Print Page - household ammonia to speed up the compost pile?

Print Page - household ammonia to speed up the compost pile?: "There is no reason that you couldn't use ammonia, except that the concentration is too high. Ammonia is only harmful to microbes/earthworms/plants above a certain concentration. This not because ammonia is 'toxic' but because it causes a change in turgor pressure, which is osmotic pressure(water pressure) inside the cell. Water, like everything else, diffuses from an area of high concentration to low concentration. Solutions with a high concentration of ammonia have a low concentration of water. Because the concentration of water is now higher inside the cell, water flows out of the cell and it becomes dehydrated. Water will literally out of roots into the soil.

That being said, the solution is dilution. If you dilute ammonia enough(10:1) it can be safely added to compost. Household ammonia is all biodegradable. You should still use your urine, but I think this is a good idea. The ideal carbon/nitrogen ratio is 13:1, while leaves and tree waste are typically 200:1. It is unlikely you could ever get a pile of leaves to an ideal ratio by simply peeing on it. If you add ammonia that is diluted enough so it doesn't kill the microbes, over time they will absorb it,and then reproduce. This will result in the nitrogen being converted by microbes into an organic form that be available in the soil over a longer period of time."