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Using egg shells in the garden


Gardening 101: How to Use Eggshells in the Garden

Last fall I started collecting eggshells after I read an article on Real Farmacy that touted their usefulness in the garden for everything from fertilizer to organic pest control. This spring I’m using the crushed eggshells in the garden five ways.

Photography by Justine Hand for Gardenista.Above: All winter long I’ve been saving eggshells by simply rinsing them and placing them in an open container where they could dry out. (No, they do not smell. Everyone who comes to my house and sees them asks me this question.)

When my containers are full, I set the kids to pulverizing them into little bits with wooden spoons, thus compacting the shells so that I can collect more.

Fertilizer

Above: When tilled into the soil, ground eggshells provide your plants with calcium.

Though nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium are most vital for healthy growth, calcium is also essential for building healthy “bones”—the cell walls of a plant. Composed of calcium carbonate, eggshells are an excellent way to introduce this mineral into the soil. To prep the eggshells, grind with a mixer, grinder, or mortar and pestle and till them into the soil. Because it takes several months for eggshells to break down and be absorbed by a plant’s roots, it is recommended that they be tilled into the soil in fall. More shells can be mixed into your soil in the spring.

By the same token, finely crushed shells mixed with other organic matter at the bottom of a hole will help newly planted plants thrive. (Tomatoes especially love calcium.) For an exciting recycled garden cocktail, try mixing your eggshells with coffee grounds, which are rich in nitrogen.

Finally, eggshells will reduce the acidity of your soil and help to aerate it.

Seed Starters

Above: Because they are biodegradable, eggshells make excellent, no-waste seed starters. For this, reserve some of your deeper shell halves. Sterilize the shelves by boiling them or by placing them in a 200°F oven for 30 minutes. (If you put them in a cooling oven after, say, you baked a roast chicken, you can sterilize eggs without using excess energy.)

Next, with a nail or awl, make a hole in the bottom for drainage. Add soil and seeds according to the packaging. When sprouts appear, plant them—egg and all—right into the soil. See a complete DIY at 17 Apart.

Pest Control

Above: A coating of crushed eggshells in the garden is said to help deter several pests, both large and small. Deer dislike the smell of the albumen and will stay away.

Apparently you can also use egg’s insides to deter deer. See DIY: Homemade Deer Spray. Be aware, however, that while deer hate the smell of eggs, rodents love it. Therefore, it may not be best to use this deterrent near the house.

Many gardeners also tout the use of crushed eggshells as a snail and slug repellent. But a recent test by All About Slugs in Oregon seems to have dispelled this. If you’ve had any success with eggshells as slug repellent, we’d be curious to know.

Bird Food

Above: Like plants and people, birds also benefit from a bit a calcium in their diet, especially the females who need extra before and after laying their eggs. To make bird food, start by sterilizing the shells by leaving them in a cooling oven after you bake a meal. Then crush them into fine bits and mix with your favorite seed.

Mulch

Above: Like oysters, eggshells used as mulch provide a striking accent in the garden. If you gather enough, you can even apply a layer thick enough to deter weeds.

Looking for more recycled garden how-tos? See our guide to Edible Gardens 101 and more posts:

EXPLORE MORE: Issue 51: Homesteaders, DIY Projects, DIY, Gardening 101, Composting, Recycled, Organic, Soil & Fertilizers, Birds, Eggs, Mulch, Insects, Seeds

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How to Use Eggshells in the Garden

While eggs may be the delight of many home cooks, eggshells can be the bane of many home composters.

I remember my reaction when I dug in to harvest my very first batch of finished compost.

I was thrilled that all of my food waste and garden trimmings had magically transformed into a beautiful, brown, humus-like substance!

All except the eggshells. Lots and lots of them, all still very recognizable.

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But I made some changes and I don’t find those big pieces of shell in my compost anymore. You don’t have to either.

In addition to discussing the best way to add them to your compost, I’m also going to cover other ways of using them as a soil amendment, and whether or not they work as a pest deterrent.

Here’s a quick overview of what’s ahead:

What You’ll Learn

Eggshells as Food Waste

Eggshells take up a whole lot of room when you don’t break them up – whether that’s in your compost or your trash can.

Their beautiful oval shapes – so perfect for containing their contents – don’t flatten down well in the trash, unless you take the time to crush them.

And many people put them in the garbage without a second thought. According to Paula Felps at Earth911, the US alone sends 150,000 tons of eggshells to landfills every year.

If you do the math, that’s nearly a million pounds of these oval wonders taking up space in landfills, not per year, but per day. Yikes!

It makes a lot of sense to try to find alternate uses for these empty former packages of eggy goodness. And that’s where home gardeners can get involved.

Eggshell Nutrients

Before we get into the details of how to reuse this abundant variety of food waste in the garden, I think it would be helpful to examine just what exactly is being thrown away at a rate of nearly a million pounds a day.

Here’s what the average eggshell is comprised of:

It seems like such a shame to just throw all those nutrients away, doesn’t it?

Especially if they could replace a garden product that you might have to purchase otherwise – like agricultural lime.

In fact, a study presented at the 2006 Iowa State University Integrated Crop Management Conference by extension field specialists John Holmes and Paul Kassel found eggshells to be an effective means of reducing soil acidity, on par with agricultural lime, which is mined from limestone.

And in case you’re wondering, repurposing this type of food waste isn’t just a DIY amendment utilized by home gardeners.

Ground eggshell meal is listed as an organic fertilizer “generally acceptable under the [rules of the USDA National Organic Program (NOP)] for commercial organic farmers,” as described in the North Carolina Extension Gardener Handbook published by North Carolina State University, with an average analysis of 1. 2-0.4-0.1 (NPK).

Though nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels offered by eggshells are relatively low, the takeaway here is that what is usually discarded as waste can be an incredible source of calcium, with value as an amendment used both to feed plants and to neutralize acidic soil.

Use as a Soil Amendment

How can you tell whether your garden will benefit from added calcium?

It’s important to understand what type of soil you’re starting with – so make sure you read our enlightening article on this subject.

You may even want to do a soil test to see how much calcium your soil already contains.

If your soil is acidic, amending with a source of calcium may be helpful, depending on what you want to grow.

But there are cases when acidic soil is preferable, such as for growing blueberries and other ericaceous plants. You wouldn’t necessarily want to add an alkaline amendment like calcium in that case.

The results of your soil test will help guide you in deciding if adding calcium to your soil is a good idea or not.

If you’re growing tomatoes and other food crops that may suffer from blossom-end rot, the calcium from eggshells may be a big help at planting time.

In a paper published in the March 2016 issue of the International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology, Madhavi Gaonkar and A. P. Chakraborty from Dr. Babasaheb Amebedkar University in Maharashtra, India, described their research on using eggshells as a calcium supplement and fertilizer.

These researchers concluded that powdered eggshell is “probably the best natural source of calcium,” and found the use of this amendment could balance soil calcium levels in order to help prevent blossom-end rot.

Tomatoes showing blossom end-rot

Charles C. Mitchell, extension agronomist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension also studied adding this food waste to the soil in a farm setting to neutralize soil acidity.

He determined that adding crushed eggshells to the soil was useless – unless they were ground to a fine powder, smaller than sand.

When ground in this way, he found that this powder was even more effective than agricultural lime, providing a source of calcium that was readily available to plants.

In short, large pieces of shell break down too slowly to serve as an amendment or soil sweetener.  when ground into a powder, they bind to the soil, becoming more readily bioavailable and altering the soil pH.

In addition to preventing blossom-end rot in tomatoes, the calcium in ground shells can be used to prevent apple cork spot, or as an alternative to amending your lawn with lime.

But before you start sprinkling calcium willy-nilly throughout your garden, you may want to learn more about how plants use nutrients and minerals, so that your use of this soil amendment is well-informed.

Use in Compost

If saving spent eggshells for use as a soil amendment isn’t on your agenda, there are a couple of good reasons why you might want to compost them instead of throwing them in the trash.

The first, as discussed above, is to keep them from going to waste in landfills.

Food waste takes much longer to break down in landfills than it does in compost piles, as landfills are sealed off, anaerobic environments.

In this case, anaerobic decomposition is stinky and inefficient compared to aerobic decomposition, the type that takes place in a well-maintained compost pile – where aerobic microbes thrive because of the presence of oxygen.

Those aerobic microbes transform food waste into nitrogen, phosphorus, and magnesium, making excellent material for growing more food!

If you are using an anaerobic composting method at home, such as bokashi – the addition of Lactobacilli bacteria to kick-start the fermentation process – then the shells will break down just fine.

Another motivation for composting your eggshells might be to provide better conditions for earthworms, either in your compost pile, or in your vermiculture bin.

Earthworms need grit to digest their food, and ground up eggshells are an excellent source.

Even if you don’t have a worm bin, you’ll eventually have earthworms hanging out in your outdoor compost pile, and in your soil, so including some shell debris for them will help them to thrive.

Before you add eggshells to your compost pile or worm bin, pulverize the dried shells to ensure that your finished compost is smooth and dirt like, uncluttered by large pieces of shell. Note that composting whole eggs is generally not advisable, since the smell can attract rodents.

Grinding them before adding them to your compost or worm bins will also make it easier for the earthworms to use the material as grit.

I’ll share my method for safely preparing ground eggshells with you shortly.

In the meantime, to learn more about keeping your pile balanced, check out our article on the basics of composting.

Use as Seed Starting Containers

Another creative gardening reuse for eggshells is to use them as containers for seed starting.

While this is a viable option for upcycling your kitchen waste, you’ll need to be aware of certain limitations and necessary preparations before getting started.

This seed starting method works best for plants that are small and low growing. Plants that can gain height rapidly, such as tomato seedlings, will quickly outgrow these small containers.

That doesn’t mean you can’t start tomatoes from seed in this way – but if you do, you’ll want to have larger nursery pots on hand for repotting within a few weeks after they sprout.

And keep in mind that repeated repotting is not recommended for most transplants, as this can cause undue stress and damage their roots.

On the other hand, low growing plants such as thyme, cucamelons, or certain succulents would be good candidates for starting in eggshells.

It’s best to start seeds in sterile pots, so if you decide to use eggshells as seed pots, the first step you’ll want to take is to make sure you thoroughly clean the shells.

Thicker shells will be easier to clean without breaking than thinner ones.

Generally, shells from younger hens are thicker, and those from older hens are thinner, so if you’re buying eggs from a farm, you might ask the farmers if they have eggs from young layers.

Gently wash out the eggshells with warm, soapy water – or bring them to a boil in hot water to sanitize them.

Along with a sterile growing environment, young seedlings need drainage.

If you are able to successfully clean your eggshells without breaking them, next poke two or three small holes into the bottom of each shell to ensure the seedlings have well-drained soil. The tip of a metal paper clip works well for this.

When you’re ready to plant your seedlings, remember that whole eggshells don’t break down quickly – certainly not quickly enough to let your young plant’s roots spread out into the soil.

So you’ll need to remove the seedling from its shell before planting – either lift the seedling out with a widger or small spoon, or crack the shell to remove it.

And if you’d like further guidance in starting your own annuals from seed, follow the helpful directions in our guide.

Use as a Pest Deterrent

Another garden use for this type of readily-available food waste is to pile sharp, crushed pieces of shell around the bases of plants as a barrier, to deter certain soft-bodied pests.

Scattering crushed eggshells around your crops may help to repel cutworms, those nasty caterpillars that like to chop the heads off of your delicate little seedlings.

Cutworms go for the tender stems of young seedlings, so a common defense against these pests is to block their access by placing collars around seedling stems.

According to T. J. Martin at the Cochise County Master Gardeners office, crushed eggshells are also an effective deterrent against cutworms when a layer is scattered around the stems of sensitive young seedlings.

However, when it comes to deterring slugs, crushed eggshells aren’t all they’re cracked up to be – pun intended.

In his book, “The Truth About Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why,” author Jeff Gillman debunks this DIY slug deterrent by trying the experiment himself.

The Truth About Garden Remedies: What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why

To read more, you can find this book on Amazon.

In fact, I had the pleasure of taking a class with Gillman through the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Native Plants Studies program, and I and my other classmates tried this experiment along with him.

We used a paper plate as our testing grounds. Around the inner perimeter of the plate we created a barrier made of crushed eggshells, then placed the slugs in the center of the plate.

Next, we watched to see if the sharp shards would keep the slugs in the center of the plate – or if the slugs would venture across anyway.

We did the same test with pennies as well, since copper is another supposed slug-repelling home remedy.

The result? Neither barrier deterred the slugs. (Cue sad trombone).

In his book, Gillman recounts trying several variations of the slug-on-paper-plate experiment.

He found that when the shells were crushed to the size of baby aspirin, and piled into a 1/4-inch deep barrier, he got the best results. These shards slowed the slugs down a bit, but the barrier was not enough of a deterrent to make the slugs turn back or to prevent them from crossing it.

Want to know what Gillman does recommend for controlling slugs? Spoiler alert – it’s beer traps.

You can learn more about repelling slugs in our article.

I do have to point out that there are many different species of slugs, and as far as I know, Gillman has not tried his experiment on a wide variety of them – so the eggshell barrier may work better against some species than it does with others.

So I’m going to say the verdict is still out as to whether this DIY trick is an effective remedy against slugs in the garden.

In any case, placing pieces of crushed, heat-dried eggshell around your plants certainly won’t hurt them – remember, they won’t even change your soil’s pH over the short term.

What About Salmonella?

Speaking of unpleasant things like slugs… what about salmonella?

I know, I know – this has been your burning question all along, right? How can you possibly use eggshells in your garden without subjecting yourself and your family to the risk of salmonella infection?

Luckily, I am prepared with an answer – and a solution.

Part of my method for preparing eggshells for the garden involves baking them in the oven to dry them out before grinding.

This practice does a couple of things at once – it dries out the sticky, inner membrane and kills salmonella.

You only need one second of moist heat at 170.6°F to kill salmonella bacteria.

The oven-drying method will expose your eggshells to temperatures higher than that for longer periods of time, so you should be able to set aside those worries about salmonella.

Instead, this frees you up to think about more important things – like how you’re going to celebrate naked gardening day when it rolls around again!

How to Make a Soil Amendment

Now that you have put your worries about salmonella to rest, it’s time for the fun part: preparing your eggshell powder for use in compost or as a soil amendment.

In three words, you’re going to collect, dry, and grind.

Collect

First, collect your shells and rinse them under a tap to remove any raw egg to avoid attracting flies, or unpleasant smells.

Place them in an ovenproof dish such as a casserole dish or cookie sheet. Once the dish is full, you’re ready to dry them. The amount of time it will take to fill the baking dish depends on how often you eat eggs, and how many egg-eaters are in your household.

Don’t bother trying to crush them while you’re storing them in this way – it will be much easier to crush them once they are dry.

And by the way, I’ve been handling my eggshells like this for several years now, and in several different climates, ranging from the temperate Southern Piedmont, to the arid Intermountain West, to the damp Pacific Northwest.

I’ve personally never had any problems from storing them this way over the short term – no mold, no pests, and no odor – although I will admit that I do a lot of baking, so my shells tend to get a drying heat treatment at least once a week.

If you are concerned nonetheless about whether keeping raw eggshells is a potential health issue, you could certainly boil them first.

Just be aware that you will lose some of the calcium content of the shells, which will be leached into the water while they’re cooking. You can also let this water cool and use it as a soil amendment.

Dry

Now that you have a baking dish full of raw shells, wait until the next time you need to preheat your oven.

While the oven is preheating, place the baking dish full of eggshells into the oven for a few minutes.

If you are using a glass baking dish, make sure the oven temperature is no higher than 350°F – some glass dishes can crack at higher temps. Except of course if you are using Pyrex or a similar brand that is safe in the 400°F range.

I actually store my collected eggshells in a baking dish in the oven prior to drying them out, to keep them out of the way.

Then, any time I plan to do some baking and am preheating my oven, the baking dish and its contents are ready to go, and I allow them to heat up for several minutes.

This dries out those wet membranes – although usually they have dried on their own by then – and exposes the shells to temperatures that will kill salmonella.

Grind

Once my shells are all sufficiently dried out, I grind them up into a fine powder. The best solution I have found for doing this is to grind them in my blender.

Working in small batches, place dried shells in the blender, and grind to a powdery consistency. When all of the shells are finely ground, transfer them to a mason jar for storage.

Now your homemade eggshell powder is ready to add to the soil for added calcium or to counteract acidity, or to your compost to biodegrade further.

Or you can simply store this powder for later use – just make sure your powder is thoroughly dry before storing it, or add a silica desiccant packet to the jar for added peace of mind.

How to Make a Pest Deterrent

If you want to use eggshells as a pest deterrent, instead of grinding them into a fine powder, you’ll want to crush them into small, jagged pieces instead.

You’ll still want to dry and heat them in the oven as described above.

But instead of grinding them in a blender or coffee grinder, which will result in producing pieces that are too small to deter pests, crush them by hand.

You can do this by placing small batches in a mortar and crushing them with a pestle, or place them on a baking sheet and crush them with a rolling pin.

Place your crushed shell pieces in a jar for storage – or go ahead and take them out to your garden and sprinkle them around your plants right away.

Breakin’ Up Isn’t Hard to Do

See? Breaking up your eggshells – and letting them break down – really isn’t that hard to do!

And if you make sure to dry them out for easier grinding, the remainders of your omelets can be easily transformed into a DIY soil amendment or compost ingredient.

As far as using them for pest control – let’s all keep experimenting and report back.

What do you think, readers? Have you successfully used this food waste to amend your soil or deter pests? Let us know in the comments.

And if this article has piqued your interest in edible gardening by repurposing food scraps, you can read more articles on that subject right here:

which plants are suitable for, composition, instructions for use, recipes

Contents:

  1. Composition and useful properties
  2. What is
  3. used for? what you can use

Eggshells are considered a natural source of calcium. It is indispensable in the cultivation of a variety of garden and horticultural crops, promotes the flowering of decorative flowers. Egg shells are actively used as a fertilizer by lovers of organic farming. nine0019

It is not difficult to prepare a useful composition. To do this, the shell in a ratio of 100 g per 3 liters is diluted with water and boiled for 5 minutes. The solution is filtered, 5 liters of water are poured into it and the area is watered.

Complement the effect of the shell with other available components. Nettle leaves and onion peel, 50 g of dolomite flour and 1 liter of boiling water are added to 100 g of the shell. Leave for 24 hours under the lid. Then the liquid is filtered and diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. If desired, walnut leaves are used instead of nettles, and dolomite flour is replaced with ash. nine0019

The simplest method of using eggshells as fertilizer is to add water to them, which is collected in a tank for future irrigation.

Composition and useful properties

Most of all in calcium carbonate powder (90%). This substance is well absorbed by plants and activates the growth of young shoots and greenery. Calcium carbonate also plays an important role in photosynthesis and metabolism, as well as in supplying plant cells with oxygen.

The shell alkalizes the soil and improves the soil structure. To neutralize acidic soil, it is enough to add 500 g of shell per 1 m2 of land. This amount of shell is obtained from 35-50 eggs, depending on their size. On silty, clay and peaty areas, the dosage is doubled. nine0019

Shells as fertilizer for the garden - a proven baking powder. Thanks to this additive, the air permeability of the soil improves, and the roots of the grown crops receive a sufficient amount of oxygen. On the beds in the heat there is no hard crust, which is why you can not loosen the soil so often. After rain and watering, water is absorbed more evenly.

In addition to calcium, the raw shell contains the following minerals: potassium, sodium and magnesium, phosphorus and sulfur, iron, iodine and cobalt. Also in the composition are manganese, copper and molybdenum, fluorine, chromium and zinc. nine0019

An important point: the above elements in the shell are in the form of salts and in this form are well absorbed by plants. By preparing a supply of shells, you can save on fertilizers, provide useful top dressing for all crops in the house and on the site.

Benefits of using eggshells to fertilize plants:

Organically grown agricultural products are in high demand.

Why do we need eggshell fertilizer

Beginners and experienced summer residents actively use eggshells as fertilizer in the garden, and also find other ways to use it in the beds. For example, miniature containers are made from shells in which seedlings are placed. To do this, the sharp end of the egg is pierced with a needle, a small piece of the shell is removed from the opposite area, and fertile soil is placed in the resulting miniature pot, in which seeds are planted and seedlings dive. To plant young plants on the site, it is enough to slightly squeeze the shell until it cracks and bury the seedlings directly in it into the soil. The roots will overcome the thin barrier, and the remains of the shell will become top dressing. nine0019

Eggshell fertilization can be carried out:

How to collect and properly store eggshells

When planning to use eggshells as fertilizer for the garden, some gardeners prepare them for future use, collecting them in cardboard boxes. Before this, it is necessary to remove the film and protein residues. The material prepared for storage is left in a dry place until it dries naturally. When the shell dries completely, it remains to crush it and package it in sealed containers or in paper bags. It is not worth storing in polyethylene: the shell is moistened and deteriorates. nine0019

Another option is to bake the egg shells over an open fire and grind them together with the ashes. The resulting fertilizer will be more effective.

For which garden plants this top dressing is suitable

When choosing plant top dressing with eggs, it is important to know for which plants eggshell is indispensable as a fertilizer:

  1. Cabbage of all varieties. Crushed shells are added to each hole at the time of planting, and then with each organic top dressing. Enough 0.5 tsp. powder for 1 plant. nine0006
  2. Raspberry, currant. The best result is obtained when growing blackcurrant, but other varieties will gratefully accept this top dressing. In the spring, when the soil thaws, and also after the autumn harvest, within the boundaries of the near-stem circle of shrubs, the earth is sprinkled with shell flour.
  3. Melons and watermelons. Top dressing is applied at the time of planting and in the fall, when digging of the garden is planned.
  4. Solanaceae seedlings. For watering potato and eggplant sprouts, tomatoes and bell peppers, an infusion of shells is suitable. For adult crops, such top dressing is not recommended: in this case, the fruits are poorly tied and ripen for a long time. nine0006
  5. Beets, marrows, onions, legumes, cucumbers, herbs. Cultures are watered with infusion once every 2 weeks, and flour is applied in spring and autumn.
  6. Strawberry. Ashes and shell powder are mixed equally, poured into the holes.
  7. Trees (pomes, stone fruits). In autumn, the earth is fertilized along the near-trunk circle with shell flour, then the soil is loosened. For every 1 m2 take up to 700 g of powder.
  8. Annual ornamental flowers. Watered with infusion 1 time in 2-3 weeks.
  9. Perennial flowers. They are fed once every 3 weeks with liquid fertilizer, and the powder is also poured into the wells at the time of planting. nine0006

It is important to know not only which plants love eggshells, but which crops they are not suitable for fertilizing. We are talking about garden plantings and house flowers grown in pots and preferring an acidic environment. This is primarily petunia, violet and gloxinia, as well as hydrangea, fern, azalea, carnation and rhododendron. For the same reason, cranberries, sorrel, gooseberries, lemon balm, blueberries and basil are not fertilized with shells.

How to properly fertilize

Choose the right day and the right dosage to treat the beds with organic fertilizer. Universal recipe:

  1. A 100-liter container is filled one third with green tops without seeds.
  2. Add 1 kg of sodium humate and 600 g of shell powder.
  3. Top up with water.
  4. The solution is left to ferment, stirring regularly, for 2 weeks.
  5. The concentrate is diluted with water 1:10 and used during irrigation.

What can and should be used with

Before using eggshell as a fertilizer, it is worth checking its compatibility with other top dressings. The combination of shells with biofertilizers, such as Baikal, Vesna, Albit, etc., shows the greatest efficiency. Read more about organic fertilizers and caring for specific crops in other articles on our website.

Similar materials: organic fertilizers, garden fertilizers, garden fertilizers

Eggshells are your indispensable helper in the country. Fertilizer. Soil deoxidizer. Ways to use. Photo - Botanichka

Increasingly, gardeners and gardeners are looking for a substitute for mineral fertilizers when growing vegetables and fruits. Difficult ecology and increasing allergic diseases force homeowners to use natural methods to increase soil fertility. Indeed, nature itself is able to take care of itself, and therefore has a whole arsenal of means that, with skillful handling, will increase the yield and improve the taste of fruits. The most valuable source of elements necessary for fertility is eggshell. What is its use, as well as how to use eggshells in the garden and in the beds, will be discussed in this article. nine0019 Eggshell - your indispensable assistant in the country

Eggshell - chemical composition

The main chemical element of the eggshell is calcium carbonate. The main one, but not the only one. In addition to calcium, the shell contains various organic substances, phosphorus, fluorine, copper, iron and many other elements (27 in total).

Shells are often used as a source of natural calcium. And not in vain, because this substance was synthesized in the bird's body, as a result of which inorganic calcium was obtained at the output. Therefore, the use of eggshells as a source of calcium is much more preferable than chalk. nine0019

Preparing egg shells for gardening and gardening

Poultry egg shells are best for use as fertilizer. In chickens raised in the wild and receiving not only good nutrition, but also sunbathing, eggs, and hence the shell, have a complete set of nutrients.

The egg shell of factory chickens, although it will be a little poorer, is also quite suitable for use in garden beds. Raw egg shells are also preferable, because during cooking, some of the valuable substances break down. And one more nuance - the brown shell in terms of the content of trace elements is slightly richer than white. nine0019

Wash and dry the shell before use. This is especially true of raw eggs, and when washing, you need to remove the inner film. It is not necessary to use heating devices for drying - within a week the shell will dry safely at normal room temperature.

To use egg shells as fertilizer, you need to turn them into powder. The finer it turns out to grind the shell, the better - only in this form it will quickly give the soil all its useful properties. You can grind the shells in different ways - in a mortar, blender, meat grinder, coffee grinder or with a rolling pin, rolling the shells between two layers of oilcloth. The resulting fine powder before use is best stored in a glass jar with a tight lid. nine0019 To use eggshells as fertilizer, you need to turn them into powder. © aljamila

Using egg shells in the country

Powdered egg shells are applied to the holes when planting seedlings in the ground. A handful of eggshells are poured into the prepared hole, spraying along the walls. Tomatoes and bell peppers respond very well to this dressing. With calcium deficiency, many varieties of these plants are prone to blossom end rot.

Will appreciate the addition of eggshells and all types of cabbage, eggplant and melon to the soil. When sowing onions, spinach, lettuce and beets, the furrows in the beds are sprinkled with powder. nine0019

Not all garden crops like alkaline soil, and since eggshell, like chalk, deoxidizes the soil, you should not add powder for legumes, strawberries, cucumbers, zucchini and other pumpkins.

Pest and disease control shells

Egg shells not only enrich the soil with useful elements, but also help in the fight against pests and diseases. The powder from the shell, introduced when planting cabbage, prevents the appearance of such an unpleasant disease as keel. nine0019

Experienced gardeners use coarse ground shells to control slugs. To do this, powder with large fractions is mixed with wood ash 1/1 and sprinkled between rows. This becomes an insurmountable barrier not only for slugs, but also for other soil pests.

When picking seedlings, experienced gardeners dust seedlings with shell powder. This measure protects plants from the appearance of a black leg.

Large pieces of the shell, placed in the hole during planting, serve as protection for plants from the mole cricket and moles. nine0019

Other uses of eggshell for plant health

Eggshell infusion for seedlings and houseplants

Eggshell infusion is often used to feed seedlings and houseplants. For the preparation of liquid top dressing 5 tbsp. tablespoons of eggshell powder pour 1 liter of boiling water. The mixture is cooled and insisted in a dark place for 5 days, periodically shaking the container. In the process of insisting, an unpleasant smell of hydrogen sulfide may appear, but there's nothing you can do about it - they are eggs. nine0019

The resulting infusion can be watered for seedlings of vegetables, flowers and indoor plants. Top dressing is carried out once a month, alternating with other types of fertilizers.

Eggshell Drainage

Eggshell growers use eggshells as drainage. To do this, when planting or transplanting indoor plants, a layer of eggshell is laid on the bottom of the pot. For these purposes, the shells are not crushed, but simply broken into large fractions, 1.5–2 cm in size.

Eggshells can be successfully used for growing seedlings. © athomeinyourlife

Seedling containers

Recently, many people have been using egg shells to grow seedlings. To make cups, raw eggs are not broken in half, but part of the shell is carefully removed from their tip, in the form of a lid. The egg is poured, and the shell is washed and dried. The dried shells are placed in a container and filled with soil, into which they are sown.

The shell is convenient for further use - the grown seedlings can be planted in pots or in open ground with the shell. It is enough to crush it a little so that the roots can grow without unnecessary obstacles. nine0019

Soil deoxidation with eggshells

For soil deoxidation and fertilization once every 2-3 years (depending on soil acidity), eggshell powder is scattered over the beds for autumn digging at the rate of 1 glass per 1 m 2 . The process of releasing nutrients is not a quick business, so such events are carried out ahead of time.

For all methods of soil deoxidation, see the material Soil acidity - how to determine and deoxidize.

Soil improvement

Coarse powder, in addition to increasing fertility, will improve soil structure.

Learn more