Egg Shells for Fertilizer?

[F106A]

I just got back home from a visit to my folks, and brought them some of my egg bounty. One morning Dad made breakfast with some of the eggs, and I saw him put the shells in a bag he has off to the side of his sink. "Huh?", I thought!

Anyway, later I asked my mom what the egg shells were for. She told me Dad uses them as fertilizer for his potted plants he has scattered on his front and back porches.

I have never heard of doing that. We certainly didn't do it when I was growing up, and we had plenty of plants. We did compost though, and egg shells just went in that. He's crushing the shells on their own to use without composting.

Has anyone ever heard of that? I'm just curious.

Mark

 

[gamefowl guy]

Eggshells are good for calcium of course but I also use them to prevent dampening off of seedlings. I forget exactly why it is suppose to work, but it seems to help.

 

[BairleaFarm]

yeap they work great. been doing it for years until. now the chickens eat them all.

 

[Avalon1984]

My grandma swears by them and coffee grounds.

 

[bugkiller]

Last year I was having troubles with a lot of my vegetables in my garden more so in the tomato’s. The garden center told me it was most likely a calcium deficiency. This year i added egg shells to the garden around the base of the plants and have never had better tomato’s.

 

[Frosty]

Mom (in PA) and I use them all of the time. They help prevent blossom end rot in tomatoes and also have a lot of trace nutrients. I actually saw a site somewhere that suggested people eat them.

 

[Boyd]

Quote:
x2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Kevin565]

We've been using them for awhile and so far it's really helped the soil quality.

 

[RaZ]

http://www.ncagr.gov/cyber/kidswrld/plant/nutrient.htm
Good information from this site.
The calcium helps tomatoes, peppers and eggplant avoid blossom end rot. The jagged shells also deter slugs and cutworms.

I split my shells between the chickens, compost pile and directly around the plants.

 

[bugkiller]

Quote:
That was the problem i was having with blossom end rot and as soon as i added egg shels problem solved but the most common cause of end rot is inconxistant watering.