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President - GPC

Has anyone out there pursued using egg shells to add calcium into the soil? Im thinking of asking the local breakfast joint to save them for me to crush up and use for an organic CA additive....Thoughts?

12/8/2006 9:03:53 AM

maine USA

Last year I got a lot of eggshells, and vegetable peels and etc. from my local diner. It will be used in the spring to suppliment my patch, and mixed with loam to bury my vines. I am sure that it is a very slow release form of Ca, but it makes a lot of sense to me for what that's worth LOL KathyT

12/8/2006 12:59:22 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

It can take a very long time for that calcium to become available but it will eventually. On the plus side; the broken shells will help to keep the soil physically open until they are reclaimed by the soil.

12/8/2006 1:13:26 PM

Pocatello (cliffwarren@yahoo.com)

You can also take a bunch of egg shells, crush them, then boil them in a pot of water. Then use the water (after it cools, of course) on a plant. A little too labor intensive to do all the time though... Egg shells are a good addition to any compost pile.

12/8/2006 3:00:41 PM

Southern Sweden

Yes, take a look at:
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=18510

12/8/2006 4:07:20 PM

Riverton, WY

I've been adding eggshells to my patch for the last few years. We just save all the shells from the eggs we eat throughout the year in a small bucket. After a day or 2 of drying they crush into small pieces and don't take up much room. The crushed shells get broadcast by hand just before working the soil in the spring and/or fall.

12/9/2006 10:12:02 PM

President - GPC

I too have always thrown in my eggshells in the garden, but now I am wanting to kick it up nothc....and ask the Gunther Tooties breakfast shop to toss them into a 5 gallon bucket... I will pick up daily.....its next to the StarBuck's so its one stop shopping....lol....

Gustavsson,,,,,nice.......have you noticed an increase in Ca levels since doing this on that level?
Oyster shell, which they feed chickens to add Ca to their diet and make the shells harder is a great Ca booster but very alkaline and Colorado already has that issue.......

12/11/2006 1:51:06 PM

Southern Sweden

Not yet, it takes several years for the eggshells to break down. Next year I hope that the accumulated Ca in the soil will save my pumpkin from splitting.

12/11/2006 4:22:08 PM

Montoursville, PA

Excesses of anything can lead to a problem. I doubt that egg shells in the patch would ever breakdown into a problem but then many of us become "over stuffers" the minute competition enters the picture. My observation has been that anything within reason that once was alive, in the compost pile will break down into finished compost, in due time. Finished compost is never a problem. The problem comes most, of the time when humans try, to hurry up the natural process with excesses and manufactured fertilizers, to milk the patch, for profit...or a winner item.

...I have never seen a patch under reasonable healthy management go bad in any way, for any reason that was not tracable, to manufactured chemical use, deprivation via oils some of which may be organic or derived from compressed organic matter, compaction, air born poisons, or lack, of common sense growing techniques. Since minerals are generally considered within organic practices the over use of the major and trace minerals can also be a bad practice.

.....We can get pretty bad when trying to push for a winner. That seems to be human nature. Once we leave the arena, of sustainable practices, is when we all need, to re-evaluate the situation, in our own back yards.

12/15/2006 4:21:13 PM

Maine

I save all my eggshells dry them out, crush them up, then add to my compost piles.

12/15/2006 7:35:56 PM

Lexington, Ky

Would egg shell powder get it done more quickly?

12/16/2006 6:37:31 PM

President - GPC

I know that out in the sunshine for 2 months the shells pulverize into calcium dust, when crushed.

12/17/2006 12:54:25 PM

Billerica,Massachusetts

yes plenty of them http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=32207

1/3/2007 4:02:34 PM

porterville, calif.

I have one of those Magic bullet things from TV . I put my eggshells in it and it grinds them to powder. I found a really great use for it that really works. It doesn,t shred cheeze very good like it shows on TV.

1/3/2007 10:35:04 PM

President - GPC

I now have a egg shell supplier that can supply me with all the shells I want from Gunther Toodies.....so we are going to give this a try and see what this does to our calcium levels at several patches.......keep in touch

1/5/2007 12:08:37 PM

United Kingdom

Hi,

I always use eggshells in my compost pile.I Roast them in the oven for a while and then they break down more evenly.

PJ

3/10/2007 1:16:51 PM

Long Island,New York

You roast your eggshells in the oven so they will decompose better when you throw them in the compost pile???? You will do well here and fit right in.

3/10/2007 1:43:51 PM