Has anyone ever used a whole egg as fertilizer?

[84pagirl]

This was published in redbook magazine. Could it be true that an egg is a good fertilizer?

[DoubleDogFarm]

I think they got the meaning wrong. Eggs, painted, are a symbol of fertility. Pagan children would hide their eggs by burying them. Hiding them from the christian children. This is where the whole dying eggs and hunting came from.

The whole egg would just sit in the ground and rot. You have heard of 100 year old egg. Yuk!

[jal_ut]

No!

[garden5]

Not really the best idea out there . I can't find anything against it with a quick Google search, but I know that I've heard somewhere something indicating that it wasn't a good thing to do. Possibility of a salmonella risk?

[DoubleDogFarm]

I should have also added, that my duck eggs have way to much value to be wasted

[tedln]

Actually Dono, 100 year old eggs are pretty good. I grew up with two families of Chinese from China. There may have been a time when they actually left them in the soil for 100 years. They don't now. A few months in special soil high in certain natural minerals does the job. The eggs are black on the inside from the minerals.

Eggs would probably add something to the mix if added to compost piles, but I haven't tried it. I don't think it would attract any more vermin to the garden than a lot of the fish products used as soil amendments today.

My wife and I eat very few eggs. We will buy a carton and use a few, but a few months later, I look at the carton and determine the eggs probably are no longer good to eat and toss them. I may break them and add them to the compost along with the shells in the future.

Using them direct in the soil as fertilizer is an interesting idea. I don't think just burying one unbroken with a tomato or pepper is a good idea. Maybe breaking one or two into a predug hole and scrambling them into the soil at the bottom of the hole might be beneficial. You probably would need to fill the hole back in and let it set for a week or so before re-digging the hole and planting the plant after stirring the dirt good might work. It would certainly attract bacteria. Would they be beneficial bacteria is unknown to me.
Ted

[applestar]

Aw, c'mon! Nobody else but Tedln ever has eggs that are past their prime? I don't very often, but when I do, it's the FUNNEST (as my younger DD would say) thing -- I start by turning the compost pile (I like working with a self-specified goal/reward in mind) so the bottom of the pile is exposed, then open the egg carton and throw the eggs in as hard as I can. I pretend I'm a baseball player or picture somebody's face in the compost pile

[DoubleDogFarm]

I pretend I'm a baseball player or picture somebody's face in the compost pile

[img]https://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h300/eric_wa/pokedown.gif[/img]

[BrianSkilton]

[img]https://www.ifood.tv/files/u10851/century_egg.jpeg[/img]

Hmm, I've always referred to them as thousand year old egg. I like a lot of chinese cuisine, but that however is not something I would enjoy I don't think, have to leave that for Andrew Zimmern...haha.

[img]https://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/images/stories/large/2008/10/27/blegz79502195.jpg[/img]

Eggs are a wonderful thing to eat, using for fertilizer is a bad bad idea...

[garden5]

The rodent issue is one of the most obvious reasons you don't want to plant an egg beneath your plants. Those plants won't be in the ground for too long.

Scramble the egg, bury the shell .

[gixxerific]

Plus another point which I can't believe anybody brought up. If you plant an egg in the garden you will grow a chicken, or at least I think you do.

[tedln]

Plus another point which I can't believe anybody brought up. If you plant an egg in the garden you will grow a chicken, or at least I think you do.

And if the temperature is over 100 degrees, you will grow a fried chicken. Don't forget to add some spices to the hole with the egg. I'm heading to the garden right now with eggs in hand.

Ted

[gixxerific]

This was published in redbook magazine. Could it be true that an egg is a good fertilizer?

Sorry I took this way off track above. I would not use whole eggs due to a few things mainly inviting rodents.

But crushed eggshells can be used as a source of calcium. I cook mine first to make sure their is no trace of sominila.(sp)

[DoubleDogFarm]

If you plant an egg in the garden you will grow a chicken, or at least I think you do.

I've been planting eggs in the garden for years, still no eggplant. hehe

[The Helpful Gardener]

Eggs are mostly protein, made from amino acids, which are high in nitrogen...

Seems to me there would be SOME fertilization benefit here as the decomposition took place; likely highly bacterial, certainly some smelly, (anaerobic conditions plus hydrogen sulfides (egg salad smell)).

Won't catch me wasting food to grow food though...

HG