Last updated on June 12th, 2023
Growing Organic spirulina has many benefits for both your health and your pocket. That being said, many people find it totally disgusting when I tell them that one of the ingredients of the organic Spirulina culture medium is no different than human urine! I have to agree, I also found it odd to begin with, but then I did some research and realized it wasn’t as bad as you think. Here’s why…
The financial benefits
On average, an adult produces around 500 Liters of urine per year, thus approximately 4 kg of Nitrogen (N), 0.5 kg of Phosphorus (P) and 1 kg of Potassium (K) per person per year (JOENSSON 2004). Urine can, therefore, be considered as liquid fertilizer, rich in Nitrogen.
Studies conducted in Sweden (Sundberg, 1995; Drangert, 1997) show that an adult’s urine contains enough nutrients to fertilize 50%-100% of the crops needed to feed one adult. Rather than importing nutrients for gardening, and exporting nutrients via the toilet, we can help close this loop by keeping our urine in the local food cycle.
The N-P-K ratio of around 11 – 1 – 2.5 which is typically found in human urine is very similar to the ratio used in commercial fertilizers.
Urine, unlike common perception, is a completely sterile and antiseptic substance, often used for medicinal purposes. When it comes to Spirulina, no other substance has been found to be as harmless as urine. Even Urea, which is an artificial alternative to urine, often causes problems in the culture medium, resulting in irreversible damage to the algae cells.
Want to learn more about growing spirulina on urine? Get our ebook!
The Hygiene perspective
First, let me remind you all that urine only consists of about 0.1% of the organic culture medium. The rest of it is comprised of highly alkaline substances that do not allow bacteria to persevere.
Urine is only added after the harvest, to compensate for the loss of biomass. By the time of the next harvest, the urine in the culture has already been decomposed.
Contamination will only occur if the overall pH in the pond is below 10, regardless of whether or not you are using urine in the culture medium.
Ideally, you should maintain the pH at 10.5 at all times, but if the pH suddenly drops, and contamination is suspected, raise the pH up to 11.5 for a couple of weeks, to make sure any invasive organisms that may have been present do not survive.
The health aspect
As I mentioned, there are many cultures in the world that use urine as biological medicine, which is believed to be individually suited to our genes. However, using urine as medicine requires that you look after your body well, i.e. nurture it with healthy foods, exercise and drink plenty of water.
That same rule applies for organic Spirulina: If you want to use your own urine for the culture medium, you should be very serious about maintaining a healthy diet. This includes avoiding the consumption of drugs, alcohol and cigarettes, but above all chemical medicine.
Its a bit like the difference between breastfeeding your children and giving them milk substitutes; this is how much control you have over what goes inside your food!!!
Some tips for using urine in your Spirulina culture medium
- Children’s urine is cleaner than adult urine and is therefor more recommended
- If your urine looks very yellow and smells strongly – dilute it with extra water
- Too much urine can kill your Spirulina in a matter of hours – so better to be safe than sorry- Don’t overdo it!
Want to learn more about growing spirulina on urine? Get our ebook!
I read from someone’s experience, compost water can be used instead urine.
Exactly how much urine must be added plus the nitrogen level in urine keeps changing as per our consumption of water so how to decide the right amount?
This is all detailed in our guidebook for growing organic spirulina
If urine is supposed to be sterile, why does a whole list of pathogens like streptococcus, staphylococcus and others are frequently found in the urine? I have a Rife therapy machine that does sample scanning, and I have a whole list of such bacteria and others that consistently come up in my results. I am convinced I am not the only person on earth with pathogens in my urine. Urinary Tract Infections are rampant these days (sometimes asymptomatic as well), chronic illnesses are rampant as well…it’s an epidemic of bacteria and viruses living in people’s bodies…..given my reluctant long experience with health and disease, I would discourage anyone to use urine for anything but flushing it down the toilet. If the urine is tested for pathogens from a laboratory and found to be 100% sterile, then that would be a bit better. Given that most people do NOT have access to laboratories and urine culture tests, wouldn’t an alternative be better? Such as a Fulvic-Humic liquid perhaps…? Or some Trace Mineral liquid?
As mentioned, this method is only recomended for people who are healthy and taking a pathogen test is definitely recomended. We also have an alternative recipe in our organic spirulina cultivation guidebook that does not include urine. That said, the high pH in the culture makes it very difficult for pathogens to survive.
Great Article! Thank you for sharing this is very informative post, and looking forward to the latest one.
Hallo I do have a Spirulina coltivation .
do you know how to Stok urine .
thanks claudio.
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here is the problem urine is not sterile sooo?
however is it contaminated with alkaline tolerent microbes when body is naturally acidic hmmm certainly no blue green algae living inside your body to worry about at least considering blue green algae that is toxic growing with your blue green algae could be bad but that can oocur no matter what we really just need nmicroscopes and solid understanding if you wanna be sae otherwise we are ourning no mans land I think moringa is safer but i would like to give this a try
I’ll need something specific: how much urine per liter for the culture medium (either The 2014 Best Commercial Formula or The Revised Antenna Formula 2014), added daily, and for post-harvest? Also, how are the other ingredients altered if any? Thank you.
Very good website – bookmarked
Hi there,I read your new stuff named “Why using urine in organic Spirulina culture medium is the way forward!” daily.Your story-telling style is awesome, keep it up!
TIP: water needs to be tested for purity and ph level. if PH is high (7-11) you got lucky, else you need to correct the PH – to 10.7 initially, and then try to maintain above 10 ph at all times to prevent contamination.
If you can pass the water trough a reverse osmosis filter – it would be best and top quality.
However – if you are following the recipe with salt and sodium-bi-carbonate – that will help much in maintaining a contamination free grow environment.
I bought the be the medicine book. I am going to start this next week. Can I use Fresh Spring Water from out of my local Spring?
If you know that spring is clean and safe to drink then of course, spring water is the best. That being said, it’s always a good idea to check the water quality and know its mineral content. It will give you a better accuracy when preparing the culture medium. Good luck!
Reading your blog is big pleasure for me, it deserves to go viral!
Thanks Natisha, great to hear that!