I'm sure most of you know the benefit of egg shells in soil, they give a nice boost of calcium to the plants, and also contain a few of trace minerals, they can also be used right away, without composting them...this is just a quick guide to making a nice cheap calcium supplement for your plants.
First, fry/scramble up some eggs and save the shells, after you are done eating, wash the shells thoroughly with some water, make sure none of the snot is left, you may notice a thin membrane on the inside of the shell, don't worry about that for now.
After you have them washed up, get a blender/coffee grinder and grind them up as fine as you can, I have found adding a bit of water helps them grind. Take the mixture and pour it into a clear glass, and fill the glass halfway with water, stir it up a bit. You should notice the small bits of egg shell sink to the bottom rather quickly, and the water becomes a milky white, the stuff that stays suspended in the water is the membrane, we don't want that, so pour off the milky water and repeat until you get relatively clear water after the shell bits settle.
Now, take a mortar and pestle, or if you don't have one of those get a shallow bowl and something with a nice round blunt end and grind it up and fine as you can get it, the finer the better. Once you are satisfied just toss it into the oven on about 200 to get rid of the excess moisture, you will be left with a fine powder of nearly pure calcium.
I usually just mix a few tablespoons of it into my soil and have never had a problem with calcium, you can also add it to water and water already potted plants with it, it will make its way down into the soil fairly quickly if you ground it fine enough.
First, fry/scramble up some eggs and save the shells, after you are done eating, wash the shells thoroughly with some water, make sure none of the snot is left, you may notice a thin membrane on the inside of the shell, don't worry about that for now.
After you have them washed up, get a blender/coffee grinder and grind them up as fine as you can, I have found adding a bit of water helps them grind. Take the mixture and pour it into a clear glass, and fill the glass halfway with water, stir it up a bit. You should notice the small bits of egg shell sink to the bottom rather quickly, and the water becomes a milky white, the stuff that stays suspended in the water is the membrane, we don't want that, so pour off the milky water and repeat until you get relatively clear water after the shell bits settle.
Now, take a mortar and pestle, or if you don't have one of those get a shallow bowl and something with a nice round blunt end and grind it up and fine as you can get it, the finer the better. Once you are satisfied just toss it into the oven on about 200 to get rid of the excess moisture, you will be left with a fine powder of nearly pure calcium.
I usually just mix a few tablespoons of it into my soil and have never had a problem with calcium, you can also add it to water and water already potted plants with it, it will make its way down into the soil fairly quickly if you ground it fine enough.
