Egg Shells

[firstimegardener]

Ok, how do you use egg shells (which from what I understand, are good for calcium) without worrying about food born illnesses?????

[Marlingardener]

I crush eggshells and put them in the hole before planting tomatoes and eggplant. I don't think that after sitting in the earth and decomposing and supplying calcium to the tomatoes, etc. that they are going to do any harm.
Of course, we have our own hens, and therefore our own eggs, so I know what goes into the chickens, as well as what comes out.

[cynthia_h]

We had a pretty good discussion about eggshells, how to use them in compost or directly in the garden, hens, egg-laying on a small vs. commercial scale, and other related topics last fall at

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... p?p=162037

It may answer your questions--or raise more of them!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[ruggr10]

I also put some crushed sells into my worm bin. They flock to them and I seem to get more egg casings.

[Tonythegardener]

I put egg shells on my compost, in my worm bin and in the Bokashi bin. I have done this for over 30 years and not knowingly had any adverse effects. When wild bird chicks hatch from their eggs their parents take the egg shells and drop them on the ground. You might get a few on your garden if you are lucky. As has been said egg shells are a good source of calcium and worms quickly incorporate them into the soil. I doubt that you would get any more bad bacteria from egg shells that you would get from soil in any case.

[firstimegardener]

Thanks! I'm going to try baking them in the oven just in case, then I can grind them up and add them to the worm bin (my only compost!)

I realize I probably sound REALLY paranoid about it, but I have small kids, and I'm scared to DEATH of food born problems. When I cook raw meat, I use so much bleach to clean up you can smell it down the block...

[farmerlon]

[quote="firstimegardener"]Thanks! I'm going to try baking them in the oven just in case, ... [quote]

I hope this doesn't sound judgemental, it's not meant to be.
That (baking the eggshells) seems like a waste of resources to me. If you feel the need to "sterilize" the eggshells by cooking them, how about just zapping them in the microwave for a minute or two?
Or, you might just lay them in the sun, and let the UV rays cook any possible pathogens.

I applaud your concern for safety... but I think you can keep your compost "free", by using little (or no) electricity to make it.

[firstimegardener]

Thanks! I'm going to try baking them in the oven just in case, ...

I hope this doesn't sound judgemental, it's not meant to be.
That (baking the eggshells) seems like a waste of resources to me. If you feel the need to "sterilize" the eggshells by cooking them, how about just zapping them in the microwave for a minute or two?
Or, you might just lay them in the sun, and let the UV rays cook any possible pathogens.

I applaud your concern for safety... but I think you can keep your compost "free", by using little (or no) electricity to make it.

I actually only use the microwave for warming up my milk for my coffee and popping popcorn I have never cooked meat, eggs, or anything else in it. So, I didn't think about it. It probably would get it hot enough to deal with any problems.

And you didn't sound judgmental at all...I appreciate the idea!

[Apricor]

Hi there. I'm new to the forum and looking forward to exchanging some ideas. I also crush use eggshells and put them in my compost bin, but I have another use as well. We have a problem (Mossel Bay, South Africa) with snails in our vegetable garden. We gather our eggshells through the winter and in spring I crush them and put them around the whole area of our vegetable patch. Apparently snails don't like going over these sharp bits. But you have to keep on adding more, since the bits tend to get covered by soil and that's just what the snails are waiting for to pass over!