How To Use Rabbit Urine As Organic Fertilizer & Pesticide

In organic crop production, you would keenly agree with me that fertilizer and pesticides are the most limiting resources in production. However, rabbit urine can be a very cheap solution to this production problem as it can be used as fertilizer and pesticide. It would not only help to reduce the high cost of organic farming but also increase the quantity and quality of the crops produced.

You must find means to control pests and increase soil fertility if you truly want to be successful as an organic farmer; not just any means but a cheap and safe means. I am sure you do not want to produce at a high cost. One of the cheapest sources of fertilizer and pesticide in organic farming is rabbit urine.

Rabbits used to be reared as pets but the nutritional composition of rabbit meat has created an untapped market for rabbit production. Farmers now rear rabbits for meat and wool; further studies have shown that rabbit urine can also serve as fertilizer and pesticide, improving the soil soil fertility and controlling unruly crop pests, simultaneously. There is no waste in rabbit production.

Composition Of Rabbit Urine

Rabbit urine contains 2.36% Nitrogen, 2.11% Phosphorous and 3.56% Potassium; these are the primary nutrients needed by plants. Rabbit urine and feaces are the end form of rabbit feed; rabbits are normally fed with greens, which they convert effectively to a rich matter as a result of the fermentation that takes place in their caecum.

Rabbit urine contains the highest level of Nitrogen and Potassium compared to other farm animals; this is because rabbits barely drink water. These nutrients are of appreciable level good enough to eliminate deficiencies of these nutrients in the soil, hence, it enhances the even growth of crops in an organic farm.

The microelements can also be sourced from rabbit urine in good quantities because rabbit, after eating, produces soft-pellet feces rich in amino acids and minerals, through a process called caecotrophy. These soft pellet feces are re-ingested by the rabbit to supply or supplement the nutritional needs of the rabbit.

Crops You Can Use Rabbit Urine As Fertilizer And Pesticide

Because rabbit urine is very rich in nitrogen and potassium, it is very effective on vegetable crops like cabbage, lettuce, cucumber, watermelon, and other vegetables at any stage of growth. Rabbit urine can also be used at the early stage of other crops like maize; it can also be applied to tree crop seedlings when raised in the nursery under intensive care.

You can also boost the soil fertility with rabbit waste, a combination of feces and urine, during land preparation. Rabbit waste can be incorporated into the soil. This practice also can considerably increase the level of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in the soil. You may not need to use additional fertilizer when rabbit waste is added to the soil.

How To Apply Rabbit Urine As Fertilizer

Here comes the subject of discussion. Like other fertilizers; there are some processes and precautions you must take when you want to apply rabbit urine as fertilizer.

Firstly, you need to either get the urine, directly from your rabbit farm or purchase from rabbit farmers. A mature rabbit can produce up to 250ml of urine per day; five (5) mature rabbits can produce up to one (1) liter of urine per day, this can be purchased for less the $5.

Do not apply the rabbit urine directly on the crops, it is highly concentrated and can scorch your plants; you need to dilute the rabbit urine with water for safe use. Rabbit urine is best used as fertilizer by mixing it with water at a ratio of 1:5; that is, one (1) liter of urine to five (5) liters of water.

There are different methods of fertilizer application, depending on the type and nature of the fertilizer you want to apply. Because rabbit urine fertilizer is in liquid form, it is best applied using fertigation or foliar application.

Fertigation is a method of applying liquid fertilizer through irrigation water; you mix the urine in the irrigation water at the recommended rate as stated earlier. Foliar application is another method of applying fertilizers in liquid form through the leaves and stems of the plant. In fertigation, the rabbit urine is diluted with the irrigation water and it is applied to the root zone using drip tubes or other means. Alternatively, the foliar application applies the fertilizer to the leaves, stems, at times, root region.

The advantages of fertigation are; that it is easy to achieve, less time-consuming, and application is done to the roots directly where the plants utilize it. The advantage of the foliar application is; that it allows the plants to have easy access to the fertilizer, thereby, enhancing the perfect utilization of the fertilizer. Plants absorb the fertilizers through parts like lenticels, and stomata aside from the roots. Although, it could be stressful and time-consuming.

For the conventional 16-liter sprayer, you need 3.2 liters of rabbit urine to 16 liters of water for perfect use. Alternatively, you can add some materials to the rabbit urine to make it more effective and nutritionally better. You can mix the rabbit urine with maize starch, crushed egg shells, and molasses and allow it to ferment for 3 weeks before using it.

After 3 weeks, the fertilizer is ready for use but at a different rate of application. Dilute one liter of this mixture in 20 liters of water. You can apply using any of the aforementioned methods of fertilizer application.

How To Apply Rabbit Urine As Pesticide

Rabbit urine can also be used as an insecticide. It is organic and causes no harm to the plant and the environment. The difference between synthetic pesticides and organic pesticides is just their reaction with the target pests and their mode of action. Some are contact, which kills pests instantly, some are systemic, they tend to kill pests by slowly degenerating their nervous system

Synthetic pesticides kill the pests which, at times, may be beneficial to the plants in terms of pollination while organic pesticides repel the pests from the plant. Rabbit urine is an organic pesticide; it does not kill pests but repels pests because of it pungent smell.

Rabbit urine repels insect pests like aphids, mites, bugs, leaf miners, bugs, and other crop pests of economic importance.  You can only enjoy the pesticide effect of rabbit urine when you apply using the foliar application. It does the work of fertilizer and pest control.

Making Compost With Rabbit Urine

Many gardeners are caught in the worry of the acidity of rabbit urine destroying their plants. Even though it is a ready-to-use fertilizer, gardeners still want to degrade it by using it as part of composting. Compost is another fertilizer product that works just well on garden crops. For better fortification of your garden fertility, adding rabbit urine, poop, and other wastes to the compost can make a difference.

Separating rabbit urine from the poo and other waste may be unnecessary if your aim is to make compost. Just form a pile of rabbit poop, paper litter, urine, and hay. In your backyard, make a pile with these wastes; toss in all the urine-soaked hay, beddings, poop, and other wastes you want to include; consider grinding up the eggshells to increase the presence of calcium in your compost.

Rabbit urine helps speed up the decomposition process in compost making, so you can turn the piles weekly and add more piles as you clean the cages. Your compost starts cooking as worms emerge daily. You can harvest your compost as you add new piles. Add compost to seedlings or as a top dressing on a bed; you can as well as it in pots if you have potted plants.

Advantages Of Using Rabbit Urine As Fertilizers And Pesticides

The following are the merits of using rabbit urine as fertilizers and pesticides:

• It can be cheaply sourced
• Rabbit urine is ideal for organic farming
• It contains a high level of nitrates, which the plants can derive enough nitrogen from.
• It is environmentally friendly and non-toxic.

Rabbit production can be very lucrative as it can create multiple streams of income; if you rear a rabbit for meat, you can also try to add the urine as an additional enterprise and source of income. Even if you do not have a passion for crop production, you can sell to organic crop farmers at reasonable prices. With rabbit urine, the problem of fertilization and pest attacks in organic farming can be resolved at a low cost.

Remember to share this, someone in your timeline may find it useful.