischler570]

​@@Eduardo_Espinozathrow a handful of grass fertilizer on a pile of compost stir it and spray enough water on it to make it damp but not soggy wet.

[@gregpr8443]

Drunk compost = Coca-Cola, beer, amonia or to make it Organic- sugar, yeast, Urine

[@megatherium99]

I tried this and the neighbors complained. Oh wait....I guess you meant collect it first?!? 🙂

[@HaloWolf102]

Just be careful because this is the basis for some illegal activities. You might get some unwanted guests.

[@housecarl1114]

Great experiment, I think the PEE is an excellent amendment for soil that is already rich (compost etc.) in micro-nutrients, but still probably lacks sufficient N and K since these are required in large amounts. Another item to consider however is that the pepper plant may have been burned. I have come across references to university studies that have concluded that urine needs to be cut by a ration of 8 parts water to 1 part urine to avoid being burned. 50/50 may be too concentrated. Though I still think you are exactly right. Pee simply isn't a stand alone fertilizer, but may be quite useful as an augmentation.

[@kevinbossick8374]

10 or higher to be safe.

[@sidoniewinterpasternak9938]

I still remember that in my grandma's village, the people used the animal and human waste as the best fertilizer

[@jj-sc1kq]

I never expected it to be a complete fertilizer, but I did expect that it had some of what a plant needs. I have had other people tell me that they thought human urine would kill the plants. So this is an interesting experiment to see. Thanks

[@joeshmoe7967]

It works very well as lawn fertilizer. Like really really well.

[@chompnormski]

I would think the urine toxicity depends on what the human has been eating.

[@7thsluglord363]

And their fluid intake and exercise routine. Im a heavy duty water drinker that also sweats a LOT, so my gallon of pee would be MUCH more clear than his was. And if you collect pee right after vigorous workouts, there will be significantly more ammonia in the mix. Lots of variables with the pee

[@SameCoin12]

Also, their meds. I am on some meds that would kill plants. 😂

[@womanoftheozarks]

@@SameCoin12 He explained he was not on any meds

[@rhensontollhouse]

Depends on how fresh the pee it. Very fresh it is sterile and the N is in the form of urea, nontoxic. But let it stand around a while contaminated and it will ferment into ammonia and become toxic. Space agencies are planning to use human pee when growing food or oxygen producing plants for long term space travel.

[@katie7748]

​@7thsluglord363 looking at the thumbnail of apple cider coloured whizz, my first thought was, "My God are you dehydrated!!" Idk maybe it turns brown when it sits?? But that can't be true because I had a barbarian ex who used bottles and they didn't turn brown....

[@Henriquezblu]

Such a funny way of getting important information out there and I can appreciate you for it.

[@jublywubly]

I used to have an orange tree that was growing in clay soil. I don't know if pee helped it at all, but I didn't add anything else and it grew loads of big oranges each year. I'm certain the soil itself had all the nutrients the plant needed.

[@4712guest]

trees roots go much deeper than veggies

[@davidlee8551]

Keep the video up, along with the comments! This is how we learn !! Thank you for your work !

[@PUTDEVICE]

I am in a FB group for tomato growing. there they recommend 10 to 15% urine in the water. the advantage is that it is free

[@robklein583]

He used full strength urine for his test. He should have used about 3tbsp of urine in his gallon test solution diluted with water. He used 1.5tbsp of miracle grow diluted with water for the other solution. Remember that urine was about half as strong as the miracle grow powder according to several sources so he should have used twice as much urine by weight as he did miracle grow by weight. That is what the problem was. Full strength urine is about a hundred times as strong as his MG diluted solution.

[@chardoe]

Nice experiment! I would love to see a 2nd version of this experiment with the plants planted outdoors in garden soil to see the results there.

[@YouTubecensorsthought]

You can start out any seedling inside any size pot. What you need to keep in mind is not to over water the soil. Remember you’re not watering to soil you are watering the plant. Water accordingly.

[@Philipk65]

Great experiment. Was thinking that if you took multivitamins and minerals or increased your dosage of them maybe the results might be different with the urine. Just something to consider.

[@addrock7695]

What about Meth?? That gets things done!

[@jennifereverettgrowsfoodor1598]

I have never thought of urine as a complete fertilizer though it does contain more than N, P, and K, but another variable is pH, and urine can have a very high pH especially if consuming a lot of veggies. When I was on a very low carb diet, I was checking the pH of my urine daily, and there were times when it was about a 9! Few plants like or can tolerate a high soil pH (tomatoes are very sensitive, in my experience, to strong urine whether that's from high pH or high nitrogen and can easily decline as your experiment showed), and you don't have compost in your mix for helping to buffer the pH of the urine so you will need more water to reduce the PH. I suggest a redo of the experiment with a lower concentration (maybe 10-50%) the whole length of the experiment--just more volume as the plant grows. I believe you said that the plants looked equally healthy for the first two weeks. Perhaps the 2-week mark is when you jumped the concentration. Another good experiment would be to see how long plants can remain happy on urine alone without supplementing with other nutrients. The nitrogen content of urine is also affected by diet. I consume a lot of a food that increases nitrogen content.

[@justinw1765]

I agree, a diet very high in whole food plant foods, especially veggies and fruits, tends to leak to high alkalinity in the urine and saliva. A diet very high animal protein (especially meat) tends to lead to a more acidic urine and saliva. A diet high in junk foods also tends to lead to a more highly acidic urine and saliva. A diet high in both of the just former will tend to lead to a very highly acidic urine and saliva. My well water is somewhat acidic. Back when I used to grow stuff (gave up because way too much shade, not enough sun), I used to mix fresh urine with a a little epsom salt, some kelp powder, and a very little bit of wood ash, all in a lot of well water.

[@AntonGully]

To throw another spanner into the works, I don't think that coco coir was buffered so it'd probably throw things out of whack short term.

[@JK-ft4kx]

In the saltwater aquarium hobby, the fish waste needs to be broken down from ammonia into nitrites and then from nitrites to nitrates or usable nitrogen. Same thing happens in a waste treatment plant. I wonder if you had the bacteria and time to change that urine into usable nutrients, if it would have made a difference.

[@schayban16]

Exactly thank you!

[@jaimethiessen]

Can you expound on this? I want to start using ray aquarium water on my plants..

[@MichaelLuttgeso21968]

@@jaimethiessen When fish pee or poop the water becomes toxic when it builds up so you need to add something to the water in the fish tank that dissolves their waste or changes it into something safe for them to swim in because your freshwater or salt water tank is not a real environment.

[@jaimethiessen]

Ok. Moreso in Saltwater. Freshwater aquarium water can be used directly?

[@MichaelLuttgeso21968]

@@jaimethiessen Yes, probably, not sure. Now it makes sense what he said about the soil. The actual earth like real salt water would be able to break it down naturally instead of using somewhat fake soil in planters. Both tanks freshwater and saltwater need to be cleaned for the fish?

[@joejosepf2709]

Great video, my bougainvillea plants were blooming when I bought them, last spring but haven’t done anything since..

[@alice20001]

I was having issues growing some plants on my soil. Once I tested, it turned out they were low in Zinc. I didn't even know that was a thing. The micronutrients explanation makes sense. May be adding the micronutrients they may be more compatible.

[@solararch2001]

I would enjoy seeing a redo of this experiment using normal garden soil, not inert material. Also, mix the urine and water together first prior to watering. You could be burning the plants with straight urine. (Ever notice a dead patch of grass where a dog peed, which, after recovering from the urine burn, turns dark green and lush ?) My guess is the plants will perform equally well with the revised protocol.

[@jstamps9578]

The next part of your experiment should be a taste test.

[@aaronbellomo724]

the lettuce or the fertilizer😆

[@bultvidxxxix9973]

My initial thought was that the nutrients come in a form that plants can not use. For example we pee out creatinine, which does contain nitrogen. But plants may not be able to use it directly and need microbes to break it down first. And these microbes might be missing in the pod, but would exist in soil. Certainly an interesting experiment, thanks for sharing.

[@BrandonJohnson-sw1yj]

Hey great video! Good thoughts and point of view, the other thing to consider is the salt load from urine. That amount of salt in coir is like you said, not going to have enough micro nutrients and the salt load could start to effect the roots and ability to absorb the nutrients.

[@timmartin8191]

Thanks for posting this experiment. I saw another comment on KZbin on another channel that stated that the author's father used only urine and wood ash and had incredible (enviable) yields. I"m sure dilution is important and he was growing in garden soil.

[@justinw1765]

Especially with urine AND woodash, you really have to dilute.

[@SQLUniversity]

This was a great video. I think you're on the right track with your micro-nutrient theory. Good science, good conclusion.

[@isajames6000]

Is urine any good at catalyzing the composting process? Have used it to break down maple and oak leaves. Seemed to work well.

[@doomguy584]

Something I was wondering as well

[@Blakehx]

Cool test, thanks! Have you used anything like azomite, rock dust, etc?

[@RobertBee-fs8hv]

There is another Chanel that pays for element analysis of that type of trace elements compared to tree leaves and urine and the rock sample had less trace elements than urine or tree leaves

[@CoroaEntertainment]

It's not compete until you harvest and sample the product to see which tastes better. Come on, take one for the team. 🙂 Btw, the P should have been kept on the fridge, because warm temps damage any vitamins and minerals that may have been in it. I would also guess that fermented P can't be a good fert either.

[@pandora3224]

Urine should be stored in a cool dark area and fermented for 30 days for sterility before use for agricultural purposes.

[@cogit8able]

Urine at room temperature converts to ammonia.

[@kevinbossick8374]

You can see my videos of a garden fertilized with urine.

[@Sine-gl9ly]

Human wee is used by those wishing to dye with plant-sourced indigo dyes by purely natural means (ie without industrially-produced chemicals). It is referred to as a Sig vat, and the chemical changes needed are caused by the fermentation of human urine ... very interesting process.

[@DanielFarrell]

Not reporting/publishing negative results is a major problem with science. Thanks for sharing regardless of the results.

[@heidiwheeler9917]

I loved watching this!! Great experiment!

[@samuelmonteon1430]

You obviously already know that your sample size was too small, N=40 is considered a bare minimum for statistically significant results. Also, the urine was way too strong, I have seen it recommended to be applied no more than once per week at a 5% or less solution. I'd like to see such an experiment redone with these considerations.

[@DanielinLaTuna]

I was going to say the same thing. He's an engineer, and they typically work with small sample sizes, for example when doing materials stress and strain testing, or failure analysis. They believe the small sample is a pretty close approximation of the population. A real scientist (that is, not an engineer) knows that ain't so. Even a biologist, with limited math skills, knows enough to make the sample size large enough to yield statistically significant results, and would verify a conclusion by hiring a statistician to validate the work.

[@trippyp5817]

exactly what I was thinking

[@asicengineer]

@@DanielinLaTuna Engineers typically work with HUGE quantities, for example when making 10 Million mobile phones or 10 million cinderblocks and do pull a few here and there for quality checks (and yes, they understand the math involved in sampling and testing.) An engineer gets fired if they don't know their math inside and out because the thing doesn't work. Perhaps you are basing your impression of engineers on too small a sample size, or perhaps you have been faking your data in a rush to get your papers published.

[@SameCoin12]

@@asicengineer thank you! My dad is an engineer. Let’s just say without his work, and those who work with him, the military would have a lot of training accidents.

[@simsalviaexperience4109]

that, and down here in Australia native plants suffer from phosphorus toxicity as we have a primitive soil.

[@4103marshy]

Been a fan for a few years and I must say this is one of your best videos! I laughed out loud multiple times. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Wishing you and Dale all the best.

[@seananderson7087]

I'm very curious to see what would happen with just one scoop of MG at the start. They don't need much in the way of micro nutrients, but they do need them. But I would really like to see this with more identical fertilizers, those micro nutrients really make a difference.

[@lymariegonzalez4416]

That was a great video, and I think your method seemed pretty solid. That being said, MiracleGro I think is meant to provide "complete" nutrition where soil biology is lacking. If you were to try repeating this experiment, maybe try adding the soil biology to that inert coco-coir/perlite mix. You wouldn't be adding an additional fertilizer per se to the experiment because what the biology is doing is just making whatever is there accessible to plants. (I could go on a very long rant about this, but I don't want to write you an unasked-for essay in your comments, lol).

[@tatymschneider6681]

This was a very intelligent and creative gardening experiment. Great work! And thank you for sharing your findings with us! I'm very impressed with your well-spoken conclusions and I love meeting the clever mind behind another great gardener! I look forward to seeing more of your videos.

[@schayban16]

Wrong... urine has to be digested by soil microbes to be beneficial... not a fair experiment

[@Archipocalypse]

I will respond under here so maybe it gets seen. So one big problem i see with your experiment @The Millennial Gardener. You use the same scoop with out cleaning it to pour both the pee and the miracle grow into the pots. This was slightly rinsed when you added rain water but you did not do this each time. This is grounds for cross contamination of the different fertilizers and taints the experiment. I applaud the effort and the idea, I suggest a more mindful application of these ideas. I only say this to attempt to assist, not as a knock on your abilities or your channel. I support everything you are doing. I think your doing great, keep it up!

[@richardlewis1091]

I like to see a repeat of the experiment with a compost tea used to inoculate the roots.

[@debidaniels2201]

He didn’t use the pee in the right concentration. 1:10 is what I’ve read so he killed it by burning it with too strong a dose. Another person posted that seedlings require even more dilution, 1:20. Using a sample size of one also isn’t scientifically worthy of showing any results anyways. What if the one plant had some root damage from the transplant? He just turned off many ppl from using a free natural fertilizer.

[@mrmikieshomestead4668]

I use human urine in my compost piles. It is mixed with hen house liter and veggie stalks including corn stalks. I do have good luck with this, and believe it is better than direct addition to a plant.

[@Kyle-sr6jm]

Urine kicks compost into high gear.

[@frankenfoamy]

Good video. You might want to factor in the salt load from Urine. ( one reason you should not drink it with no other water) I use a 20 to 1 dilution for my lawn.

[@tptrading_23]

Thanks so much for taking so much time with this test. I had no idea the urine was actually a good fertilizer!

[@AliRadicali]

I'd be interested in a follow-up experiment comparing inert medium to potting soil and/or untreated compost or soil from the yard. If the pee-plants do much better on pre-fertilised potting soil it would further strengthen the hypothesis that urine is lacking in one or more micronutrients.

[@rosemarythyme8595]

I have never in my life been so entertained or laughed so hard on a garden video but yet learned so much!😂 Dude, this is the best garden video I’ve ever seen! That music and preparation for the showdown on Pee vs. MiracleGro had me cracking up Laughing so loud my cats were looking at me like I am crazy😂

[@debbiesykes5491]

Glad to get this problem solved Thanks for this info

[@TheMillennialGardener]

You’re welcome!

[@dmichaylow]

Awesome video I was under the impression that the urine needs to decompose for at least a month before its Usable A video of this experiment in garden dirt would be interesting aswell.great job Thank you

[@rachelriley5318]

This was a GREAT video! The experiment was interesting, full of good information, and also humorous! My husband and I laughed multiple times while watching! 😂 Thank you for all you do, we have learned a lot in the couple months we have been watching your videos.

[@GreenLegendRan]

This teaches a wrong result. The urine needed to be diluted to work, otherwise it would pickle the plant like dog piss pickles the grass. If he used 10 tablespoons of Miracle Grow per gallon it would have been a fair comparison. Entertaining stuff but do it again with 5-10 times diluted pee to show people a meaningful result.

[@thebigdb1]

The main problem here is dosage. By nature p is a great herbicide. If you want to get rid of weeds in your yard and don't want to use weed killer, 99% of the time it kills anything that you have growing you want to kill. At least in my experience that's the case. When it's full strength or half. The only time that urine actually makes good for fertilizer when it's one part urine to 10 part water. Other than that it doesn't work as it's too strong.

[@DanielinLaTuna]

Urine is actually toxic enough to kill athletes foot fungus. I've used white vinegar to kill weeds between the bricks in my patio, but only because I didn't want the lingering odor of human urine in our seating area. I have used possible further out to discourage rodents, though.

[@MorganOtt-ne1qj]

I haven't been able to kill any weeds where I whizz, but I shall keep trying

[@robklein583]

He used full strength urine for his test. He should have used about 3tbsp of urine in his gallon test solution diluted with water. He used 1.5tbsp of miracle grow diluted with water for the other solution. Remember that urine was about half as strong as the miracle grow powder according to several sources so he should have used twice as much urine by weight as he did miracle grow by weight. That is what the problem was. Full strength urine is about a hundred times as strong as his MG diluted solution.

[@GrowingAnswers]

I’ve done tons of plant experiments. There’s nothing wrong with your sample size. The only thing that causes a variable is application. Soil or compost or any organic medium containing life will have interactions with the introduction of compounds. Soil biology can be altered by what is added to it and then the microbes releases the nutrients to the plant. So while in an inert experiment testing direct relationships between plants and nutrients yields clear answers, a dynamic relationship between nutrients and living soil may yield different results with an indirect relationship between the fertilizer and the plants.

[@myahsoodinim8570]

No experiment survives first contact with data, but it was a relaxing pleasure to watch you go through the process. Or at least the first iteration of the process; I'd value an experiment to test your hypothesis about missing nutrients, and the many commenters' hypothesis that half diluted urine is too harsh.

[@MM-iq5xd]

Interesting experiment. Thank you! Please also consider doing the experiment in living soil (your normal garden soil, topped-dressed w some compost soil)? It would be interesting to see if urine would do better where there is active soil life/biology all around it to diffuse it & break it down, maybe helping the plants utilize it's micro-nutrients better. My garden plants do very well this way & it's lowered disease & pest pressure.

[@danielvonbose557]

Active soil life is assumed, but not always correctly, it my intention to work with the naturally occurring microbes in the soil. There is the emerging field of regenerative ag which deals with soil biology.

[@joeyisamazing1091]

I think urine is still fine to use but you have to use it as a supplement only. For example use miracle grow or whatever you normally do but then also mix urine in diluted with water when you are watering other times.

[@selenanieto8152]

Great informative video! I love doing garden experiments!

[@schawn4925]

“Babe I’m not drunk I’m just fertilizing the garden”

[@mustwereallydothis]

If you chose to do this again next year, I would very much like to see a comparison of the two "fertilizers" with good soil. Perhaps using some garden soil mixed with added perlite for drainage?

[@maggietaylor9713]

Thankyou. To overcome the limitations of urine I process it by putting it over my garden compost pile - not only does it speed up the process but super charges it.

[@wyndiefeatherstone948]

Thank you, I have wondered about this as well. My neighbor uses urine, although I never asked how it is used or if it is combined with other fertilizers, but I appreciate your test! I think I will stick with my Miracle Grow!

[@nathanielreichert4638]

Thank you for the ten-minute long entertaining advertisement for miracle grow. Great job with controlling all the parameters of the experiment

[@Shaun.Stephens]

Exactly. It wasn't an experiment it was a 'how not to use urine as a fertiliser' demonstration. Urine should be used fresh and diluter 10:1 with water.

[@ausfoodgarden]

Any chance you might revisit this, but use a mix of urine and fish meal instead of just urine? That would go some way to address the nutrient imbalance. I do use some urine but add it to my compost bins to keep them moist rather than putting it straight on the plants. If you don't do it - I might have to 😄

[@It.Is.what.It.Is.404.2]

I would be very interested in your results if you do it.

[@alex_foster]

Great videos from one engineer to another 👏🏾

[@jasonandjennifervilbig2151]

Loved the video lol, anything for science, only thing you're missing is a control setting with plants just getting water.

[@CherokeeViking]

I'm curious if salt content in pee had an effect.

[@robklein583]

He used full strength urine for his test. He should have used about 3tbsp of urine in his gallon test solution diluted with water. He used 1.5tbsp of miracle grow diluted with water for the other solution. Remember that urine was about half as strong as the miracle grow powder according to several sources so he should have used twice as much urine by weight as he did miracle grow by weight. That is what the problem was. Full strength urine is about a hundred times as strong as his MG diluted solution.

[@grumpyoldfart3891]

If you have that much salt in yer pee, yer garden is th least of yer worries. Just don't pee in th same place all th time.

[@TOPMOSTPOP]

I developed wrlds best garden system. Chicken wire vases lined with leaves. Can dip in water to save water. Mulch all surfaces, breathes better, roots grow beneath vase or if lay on side, endless advantages mobile garden. Plants exploding in these vases. Cut 32" x 48" give u 20" tall 4gallon pot, dynamite (shaped long root system) Plant tomatoe 1gallon dirt, add dirt as tomatoe grows so stem forms more&more roots.

[@TOPMOSTPOP]

Ocean water is same as human womb. Plants like it. Heals cuts fast. Table salt poison.

[@joshuaharris4439]

I would love to see pee vs nothing just to see how much it helps

[@michaelochman1953]

Need a control without any fertilizer.

[@derekfuqua1254]

There are more videos.

[@Vertikala-pc5ig]

It helps so much you wouldn’t believe. Try it out you will be amazed. I use 1 liter of urine and 8 liters of water. Actually there is nothing better than urine

[@derekfuqua1254]

@@Vertikala-pc5ig The harsh reality is that most commercial fertilizers have salts in them. They seem good in the short run, but it kills the biology in the soil in the long run. Requiring even more fertilizer later.

[@atashalynn]

I'm gonna try it, nothing to lose 😂

[@pattywykes5873]

Your experiment was a success! Thank you

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Thanks for watching!

[@Filialla]

Yes, I agree with other comments. Pee was way too concentrated. Also don't ferment your pee but use it as fresh as possible because the nutrients deteriorate quickly.

[@victorb145]

My question is. Did the plants start going downhill before or after you went to full-strength?

[@jennifereverettgrowsfoodor1598]

I'm wondering the same thing.

[@victorb145]

@@jennifereverettgrowsfoodor1598 We are probably going to have to keep wondering. My guess is you're thinking that he burnt the plants when he went to full strength. It certainly makes more sense to me than the video.

[@jennifereverettgrowsfoodor1598]

@@victorb145 I have killed plenty of young tomato plants with full strength before I knew better. Probably too much nitrogen and/or the pH was too high. Diluted is a requirement for success.

[@victorb145]

​@@jennifereverettgrowsfoodor1598 Your spittin facts. But it's not like I was going to start using urine on my plants anyway. The the dog and cats like using the flower bed, but if it was a garden they wouldn't be allowed.

[@JJKebab9]

Would be interesting to run this experiment again (larger sample size, obvs) but have you take multi-vitamin tablets every day. Excess minerals will be excreted along with the usual nitrogen, potassium etc and might make up for the deficiencies.

[@xianseah4847]

Multivitamin tablets are not to be overconsumed.

[@AM-es4mp]

Yes also . Health of urine is dependant on what the human consumes - foods and Water ! along with their health ! It deff deters some Cats from gardens tho 🤣👀

[@A.P.I.-2bon2b]

Good workout. Interesting 🤔 but nasty experiment 😝. Great time at shoreline. And thank you for explaining the end results. I usually purchase any broken bags of fertilizer at a discount from the Home Depot with a military discount. And save them for a later day when perlite and other broken bags are sold at discount. Then mix them together and generously spread the barrels across the entire garden. And turn the mix into the soil before watering and tarping and leaving covered for two or three weeks to kill of weed growth. Then uncover and begin planting seedlings and seeds. I have had great yields from our family garden. With the included addition of Miracle Grow after a month and an additional application a month later then no more but fresh water up to harvest. Yummy Then turn the soil water, tarp and repeat the entire process. I will be copying your black can composting x2 because you are on it! Very good explaining of garden success and failures. Keep up the great sharing., AL

[@destinypaintball]

Human urine has a lot of sodium. It prevents uptake of water and can stunt growth. You could test the salinity of your urine with a dip test. And at the end of the experiment take X grams of soil from each pot (around the roots), add a few mL of water and do a saline test at the end to see if you're salting the plants. Like you said though, there are a lot of micronutrients missing that real soil would help with. Next step is compost/potting soil/natural soil - and do 6 seedings. Though also only having 1 in each isn't a very definitive test. having 10 in each soil type/fertilizer type would start to give you a much better idea, but that would be 60 plants...

[@lagoya]

Millennial Gardener providing a valuable community service 👍👍

[@TheMillennialGardener]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@IAMJUDAH01]

​@@TheMillennialGardenera week of good pee wasted on a pee plant I wonder how that pee plant tasted like 😂😅?? Very pissy

[@bradspaugh9827]

Good video bro. You put a lot of work into this and it shows. Happy gardening.

[@ItsVideos]

You should have diluted fertilizers and then poured them into the containers, rather than pour full strength and then water. There likely were areas of full strength fertilizer in the potting mix, which could have affected the outcomes.

[@johnbeckwith1361]

Great video. I experienced the same results on my lawn after years of going at the same spot. But I was always doing that while drinking beers. That patch of lawn died and has never returned. I believe there was alcohol in my watering which might have been the biggest factor. Beyond that I agree, urine just doesn't cut it. Better to use something specific to what your plant needs that time of year. Besides, it's kinda bizzar that people would want to use piss to water their plants.

[@ancientlifestyle8842]

You should do an experiment with real soil. What if Pee and real soil works as a team to produce good plants

[@TheMillennialGardener]

That wouldn't be controllable. Everyone's soil is going to be different, so the results would be unreliable. I have very sandy soil where I live, so my results could be dramatically different than someone who has a heavy clay soil, or a loamier native soil. The only way to do this reliably is to use an inert medium.

[@shawnbriscoe1769]

I believe that human urine ( or any mammalian urine for that matter) has had enough trials over many years, decades, and centuries to be relied upon as a safe organic soil amendment for hungry growing plants. we can all go back and forth about the proper ratio to administer, but the safe road of diluted solution can't possibly be harmful to plants. Thanks for be brave enough to publish the video.

[@lifeunderthemic]

You are incorrect. This is called a false positive. This happens in the early stages of the plant and provide plenty to talk about as growth is natural. Julius Hensel detailed this clearly, as the manure companies had been pushing their waste to the minds of rot.

[@rodlappin6147]

Further dilution of both may have helped. I noticed you poured the "Fertilizer's" in and then added the "Rain Water". Agree that not many would use your soil mixture it's was sort of like hydroponic growth and I really dislike products only grown in that medium.

[@TheMillennialGardener]

But that's the point, because it's inert. You can't use soil from your yard or soil from a bagged mix. That would not only introduce tons of uncontrolled nutrients and invalidate the experiment, but everyone's soil is different. There would be no way to repeat the experiment. You can only use inert mediums that do not introduce nutrients, and you have to be able to repeatedly rebuild that medium.

[@Arkryal]

The urine mix will lack sufficient magnesium (there is magnesium in there, but the calcium to magnesium ratio is too high), and you need to remove some of the sodium-based salts so they don't accumulate in the soil. These are both easily fixed to bring the test to parity. If you want to use urine as a fertilizer, you don't give it to the crops directly. Give it to a salt-tolerant plant that accumulates magnesium, and then use that harvest as a green mulch or compost. Comfrey is often used as it fits the bill nicely. However, I prefer Viper's Bugloss. It doesn't grow as fast as comfrey, but I keep bees and that produces premium honey as a byproduct, it looks better in the garden and doesn't spread as aggressively as comfrey does. Comfrey will be more efficient at scale however. Stinging Nettles are also a great choice as it is both food and fodder. Another alternative is to use urine to kick-start composting. It's good for breaking down heavier materials like small twigs and wood chips. On a larger scale, the urine can be fermented first, then used at a higher dilution rate. That's what you would do if you were growing a field scale with a communal source of urine (most likely from animal pens at that scale).

[@Arkryal]

And for the pepper plant, the lack of iron is the issue there. Iron is essential for peppers.

[@fvrrljr]

i used this method, my brother's backyard was dead. i moved into his RV to help him with home upgrades plumbing, electrical, solar panels etc. i used black water diluted and brought his 40x35 patch of grass to life (before anyone starts with it will contaminate water supplies, not in this area) used urine for garden vegetables. purslane stews galore with or without meats. (pork / chicken) family loves it. they always threw purslane in trash thinking it was weeds, Yes and No. it also took care of dandelions problem. they grow because of to much potassium and/or a calcium deficiency. besides we ate as salads, introduced them to Mallow aka malva neglecta salads

[@xionix4]

I appreciate that you decided to post anyway. You've contributed data to humanity.

[@nolagirlhomestead]

Age of the urine matters. Notice old pee smells like ammonia? Duh 🙄 Results need updating to allow for this variable.

[@jasonguest5820]

It would be interesting to have both crops tested for microplastics. You didn't use any here, but the manufactured soils with white beads, those white beads are the actual nutrients coated in a film of plastic on a production line. Studies have shown plants can deliver microplastics from the soil to their leaves and fruits. I'm curious if it's even possible to avoid eating microplastics at this point.

[@neilhallberg1784]

It is possible, its called starvation.

[@RobertBee-fs8hv]

​@@neilhallberg1784 yeah think of all the plastic partials created in home construction sawing foam board . Starvation is the right answer

[@aliensmanillegalaliens8950]

Bro its in the air to☠

[@laine2098]

​@@aliensmanillegalaliens8950in the air??? Are you talking about forever chemicals??? Apparently we are already totally saturated with the stuff and there's no getting rid of these death sentences

[@denisedixon9146]

Definitely unavoidable...look at all the plastic he used 🙄

[@nekomancer9157]

traditiional practice would not have used only pee for the fertiliser. additionally you just dosed those plants with ammonia nitrate. aged pee has microbes in it that turn the urea into cleaning ammonia

[@ddteamrc6461]

I think the deformities occurred might have been due to the pee expiring, the case might have been different if you use fresh urine each week

[@yolo_burrito]

I remember growing up the horse would pee in a spot on the turf and that spot would go dark green and grow like crazy.

[@hoaacres7084]

Isn't it funny to think that is how we probably figured this stuff out. Our great great...grandfather noticed the same thing and became a land baron. 😊

[@cathy9485]

This was an good experiment, thank you. I was wondering if you had considered adding a control plant as a third category by feeding it just water? This could be compared to the urine to see what the urine did to aid in growth.

[@kittimcconnell2633]

I have the same question / request for a water-only control group.

[@TinaH123]

Could it be possible that there are other components to human urine that stunts growth? Maybe PH differences between the two fertilizers?

[@erikahuxley]

No, he didn't diluted it enough, it was too strong.

[@Sourpusscandy]

The other variable is the freshness of the pee. Good job doing your experiment!

[@ab_ab_c]

Good testing & reasoning. I would concur that you should have had at least one planting of each plant that had no pee or MG fertilizer. Additionally, urine can have lots of sodium in it (depending upon your diet) & some plants are suseptible to increased sodium concentration in the growing medium. Another thing that you didn't mention is that your MG did, in fact, provide more P & K--which could definitely have made a difference. I would have also mixed the pee & rain water before applying it. Thanks for sharing!

[@user-ge8iu3by6o]

Finally an accurate comment. No one mentioned sodium and it is the primary reason urine does not work as fertilizer. There is a technique called alkaline urine dehydration that evaporates the water from the urine while stopping the nitrogen from evaporating with it. An an enzyme in urine converts to ammonia as the water evaporates which is why the nitrogen leaves as well. By increasing the PH of the urine this stops that process. This process allows you to directly extract the nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous from urine while leaving the other components behind. It is possible to use urine as a fertilizer directly but you need to know what you are doing and you certainly cannot use it in a 1:1 amount with regular fertilizer. It is strange that his lettuce survived because lettuce is highly sensetive to salts. I suspect that something else occured with the dead plant because that seems odd. I would not take away anything from a test like this since it is on a sample size of 1 plant in each category. That is hardly scientific.