1. You dilute it because urine is too high in nitrogen and can burn plants if used full strength. It's also high in salt.

2. Free is about as economical as it gets. I don't know how it compares with miracle grow, but it's a different color.

3. Another reason to dilute it. If you compost it first, you'll also get rid of the smell, but also lose much of the available nitrogen. Much of the smell is from the nitrogen (ammonia).

4. I've used it for compost. My dog adds it to various spots on the lawn.

thanks bdgreen, seems everyone is hiding from this thread ;)

is urine a good natural thatch remover? Since I hear of it accererating the decomposing of the compost...

"is urine a good natural thatch remover?"

Thatch is usually caused by a combination of over fertilizing, shallow watering and not having good soil biology to decompose the thatch.

If you've got thatch, you may need to core aerate to punch through the thatch layer (this also brings some soil up to the thatch layer). Then water deeply and infrequently. Mulch mow. Fertilize organically. Some people have reported that spraying molasses over the lawn will help activate the bacteria needed to decompose thatch.

yes, I was considering the natural approach of sugar or molasses. But what about urine? How will it affect the thatch?

I don't know that we are avoiding the question, I think we are more at a loss for having a great answer. As for success stories, I see a lot more people talking about it than doing it. Getting enough urine to supply a lawn would take awhile.

As for thatch, again I don't remember reading anything about urine and thatch. Anything that boosts the population of microbes should work against thatch. Allowing the soil surface to dry out between waterings should help, too.