Can I eat those lemons?

[kiwilime]

I've been getting free lemons from my future mother in law. She has a lemon tree in her backyard. BUT.....I started thinking...she has two dogs that pee all over the backyard and I'm sure on or by the tree. Is it ok? I've stopped getting lemons from her, cuz right now I think its kinda gross. But what do you guys think?

[Apples'nAvos]

I'd eat them :D

[Karen_in_FLA]

People use cow manure as fertilizer, so why not dog pee?

[karenisraw]

maybe the dog pee didn't quite get to the top where the lemons are.? :confused:

[RowanC]

Trees take our waste and make food from it.

Eat the lemons :D

We, by the way, use the waste of trees... you're breathing it!

[berrienoire]

LOL

OH, this is tooooo funny!! I just came home from seeing The Word's Fastest Indian (see here (http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/theworldsfastestindian/)) and main character, Burt Munro, played by Anthony Hopkins, would pee on his lil lemon tree every morning! hahaha... Sorry :p ...this post made me think of that and smile. Anyways!

I'd eat 'em too, though I'd probably try to put the "pee" part out of my mind :)

[eachpeachpearplum]

Actually Urine is very sanitary! :rolleyes:

[kiwilime]

Thank you for all the quick replies. It may have been a silly question....but I was eating frozen corn for awhile and found out it was not raw!!! errrrrr, no wonder I was craving it all the time.
So now that I am back to finally eating raw again...I am trying to eat mostly organics. And thinking those 2 dogs pee on that tree...made me think since the dogs aren't raw............their urine can't be good....and their urine is feeding the tree that grows my precious lemons!!!!
Berrienoiere...I'm glad you got a good laugh...I'll have to check out the movie!!! :)

[RowanC]

While many sources will tell you urine is "sterile", end of story, this is not entirely accurate. Urine can actually pick a variety of bacteria as it exits the body through unwashed or infected genitalia. ..... there are certain viruses and bacteria that can be carried in and transmitted through the urine (such as Cytomegalovirus [CMV] or Hepatitis B Virus).

[berrienoire]

Thank you for all the quick replies. It may have been a silly question....but I was eating frozen corn for awhile and found out it was not raw!!! errrrrr, no wonder I was craving it all the time.
So now that I am back to finally eating raw again...I am trying to eat mostly organics. And thinking those 2 dogs pee on that tree...made me think since the dogs aren't raw............their urine can't be good....and their urine is feeding the tree that grows my precious lemons!!!!
Berrienoiere...I'm glad you got a good laugh...I'll have to check out the movie!!! :)

hahaha :) yes, a belly laugh for me, indeed! everyone should really see that movie, Hopkins was magnificent!! But, I don't think your question was silly. It's very understandable, really! And the way you just broke down your thought process, I had to giggle...cause it sounds like something I might think about too! ;)

[eachpeachpearplum]

While many sources will tell you urine is "sterile", end of story, this is not entirely accurate. Urine can actually pick a variety of bacteria as it exits the body through unwashed or infected genitalia. ..... there are certain viruses and bacteria that can be carried in and transmitted through the urine (such as Cytomegalovirus [CMV] or Hepatitis B Virus).


Good point!

[livingatthetop]

Uriea is in manure. Even the organic soil. sorry

[kiwilime]

Interesting replies....but I did not know that urea is in organic soil. I need to look this up since I eventually want to do some gardening. Sounds like most of you would eat those lemons.

[FloridaBahai]

While many sources will tell you urine is "sterile", end of story, this is not entirely accurate. Urine can actually pick a variety of bacteria as it exits the body through unwashed or infected genitalia. ..... there are certain viruses and bacteria that can be carried in and transmitted through the urine (such as Cytomegalovirus [CMV] or Hepatitis B Virus).

Are those diseases species specific? I don't think the tree would be a carrier of those since it isn't even an animal. They would probably die once absorbed by the roots. I remember reading something about using diluted urine in organic gardening as a fungicide/pesticide. So long as you don't pick a urine saturated lemon, I'd say nothing to worry about. I have heard about ecoli contamination of produce but that is from contaminated manure that hadn't been composted enough to kill the bacteria. and then that's usually on vegetables that grow on the ground, not trees where the fruit never touches the manure.

I'd eat the lemons too. Since you would too, do you agree. What are your thoughts?

Craig

Craig

[cactus]

I know this isn't a very scientific response ( not to mention pretty gross) but when I was young my granny and grandad had a huge lemon tree in the back garden, grandad was a gardener and he swore that to get the best lemons you had to pee on the soil around the tree, well I kid you not he did pee on it, several times a week, I remember saying to him it was gross etc, and how could that be healthy, but he reckoned that when it goes into the soil it breaks down and the bad things go away, abit like putting horse manure and chicken poo on your garden, I don't know if what he said was true, but I do know they had the biggest juiciest lemons I ever saw and we made copious amounts of lemonade our whole childhoods from them and it didn't do us any harm!

[Punky]

I'd eat them (but I'd wash them 1st ).
I'd think the urine would act as a good fertilizer.

[kiwilime]

Cactus...thanks for sharing the story. Luv it! :p