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Egg Shells

Roguejim

Roguejim

For those who have used crushed egg shells as a calcium supplement for their plants, I have a few questions.

1) At plant out (inground), do you put the pulverized shells at the bottom of the hole, or mulched into the soil's surface?

2) How much per plant?

3) How long before reapplying?

4) I plan on running the shells through a blender. This should suffice, no?

Thanks.
 
Egg shells take awhile to break down, unless you have a ton of earthworms to eat them up and poo them out.
 
An alternative is to crush them and put them in a jar with rice or apple vinegar.  The acid will react with the calcium in the egg shells, creating a neutral water soluble calcium solution.  Dilute and use as a foliar spray.
 
For calcium I use Vinegar and dolomite lime to make Calcium/magnesium acetate which is plant usable.
Doesn't have to break down.
Lots of people use vinegar and egg shells or other calcium rich sources(seashells)to make cal. acetate.
I like Dolomite Lime because it has Mag. in it too.
The same receptors in plants use Cal. and Mag.
Too much of either mess up a plant.Adding both as an acetate which doesn't depend on soil ph works best for me.
It seems the dolomite,vinegar blend doesn't mess with my plants as much as when I used soil amendments like bone meal and epsom salts.

Acetate seems to be a lot better and easier for plants to use.

Works for me to set buds etc. as an addition to my ferts.

Foli cal works the same but doesn't include Mag. that the dolomite lime vinegar mix has.

Acetate is easily accepted by plants by the roots and supposedly by the leaves and buds.
I don't believe in foliar feeding plants in general.
I think runoff from foliar feeding does more for plants in the soil than what leaves absorb.
 
I save up my egg shells, run them through the blender to a powder and mix it into the soil I use when I plant the germinated seed in the trays. Then again when I plant out. I usually have a couple of gallon Ziploc bags full of flattened shells and add about a cup of powder to a 5 gallon bucket of soil. filmost is correct that this is for long term use. The soil I use is an organic Vegetable Garden soil and has a readily available Calcium in it for immediate use.
 
Smoke, that's good info, thanks :)
 
Mike,
  I like your chemistry  ;)  :clap: ,  you know your stuff !
 
I'm just lazy, I buy the cheapest calcium citrate tablets I can find (discount store drug dept. or similar).  
Put a handful of tablets and a handful of Epsom salts in an old work sock. Work the sock over with 
an old baseball bat on a concrete driveway, hang sock in a 5 gal. bucket of rainwater.
Forget about it for xx? days, then add a cup or two in my watering can every week or two.
 
How much vinegar & dolomite lime to egg shells?  Is the lime at garden supply stores or hardware stores (never heard of it) ?
 
Barley-pop57 said:
How much vinegar & dolomite lime to egg shells?  Is the lime at garden supply stores or hardware stores (never heard of it) ?
Click to expand...
 
If you use dolomite lime, you end up with calcium/magnesium acetate (based on smokemaster's comment). If you use egg shells you end up with calcium phosphate. Not sure if anyone has ever tried both at the same time.
 
I dunno the ratios for using dolomite lime, but for egg shells it doesn't really matter.  Chances are the acid in the vinegar will be neutralized before your egg shells are fully desolved.  To continue dissolving egg shells, you an continue adding vinegar as you use it, just give it a quick stir shake after you add it and the process should start over.
 
smokemaster said:
For calcium I use Vinegar and dolomite lime to make Calcium/magnesium acetate which is plant usable.
Click to expand...
 
Interesting! I will try this!
 
smokemaster said:
For calcium I use Vinegar and dolomite lime to make Calcium/magnesium acetate which is plant usable.Doesn't have to break down.Lots of people use vinegar and egg shells or other calcium rich sources(seashells)to make cal. acetate.I like Dolomite Lime because it has Mag. in it too.
Click to expand...
How is this applied?
 
I'm a compost Nazi - I crush the shells and add them to my compost units. I amend the potting mixture in the Spring and then top dress during the growing season with the compost.
 
I hear the best thing is to boil the egg shells in water, let the water cool, remove the egg shells and water with the water they were boiled in.
 
smokemaster said:
For calcium I use Vinegar and dolomite lime to make Calcium/magnesium acetate which is plant usable.
Doesn't have to break down.
Lots of people use vinegar and egg shells or other calcium rich sources(seashells)to make cal. acetate.
I like Dolomite Lime because it has Mag. in it too.
The same receptors in plants use Cal. and Mag.
Too much of either mess up a plant.Adding both as an acetate which doesn't depend on soil ph works best for me.
It seems the dolomite,vinegar blend doesn't mess with my plants as much as when I used soil amendments like bone meal and epsom salts.

Acetate seems to be a lot better and easier for plants to use.

Works for me to set buds etc. as an addition to my ferts.

Foli cal works the same but doesn't include Mag. that the dolomite lime vinegar mix has.

Acetate is easily accepted by plants by the roots and supposedly by the leaves and buds.
I don't believe in foliar feeding plants in general.
I think runoff from foliar feeding does more for plants in the soil than what leaves absorb.
Click to expand...
 
 
Smokemaster - great tip! - what ratio of dolomite to vinegar do you use??
 
I just put a couple inches of Dolomite lime in a plastic container and add white vinegar.
Add new vingar as I use it up.
I don't measure it but I think I probably use about a couple Tbsp. a gal of water/ferts.

I get dolomite lime from the nursery.
 
smokemaster said:
I just put a couple inches of Dolomite lime in a plastic container and add white vinegar.
Add new vingar as I use it up.
 
Click to expand...
     Good to know. Until that post cleared up my confusion, I didn't know if the vinegar or the lime would be the limiting reactant. If the dolomite was limiting, excess vinegar would remain which could lower soil pH or burn roots.
     The way you set it up, the acid will always extinguish first, leaving a more neutral solution. Smart!
 
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