# Drawbacks to urinating on one's garden? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 5, 2006, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawbacks-to-urinating-on-ones-garden/367493 "2006-08-05T21:39:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![misterW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@misterW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misterW)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawbacks-to-urinating-on-ones-garden/367493/21 "2006-08-06T01:57:21Z")
[QUOTE=freckafree] But peeing in your compost will not make the compost higher in nitrogen. [/QUOTE] i dont understand why this would be. bacteria convert the nitrogen gas in the atmosphere (which plants cant use) to ammonia (which plants can use). i thought urea was similar enough to ammonia that plants would be able to use it. and people do use animal manure to add nitrogen to the soil… [QUOTE=freckafree] A virtual libation to any Doper who can explain this in layperson’s terms so that we can all understand the role of nitrogen in “burning” plants, and therefore, where we should or should not pee in the garden. [/QUOTE] well, urea and ammonia are toxic cellular waste products (ammonia more so than urea) so i could see why a lot of that concentrated in one spot wouldnt be so good for plant cells. ---
**Author:** ![freckafree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/freckafree/32/3050_2.png) [@freckafree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freckafree)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawbacks-to-urinating-on-ones-garden/367493/22 "2006-08-06T02:14:14Z")
[QUOTE=misterW] i dont understand why this would be. bacteria convert the nitrogen gas in the atmosphere (which plants cant use) to ammonia (which plants can use). i thought urea was similar enough to ammonia that plants would be able to use it. and people do use animal manure to add nitrogen to the soil… well, urea and ammonia are toxic cellular waste products (ammonia more so than urea) so i could see why a lot of that concentrated in one spot wouldnt be so good for plant cells. [/QUOTE] Like I said, I don’t the nitrogen thing. You might be able to make more sense of [this](http://helios.bto.ed.ac.uk/bto/microbes/nitrogen.htm) than I can. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawbacks-to-urinating-on-ones-garden/367493/23 "2006-08-06T02:36:40Z")
[QUOTE=coffeecat] I pee into a measuring cup in the privacy of my own bathroom and mix it with the proper amount of water in the watering can. I’m not _that_ weird. 🙂 [/QUOTE] Uh, ok. 🙂 What I would do, not that I’m saying I ever have, is take my 2 gallon watering can which has a large opening at the top, out behind the house & pee in that. Fill the rest up with water from your um… (oh, give it a rest!) hose. Water plants. A couple months later when your friends are enjoying your home-made salad made from those delicious tomatoes you grew yourself, try not to grin too much. “Oh well, I like to think there’s a little of me in everything I grow.” ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawbacks-to-urinating-on-ones-garden/367493/24 "2006-08-06T02:46:54Z")
For a real-world example of “burning” your plants, if you have a female dog, look where she pees in your yard. (Easier to tell with the lady dogs because there’s a nice circle in the grass.) There’s a dead spot in the middle, and a ring of really green grass around that, and then your regular lawn. The stuff in the middle got too much, the stuff around the edges got a nice dose. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/drawbacks-to-urinating-on-ones-garden/367493.md?page=1)