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In Today’s post, let us dissect some of the claimed benefits of eggshells in garden. Which of these really work and have a scientific basis and how to and how not to use egg-shells in gardening plus a very useful bonus garden hack or trick in the end.
Just google – “eggshells in garden” and your Google search will reveal hundreds of articles about the miracles of eggshells in the garden. Like using them for pest control, fertilizer or a source of calcium to plants, treat blossom end rot disease and what not! But do these claims hold water?
Let’s take a look at the apparent benefits of using eggshells in the garden and find out those which actually work and those which you can ignore.
- EggShells repel slugs and snails? The theory is: Broken eggshells have sharp edges, and if slugs crawl on them, they will get cuts on their bodies, and they die. This is a myth, and slugs and snails are not harmed by egg shells. You can see clearly them crossing the crushed egg shell barrier easily.
But some people say, egg shells have to be finely crushed to inflict injury to these creatures. You can see they are able to cross much sharper objects like a knife in this clip. So, this is completely disproved and will never work! - EggShells are rich in Calcium? Yes, this is a fact and they contain not only calcium – which is about 34%, but also rich in magnesium 0.3%, phosphorus 0.04% and potassium 0.03%. But remember eggshells do not contain any significant amounts of any major plant nutrients like the NPK – Nitrogen, Phosphorous and Potassium. If this is true, then!
- Crushed Egg Shells are a good organic fertilizer for plants? Crushed egg shells added on to the soil will take years to decompose and release those nutrients into soil, especially calcium. So adding crushed egg shells will not help to treat acute calcium deficiency in plants. Many experiments have been conducted on this, where finely powdered egg shells actually help but still take at least 4 weeks to start decomposing and release some nutrients into soil. So as a slow release fertilizer finely powdered egg shells can be used in the prevention of calcium deficiencies in plants like tomatoes and peppers, particularly the blossom end rot disease. But they never work for acute treatment of calcium deficiency.
- Sun dry or Microwave Eggshells before use? Yes this is better! To use egg shells, you need to sun dry them for a couple of days or microwave them for few minutes to get rid of any pathogens and then grind with a mixer or grinder, or with mortar and pestle. You can also buy egg shell powder for garden from online stores like amazon.
- Brown Eggshells are Better than white eggshells? Chicken eggs can come in different colors, and it’s common to find both brown and white eggs in the supermarket. Several studies have found that shell color has no significant effect on egg quality and composition. The only real difference is the pigment in the shell.
- EggShells in Compost Bin? Yes adding eggshells to your compost is perfectly fine, but they take years to break down. Adding finely crushed or powdered egg shells will help in faster decomposition and produce a nutrient rich compost over a period of time. And in making vermicompost, the red wriggler earthworms love egg shells and so they make an excellent addition to vermicompost.
- Eggshells release calcium when boiled in water? This is a fact, One eggshell contains about 2,000 mg of calcium. But boiling process releases only about 0.2% of the calcium as well as potassium into the water, which is a very small amount. But still something is better than nothing and it’s a free source. So next time you boil eggs, do not throw away the water, cool it and water it to your plants for instant source of calcium and potassium.
- Eggshell as a seed starting pot? Well, this is actually silly, but works! Nothing extraordinary about it. You add soil into the egg shell and sow the seeds, but it won’t offer much space as the seedling grows and also plants cannot suck the calcium right out of the shell and it’s better to start seeds in a seedling tray or small containers than taking the pain to start in egg shells. Moreover its really difficult to make a drain hole in an eggshell. It’ really a cumbersome process. You can make a hole in egg by scraping with a sand paper and using a dremmel tool and a drill bit.
- Eggshells for Mulching? There are better options for mulching like straw, dry leaves, wood chips, mulching sheets and so on. Egg shells are nothing superior and you need a lot of them to cover the area for mulching.
- Eggshells to treat Blossom End Rot? This simple hack will produce instant supply of soluble calcium or free calcium using egg shells to instantly supply calcium or treat calcium deficiencies like Blossom End Rot problem (BER) in tomatoes and peppers. To make this solution, you take any amount of finely powdered egg shells – like say 1 cup or 250 gms. Now you add nearly equal amount of distilled white vinegar to it – say about 250 ml. You can even add more amount of vinegar to dissolve egg shells quickly. But your need to dilute it with more water later before watering your plants. Now stir this mixture well and leave it for 1 or 2 hours. Intermittent or continuous stirring will make the process faster. Now add about 3 to 4 liters or a gallon of water to this or mix it to a gallon of water and then water your plants suffering from acute calcium deficiency or the BER problem. That’s it!
Have you ever used eggshells in your garden? Have you sprinkled them around your plants? Did you have success? Please comment below with your feedback and queries.
