Eggshell Plant Fertiliser

If you have added your waste eggshells to the compost bin you will know that they take ages to break down. Even after years when you empty out the compost you will still find large pieces of shell. It's not a problem but just means it is taking a long time to get the benefit into the soil. This is what I do with mine.

I collect the shells until I have an oven tray full. Then the next time the oven is on for some cooking I put the shells in to dry them out. It doesn't matter how long they are in for. So long as it is long enough to make them dry and brittle and therefore easy to grind down.



Once they are cool crush them with you hands so they are easy to get into the grinder.



Then grind them into a powder.



And store the powered for later use.



The powder can be put into the compost bin to add calcium to the mix.

If you have a wormery it is ideal to add a small amount at a time as the worms love the grittiness and will process the powder into the compost they produce.

Or add to the soil as a fertiliser. The calcium carbonate is a mild lime but it would take a lot of eggshells to make enough powder to use as a lime. This year I am going to try a little experiment and add a handful of the powder to the planting hole for some of my cabbages and it will be interesting to see if there is any difference between the plants that do or do not have the eggshell powder added.