Eggshell for plants: what is it for and how to use it

This ecological resource, which you surely always have on hand, offers the opportunity to improve the health of your plants thanks to its different properties and uses. For this reason, we wanted to collect some of the benefits of the eggshell in plants so that you can get to work with recycling that part of the egg that is almost always thrown away.

Fight slug and snail pests

To do this, you only need to spread small pieces of crushed eggshell and spread them around the area of ​​your garden or the pot that is suffering the ravages of a plague of snails or slugs. The eggshell helps create a barrier that slugs or snails will not want to cross since these animals do not like the shells because they are pricked and disturbed.

In this other post we explain more about how to eliminate slugs and snails naturally .

Make a calcium-rich fertilizer

If you are looking to make calcium for plants at home, we encourage you to use eggshell to achieve it in the simplest and most economical way possible. For this you only need, as we have explained before, crush the eggshell and place them on the substrate that you use as soil for your plant.

Calcium for plants is one of the richest minerals to improve their development. Therefore, as the release of calcium in the soil is quite slow, many choose to add eggshells to help the crops prevent rot. If you have roses in your home or garden, we also advise you to use the eggshell to improve the soil and promote its flowering.

If you are interested in learning more about How to make homemade organic fertilizers , here is this guide.

Reduce the acidity of the soil

Many plants need a specific type of soil for their growth. Therefore, a home method to control the acidity of the soil where your plants are is to add ground eggshell to the plants . To achieve this you need to add the well-ground eggshell for a long period of time to achieve good results. The irrigation water will facilitate the release of the components of the shells in the soil.

Make homemade compost

If you are one of those who is encouraged to make your own organic fertilizer or compost, we encourage you to add remains of eggshell so that it is much richer and more complete for your plants. Here we explain how to make homemade compost .

Although we have already discussed how to prepare the eggshell to improve the state and growth of your plants, we want to show you other ways to prepare them beyond crushing them to add them as organic fertilizer or as a repellent. Take note of these tips on how to make calcium from egg shells for plants :

• You can use the crushed eggshell to make an infusion of these, using the shell of 6 eggs and bringing them to a boil in 3 liters of water. This eggshell water for plants is a very simple way to add more calcium and other beneficial minerals such as magnesium or phosphorus to your plants through irrigation doses.
• Another way to prepare it is by creating eggshell flour. This takes a series of steps that are a little more precise, but that assure you almost immediate results in the well-being of your plants. All you have to do is make sure to let them dry in the shade to prevent them from losing the nitrogen they have. You will need quite a few of them, at least a dozen shells, to make the flour. When they are dry, place them in a bag and crush them with the help of a mortar or a stone until it is a very fine powder and reserve it in a container with a lid until you use it. Remember that for some of the uses explained above, small pieces of shells are used, but that in the case of flour we are talking about using the powder of these shells, so they must be crushed to the maximum. Using eggshell flour is very simple: You only need to add one or several dessert tablespoons to your pot depending on its size for approximately 40 days. In this way, they will receive the calcium intake they need.

To finish, we detail a little more when and how to use the eggshell for plants :

• As we have already mentioned, eggshells are very rich in calcium, so it will help you enrich the soil in the garden or in your pots if you include it as part of the substrate or compost .
• We can also change the gravel for well chopped eggshell to facilitate drainage and at the same time it will act as a natural fertilizer.
• In addition, if we do not break them entirely, we can use the eggshell as a seedbed . You only need to have half or a little more of the shell, make a small hole in the bottom to help drainage and you will get some curious totally ecological seedbeds.
• Finally, the eggshell is very useful to keep some pests such as snails and slugs away , so when you have problems with these animals, do not hesitate to remove them manually, take them to another place where they do not damage your crops and place a barrier of eggshells so that they do not re-enter your pots or garden or orchard area.