cow urine

[maninair]

Dear friends

Can I use cow urine to feed my orchids?
and if yes , quantity and frequency please.

Thanks

Mani

[sandra]

Originally Posted by maninair

Dear friends

Can I use cow urine to feed my orchids?
and if yes , quantity and frequency please.

Thanks

Mani

Where do you get cow urine from maninair? I know, from cows, lol....but is it sold at nurseries nearby to you or do you live on a farm where it's readily available? I know it's great fertilizer but I'm still stuck on imagining cow urine and the odor it has to have, no? Apologies for not having the answer here, I'm just so curious now to think that this might be something good for orchids.

If this weighs in favorably, might I then suggest nose plugs, perhaps?

[Gladys47]

I have been using a tea I make from horse manure. In my mind I see improvement, but decided but decided to order worm tea from Jerry instead. I would assume you could make tea from cow patties and use it just the same.
Gladys

[pikevi]

Urine from healthy animals (or people) is harmless. But if there is UTI (urinary tract infection) or kidney diseases, bacteria and proteins will be found in the urine. Also if they are fed antibiotics or other chemicals in their diet they may appear in urine as well.

Above all how can one standardize the composition of cow's or horse's urine?

To make it worse fresh urine is odourless. Stale urine exposed to light , oxygen and bacterial action 'stinks' ( ammonia ).

I think it is safe to say that indoor orchids are better better off without urine.

I hope other orchid experts can tell us more.

[kmarch]

I guess the question that comes to my mind is "why?" Given the avalanche of cheap, excellent fertilizers available on the market these days why bother with cow urine? Besides, I'd think the amonia in uring couldn't be good for plants.

[tom499]

i guess if you own a herd of cattle it may seem a good scheme

Dunno how you would collect it mind

[palito]

how do you collect it? LOL. manure is easy to pick up, but urine?

[pikevi]

LOL, That never occurred to me

I hope they are bulls. And there is someone following the bull(s) with a pail in hand. Or better still is to train the bulls to release the bladder at a certain time and a certain place.(Pavlovian reflex??)

kmarch may be right about ammonia and orchids. The normal soil has bacteria that can break down ammonia to release the nitrogen but orchid medium would be lacking in those bacteria.

Just to be safe ,I think you should stay away from cattle urine.

BTW, are fertilizers expensive there or is it a question of availability,maninair?

[fred]

you stand behind the cow with a bucket lol and hope she doesnt miss


sorry I could not help myself with that one

[pikevi]

hmmm... I will hold back on the thought that popped into my mind ,fred

In that case I hope maninair has a wetsuit

[fred]

and a mask and snorkel as well

[Anton]

Quickest way to kill your orchids !

Have you seen what it does to grass ??

Having done a bit of cattle mustering on horse back in my time, I wouldn't even put it on my garden and having been "watered on" a few times and seen what it does to clothes......NO WAY.

Actually sounds like bulls%#t to me.

[fred]

now now Anton its not bulls%#t you will find that bulls dont complaine

[pikevi]

That , fred, is the remarkable property of HORMONES

[maninair]

Thank you very much for your replies.
Here in India we use cow urine as a medicine and there are no side effects.
Our Ayurvedic Medical shops sell cow urine in bottles and they are 100% safe.
REgarding smell, it is much much better than smell of human urine.


Mani

[robb]

well it's still going to stink, as mentioned above, due to ammonia from the decomposition. unless the cost difference is quite large, i think you would be better to stick with standard non-stinking fertilizers such as worm-tea or commercially produced fertilizers. your call, tho

[pikevi]

yep, I checked the 'net.

It is sold as bottled cow urine in India. It is not mentioned if it is for medicinal purposes.

Unless it has some synergistic effect with some other substance used in indigenous medical practice, I am almost sure urine, whether animal's or human's has no medicinal value nor nutritive value ( at least not significantly) when taken orally. (there are some hormones and antibodies that can be isolated from urine but that is outside the scope of this forum: besides they will be destroyed in the acid anyway)

I still don't see any merit in using it on orchids. As robb said it is your call.

If you decide to go along with that ideea it would be better you try it on a few plants first, at least for 4 months before applying it to all orchids.

Good luck.

[Andrew]

Ammonia emission from cattle urine should be minimal. It's only released upon hydrolysis of the urea primarily via bacterial decomposition, which isn't going to happen if it's collected and bottled. In theory cattle urine should be no different from using the same concentration of urea. If diluted before use the free ammonia released should be no more harmful than if using a urea based fertilizer. Having said that, as urea needs to be broken down before it can be used, it probably won't be as efficiently taken up by the orchids as ammonium/nitrate based fertilizers. Compared to the finer potting mixes and soils that urea based fertilizers are normally used with, epiphyte bark/rock mixes are much more porous and subject to moisture fluctation, which no doubt results in less less water hold time for the fertilizer and less bacterial activity per volume of mix. End result, much more urea should be flushed from the pot before the plant gets around to taking it up compared with simpler nitrogenous ions.

[fred]

hi Andrew
welcome to the forum
I hope you enjoy your stay here with us.
please feel free to introduce yourself in the introduction section I am sure we would love to hear about your experience with growing orchids and what type or orchids you grow
May be you could also update your profile with your location you will find your profile in the menu user settings at the top left of the page