Just like in the garden, finely crushed eggshells provide an organic source of nutrition for houseplants, patio pots and hanging planters. Sprinkle the pulverized shells on the soil surface and they will break down over time whether you are using eggshells for houseplants or outdoor containers.
Grind Up the Eggshells
The first way you can use eggshells in your houseplants is to grind them up. First, clean the eggshells and allow them to fully dry. Once dry, add them to a coffee grinder or food processor and grind until you have a fine powder. Once you have a fine powder, how you "feed" your plants is key.
Plants like tomatoes, peppers and eggplants in particular will benefit from shell fertilizer, Savio said. The extra calcium will help prevent blossom-end rot. Broccoli, cauliflower, Swiss chard, spinach and amaranth are also calcium-packed and could use extra from eggshells.
One final note: Make sure your soils aren't already alkaline before you add anything to up the pH; and never ever use eggshells or other pH-raisers around acid-loving plants like azaleas and rhododendrons.
Crushed eggshells work much like Diatomaceous earth to repel insects.
Just like in the garden, finely crushed eggshells provide an organic source of nutrition for houseplants, patio pots and hanging planters. Sprinkle the pulverized shells on the soil surface and they will break down over time whether you are using eggshells for houseplants or outdoor containers.
If you don't want to make the water mixture because that seems like too much work or you simply don't have the time, you could always collect your eggshells, clean them, and crush them directly onto the soil in your garden or into a fine powder to get similar results.
Coffee grounds have a high nitrogen content, along with a few other nutrients plants can use. In compost, they help create organic matter that improves the ability of soil to hold water. It's best to add coffee grounds, not whole beans, to compost.
'Coffee grounds are an excellent houseplant fertilizer due to their high nitrogen content (about 2 per cent) that releases slowly into the potting media as they decompose. However, coffee grounds have more to offer to plants than just nitrogen,' she says.
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.
To get started, add the used coffee grounds to your compost pile, which usually consists of vegetable peels, fruit skins, and other types of natural waste. When your compost is ready, mix a small amount of it with potting soil and distribute among your plants.
Clean Eggshells are Safe Eggshells
Unless the only place the eggshells are going is into the compost bucket, I rinse them well and let them dry in a sunny windowsill.
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.
Eggshells ground to a fine powder yield the quickest results, while large chunks of eggshells will take at least a year to break down making their stored calcium plant available perhaps the next growing season.
Just as when putting egg shells in planting holes, the more finely ground the powder, the faster the nutrients will leach down to the roots. For topical use, a good rule of thumb is to use about a tablespoon or two of pulverized egg shells per plant.
Eggshells encourage root growth.
The calcium carbonate in eggshells helps to strengthen a plant's roots so it can grow faster and stronger.
Banana peels contain: calcium, which promotes root growth helps add oxygen to your soil. magnesium, which assists with photosynthesis. sulphur, which helps plants develop strong roots and repel pests.
Calcium loving indoor plants include: orchids, african violet, kalanchoe, hoyas, spider plants and ivy plants. You can also use eggshells for succulents.
The next time you crack an egg, remember to save the egg shells and use them as a natural repellent! Place them in areas around your home where ants often make an appearance. Tip: If you are an avid gardener, you may have known that crushed egg shells is a popular choice as an organic pest control.
The advantage to eggshells is you don't have to buy containers, and you don't wind up with plastic pots you have to throw away or wash for next year. The disadvantages are their small size and lack of drainage holes.
Enter coffee grounds and eggshells. While we may consider them to be trash, they provide a healthy snack for plants, offering a one-two punch of nitrogen and calcium. According to Los Angeles-based collective LA Compost, these nutrients support healthy plant growth in almost any soil bed.
Epsom Salt for Plants
Aside from the anecdotal evidence about human benefits, Epsom salt does seem to help plants. Generations of gardeners have said it helps their plants grow bushier, produce more flowers and have better color. It's also said to help seeds germinate and repel slugs and other garden pests.