Eggshells used as fertilizer for your garden can benefit the soil your plants use to gain essential nutrients, aiding rapid growth and keeping soil acidity in check. Here's how and why you should put your eggshells to use in the garden the next time you make an omelet instead of simply tossing them in the trash.
"Plants like strawberries, blueberries, kale, and cabbage prefer slightly acidic soil and adding in eggshells can do more harm than good," says Jen McDonald, certified organic gardener and co-founder of Garden Girls, a garden design company based in Houston, Texas.
It is beneficial to use egg shells when growing your own vegetables like tomato, pepper and aubergine or plants such as roses, hydrangeas, spider plants, ferns and ivy. Another way to add this homemade fertiliser to your plants is through a calcium solution.
The advantage of using crushed eggshell is less energy needed for preparation, but the disadvantage relies on the time needed for eggshell degradation before it can provide nutrients for plants (Mitchell, 2005; Rai et al., 2014).
Eggshells take a lot longer to break down compared to many other compostable goods, and too many of them can increase the acidity of your compost. This shouldn't be a problem, unless you plan on using it to grow plants that prefer low soil pH.
Depending on the size of your garden, compile enough of each component to contribute a moderate amount to each hungry plant. Combine the two together, crush the eggshells by hand even more (which should be easier now that they're fully dry), and sprinkle the mixture across the soil bed.
Banana peels can be placed directly onto pot plant soil, or around the base of your garden as mulch. As they decompose, they will release nutrients into the soil to feed plants. If using banana peels in your garden, place a single layer straight on top of the soil, being sure not to let them touch the plant stem.
The calcium in the shells will strengthen the tomato plants, give you more buds (aka: tomatoes!) and sometimes even prevent blossom end rot – that brown disease that sometimes makes the bottom of your tomatoes brown and yucky!!
Boil a gallon of water. Add 10–20 rinsed eggshells to the water. Allow the shells to sit in the water, soaking and cooling overnight. Strain the shells out of the water, and then water the garden.
Are coffee grounds good for plants? Coffee grounds are an excellent compost ingredient and are fine to apply directly onto the soil around most garden plants if used with care and moderation. Coffee grounds contain nutrients that plants use for growth.
Symptoms of calcium deficiency include stunted plant growth, leaf curling, dark leaf veins, weakened plants, and blossom-end rot in fruits. Fruit plants like tomatoes and peppers may develop dark, sunken areas in the fruit.
Just don't expect any benefits for awhile. Instead, if your plants need calcium right away, consider this tip. Water soluable calcium is an easy way to foliar feed your plants.
Should you be saving your eggshells, coffee grounds, and banana peels for the garden? Yes, they're all free, natural ways to boost your soil's fertility. Find out how to use kitchen scraps as fertilizer in the garden!
Tea Can Work As A Natural Fertilizer
As the tea leaves and bag begin to break down and decompose, they release nutrients into the soil that helps plants retain water and thrive. That said, you should use tea only on your plants that like acidic soil.
However, the peels will break down so slowly that they likely won't provide adequate nutrients when your plants need them. Another downside to banana peels as fertilizer is that rotting organic matter can attract pests such as fruit flies, fungus gnats, and even cockroaches.
You can water your plants with banana peel water fertilizer once a week. Many plants require watering once a week, so you can use compost tea during each hydration session. However, if your plants need a drink more often in the summer, stick to only using banana water once a week.
Avoid using coffee grounds on alkaline-loving trees, such as linden, ironwood, red chestnut and arborvitae. Coffee grounds used as mulch or compost inhibit plant growth on geranium, asparagus fern, Chinese mustard and Italian ryegrass. Definitely don't use coffee grounds with these plants.
Adding Epsom salts to soil that already has sufficient magnesium can actually harm your soil and plants, such as by inhibiting calcium uptake. Spraying Epsom salt solutions on plant leaves can cause leaf scorch. Excess magnesium can increase mineral contamination in water that percolates through soil.
According to baristas who enjoy Swedish egg coffee, the egg decreases the bitterness in coffee when it removes the impurities. It is the egg white specifically that removes the impurities, whereas the eggshells will reduce the acidity.
Seaweed (Kelp) Fertilizer
A seaweed or kelp-based fertilizer is the best organic nitrogen-rich fertilizer to help with heat stress. These are made from marine algae to give your grass and plants nutrients, including nitrogen, potassium, and trace minerals.
Because baking soda increases soil pH, many of the important macro and micro nutrients plants need may become unavailable to them. Baking soda in the garden can also contribute to soil compaction and crust build-up. This leaves the soil less porous causing nutrients and water to move poorly through it.
Jobe's Organics All-Purpose Fertilizer can be used to treat a wide variety of plants, making it the most versatile option on this list. With a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) ratio of 4-4-4, it can be used for vegetable gardens, flowers, trees and shrubs, and houseplants.