What do coffee grounds and human urine have in common? Both are useful and abundant natural forms of fertilizer which don’t have to be bought. Natural fertilizers of course are materials that contain plant nutrients obtained from the remains of an organism, while synthetic chemical fertilizers are nutrients produced from inorganic materials. This article is not concerned with the pros and cons of chemical versus natural fertilizers. It is explained here as to how two household ingredients viz., coffee grounds and urine, can be used as a replacement for commercial fertilizers.

Urine: The three major plant nutrients of urine is an excellent source of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. For use in fertilizer, it is also available in the ideal chemical form liquid. Before using urine as a fertilizer, one should dilute it (except in select situations) in order to reduce its acidity. Using gray water or rainwater to dilute urine is an excellent option. The used, dirty water that is flushed down the drains of sinks, showers, and washing machines is known as “gray water”. It is a perfectly safe source of irrigation water. Gray water often contains traces of detergent phosphates, a valuable fertilizer for plants, yet when it flows into rivers and lakes these traces cause pollution. Nitrate-rich urine combined with phosphate-rich gray water produce a balanced liquid fertilizer for all kinds of plants.

The proportions for diluting urine and water vary according to how it will be used:

* Mix 10-15 units of water with 1 unit of urine if you are targeting plants during their growth period.

* A solution of thirty-fifty parts water to one part urine is a good fertilizer for potted plants. Potted plants will respond quicker to fertilizers.

*You may use one part urine to three parts water, in case to use urine as soil fertilizer.

* Urine may also be used as a fungicide on trees because it contains urea. In this case, you should use one part urine to three parts water. This will get rid of fungus without harming your trees, or tree leaves.

Urine from humans is bacteria-free and sterile. The urine of persons suffering from urinary tract infections should NOT be used to fertilize plants, nor should that of people with Bilharzia or Typhoid Fever. The initial one, Bilharzia, is extremely rare beyond tropical wet climates. The bacteria that causes Typhoid fever becomes inactive once it is excreted.

The best urine to use as fertilizer is fresh having been created within the past 24 hours. If not used right away, the urea in urine will turn into ammonia, which can burn plants. In addition, you shouldn’t apply urine as fertilizer for plants that will be eaten at least two weeks prior to harvest, and remember to use it beneath fruit trees instead of on the fruit and leaves.

Urine that is a few hours old is a great activator for compost heaps.

China, Zimbabwe, and Mexico for example are several countries have and are installing urine fertilization projects. However, this solution is not limited to third world countries. In Sweden and Finland researchers concluded that human urine can be a very high-quality plant fertilizer.

Some advantages of using urine as a natural liquid fertilizer are:

* Reducing sewage pollution by reducing gray water in sewer or septic systems

* Using human urine would help reduce water consumption like toilet flushing

* Some professionals believe that human urine is a more effective fertilizer than sewage compost since sewage sludge contains organic and inorganic chemical contaminants and pathogenic microorganisms.

* Human urine is absolutely free

Coffee Grounds:Though their use is usually limited to private gardens and houseplants, used coffee grounds can be used both as a plant fertilizer and as a cat and pest repellent. Before watering plants, you should put a layer of coffee grounds in the soil surrounding them. Next, the old coffee grounds will gradually break down and release nitrogen. Used coffee grounds may also be diluted in water, preferably gray water, for use as a liquid fertilizer at about pound of used grounds to five gallons of water.

Used to fertilize vegetable beds, houseplants, and flowers it is best to use used coffee grounds approximately once per month. In this case, the dried used grounds may be directly mixed into the soil.

For repelling pests, old coffee grounds may be combined with orange rinds or eggshells, scattering them around the periphery of your vegetable or blooming gardens. Apparently, slugs and snails don’t like caffeine. An easy inexpensive way to kill almost all slugs and a large proportion of snails is a spray solution that contains 2% caffeine. Cats find certain scents, such as oranges and coffee, offensive and therefore avoid them.

Adding used coffee grounds to compost heaps will increase their nitrogen content and hasten the breaking-down or ripening process just like urine.

Clearly human urine and used coffee grounds in use as a natural plant fertilizer isn’t a 21st century scientific discovery. It is just one example of the many natural methods of doing things modern man had thought to improve upon and that is now being re-discovered.