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fertilizer Does anyone use egg shells for fertilizer?

jubjubrsx

jubjubrsx

I probably eat around a dozen eggs a day (I have an unlimited supply of eggs). The chickens lay so many eggs, any who, I was reading about using the shells in some water and mixing it for fertilizer anyone else do this? just curious.
 
I use broken up egg shells in two ways, I either mix the pieces into the soil or I jusr sprinkle it on top.  With the first method it provides a (very) slow release of calcium for the plants, with the second method you still get some of the calcium to the plants, but also it helps repel slugs, as they don't like having to cross over broken egg shells.
 
 
I wish I had chickens...
 
yea i think you have to like.... burn them in a flame then treat them with an acid or something to get a usefull fertilizer other than... calcium carbonate.


im not 100 % but i think the process is similar to making lime... you burn the carbonate, which liberates co2 and yields calcium oxide. this is reacted with acetic acid or HCl to yield calcium acetate or calcium chloride.
 
When we were buying eggs, i used to put the shells in the compost bin. It takes a lot of time to break down. Now that we have chicken, we just throw the shells back to the chicken and they get crazy and eat them.
 
I do, although we don't use a lot of eggs. They just go in to the compost bin and get a bit of a smashing. I also use scollop shells but like eggs they take a very long time to break down, even after a bit of a smash up.
 
From late fall to spring, I throw our egg shells directly the into garden beds and occasionally bash/churn them up with a hoe.
 
Let them dry out first, and then crush them into dust and just till them into your soil for the peppers. They are great for calcium and phosphorus in particular, as well as other trace minerals. It is important to compost them first, to prevent bacteria from entering the root system of the plants. I used them, and they work well in my experience.
 
I put them in the compost. The take a very long time to break down, but I apply compost to the beds 2-3 times a year and grow in the same spot for multiple years. Before they have completely broken down, the little jagged shell pieces are good for the soil texture and provide great places for soil microbes to grow.
 
Egg shells are my exclusive source of calcium besides that already in tap water and minor traces in other compost, and of course what was already in the soil itself.  I mix it into the soil at time of transplant after stomping on a bin full with the end of a piece of wood 2x4.
 
They do not need to be completely turned to powder, nor ashed or baked if you use enough and they are in the soil instead of on top.  Acid in (typical) rain and/or woody material in your soil like mulch or peat moss will acidify and break them down.  Obviously this means they work best with slightly acidic soil which peppers like anyway.
 
In my growing conditions the small particles, averaging a little smaller than the diameter of a BB, almost fully disintegrate by the end of a growing season when I turn more compost into the soil (and more egg shells) to age over the rest of fall and winter for next spring.  That's the key to using egg shells, that it's a long term solution rather than a fix for an immediate calcium deficiency (with an exception mentioned below).
 
If you did not amend your soil with them ahead of time then powdering them will help get them down into the soil, and ashing then powdering them even more so.  If you have a calcium emergency you can also dissolve them in vinegar for immediate availability to the plant but be careful!  Don't add too much vinegar, agitate the mixture so it fully reacts leaving some pieces of shell behind as evidence it isn't too acidic still (or test the pH yourself), and leave it sitting to react for a few hours before watering the plant with it.
 
Do not use a lot of egg shell vinegar solution at once as you can kill a plant with too great a quantity while it is very hard to use too much crushed egg shell alone.
 
I dry mine and then crush them into a powder in an old coffee grinder and put them in my worm bin to give the worms some grit for their gizzards.

queequeg152 said:
yea i think you have to like.... burn them in a flame then treat them with an acid or something to get a usefull fertilizer other than... calcium carbonate.


im not 100 % but i think the process is similar to making lime... you burn the carbonate, which liberates co2 and yields calcium oxide. this is reacted with acetic acid or HCl to yield calcium acetate or calcium chloride.
Click to expand...
I read somewhere to boil them in water and let the water cool and water your plants with the water the eggshells were in. Not sure of the validity of that though.
 
^  Very little of the shell will dissolve in boiling water unless it is acidic.   If acidic the heat will speed up the reaction but that reaction will still take place at room temperature.
 
Thanks Dave. All I know is do NOT get a whiff of the "smoke" that comes off the crushed egg shells after they come out of a coffee grinder.
It is brutal!
 
     I use my winter collection in the spring.Does it help who knows, but I feel better about things when I get a second use out of things.
nursery2 2014-04-12 002.JPG
 
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