Eggshells and Tomatoes

[gardenbean]

Question please?
Becausse I know that tomatoes need calicum to grow and do their best in producing top notch fruit and that is what I can seen my plants doing. I would like to know how to get the most out of my eggshells, which is the best way to apply them to my tomatoes.

1. Grind them up and just apply around the base of the plant?

(or)

2. Should I apply them to the base of the plant and cover with some organic mulch like mushroom compost?

I am a little concern about applying any mushroom compost to the plants because I am afraid that they will no longer produce fruit but instead start producing lots of green leafs and no produce.

What I have been doing in the last month or so is just applying the ground eggshells to the base of the plant before I give them their weekly watering. (And yes before planting them I made sure each plant received a good dose ofeggshells in their hole.)

Otherewise, my plants doing great and I see that they are working hard at producing many fruits. Thank you.

[Duh_Vinci]

Eggshels break down fairly slow, so I do grind them finely and add a table spoon to each of the planting hole...

As for mushroom compost, I love it, usually has many nutrients, it is alkaline and I always add one shovel to each planting hole as well.

Regards,
D

[TZ -OH6]

The garden is a good place to dispose of eggshells, but If you have a calcium problem it is much easier to fix it with a $3 bag of garden lime (powdered or pelleted limestone or dolomite). Only the leading couple of inches of a growing root can take up nutrients, and roots will grow away from the planting hole fairly early on so the relatively little bit of calcium carbonate from the eggshell can't really do the plant much good because it won't have time to dissolve an appreciable amount of calcium in those few weeks.

[gardenbean]

Thanks T-Z for the information.

Duh-Vinci-Glad to see someone else using mushroom compost. It really has done wonders for my garden. Thanks for the info. on the eggshells.