Pee for the peonies
Urine-based fertilizer is being used to further research for plants and the environment.
Michigan Engineering News
Two civil and environmental engineering professors put the “pee” in peonies at Nichols Arboretum last spring.
The duo applied human urine-based fertilizer to heirloom peony beds as part of an effort to educate the public about their research—a $3M grant from the National Science Foundation to test how fertilizer derived from nutrient-rich urine could have environmental and economic benefits.
“At first, we thought people might be hesitant. You know, this might be weird. But we’ve really experienced very little of that attitude,” said Wigginton, the associate chair of civil and environmental engineering. “In general, people think it’s funny at first, but then they understand why we’re doing it and they support it.”
The urine-derived fertilizer originated in Vermont, but Krista Wigginton and Nancy Love, the Borchardt and Glysson Collegiate Professor and JoAnn Silverstein Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Engineering, aim to dole out locally sourced fertilizer next year to achieve a full-circle community loop.