Can you compost egg shells for plants? YES! Adding eggshells to your compost pile is an excellent way to add beneficial nutrients to your soil.
Discover the benefits of composting eggshells for a healthier garden. Learn how to prepare, incorporate, and maximize the nutritional value of eggshells for your plants. Easy-to-follow steps for sustainable gardening.
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I started composting egg shells for plants almost ten years ago when I got a hot tip from my neighbor, who was a certified Master Gardener, that egg shells would add calcium to the soil for my tomatoes. This is a little embarrassing to admit, but at the time I wasn't sure exactly how to accomplish this.
Should I bury a whole uncooked egg in the hole when I planted my tomatoes? A whole, uncooked egg can attract unwanted pests like raccoons, skunks, or rodents to your garden, so this didn't seem like a good option for me.
And an entire egg also takes a long time to break down, providing little to no immediate benefit to the plant.
It seemed to me like a better approach would be to crush and compost eggshells to provide calcium-rich nutrients to my soil gradually. I'm also not opposed to bury crushed eggshells (that are clean and dry) around the base of my tomato plants for a localized boost.
I love using this method when I am preserving eggs in my freeze dryer. My medium Harvest Right freeze dryer has 4 trays and will hold 72 eggs! That's a lot of egg shells to compost!
If you want to learn more about using egg shells for plants, keep reading! I'll tell you exactly how to do it as efficiently (and beneficially!) as possible.
Benefits of Composting Eggshells
- Eggshells are rich in calcium, which strengthens plant cell walls and helps prevent diseases like blossom-end rot in tomatoes.
- Adding eggshells to your compost enhances soil structure and drainage.
- Composting eggshells instead of discarding them helps reduce landfill waste.
- Incorporating kitchen scraps into your compost aligns with eco-friendly practices.
- Using eggshells as a soil amendment can save money on commercial fertilizers, especially if you are playing the gardening long-game!
Composting Eggshells: A Step-by-Step Guide
Composting eggshells is an easy way to recycle kitchen waste and enrich your soil. Here's how to do it:
- Rinse eggs thoroughly to remove any debris or chicken poop. Crack your eggs, save the shells, and allow them to air dry completely. I like to bake them on a sheet pan at 200°F for 25 minutes to speed up the process.
- Once dry, crush the eggshells into smaller pieces. Use a rolling pin, food processor, or even your hands.
- Incorporate the crushed eggshells into your compost pile. They provide calcium and improve soil structure.
- Alternatively, bury crushed eggshells directly into the garden around calcium-loving plants like tomatoes or peppers.
Tips:
- For faster decomposition, grind eggshells into a fine powder. This is also a great way to save storage space if you are wanting to mix up some eggshell powder fertilizer for later!
- Avoid adding large pieces of eggshell to your compost, as they may take longer to break down.
- Eggshells can also be used to deter snails and slugs in the surrounding soil. Place crushed shells around vulnerable plants to create a barrier.
How long does it take for egg shells to decompose?
The amount of time it takes egg shells to breakdown will depend on how small the eggshell pieces are when added to the soil. The smaller pieces will have the faster decomposition process. This is why I crush my dried egg shells into fine pieces or even blend into a powder before amending my garden soil.
- Ground eggshells will decompose at the quickest rate, so it's a good idea to use this method! You can turn your eggshells in to a fine powder by the use of a coffee grinder or food processor. Wash the eggshells, dry them complete and then powder them in the grinder. Once added the to compost bin, it will take them around 3 months to decompose. Ground eggshells give the best results for quick nutrient release being they take the shortest amount of time to breakdown.
- Eggshell pieces will have a longer decomposition time. Depending on the size of the pieces, the small pieces being the quickest, the breakdown process will take around a year.
- Whole eggs and almost whole eggshells definitely take a long time to break down. When an eggshells is whole or almost whole it can take up to 3 years to decompose. It will start to release nutrients after the first year.
Benefits of Egg Shells for Plants
Adding eggshells to the compost pile with benefit your plants, whether they are flowers, herbs, vegetables or fruit.
- Eggshells are a great source of calcium. Calcium is need to provide strong cell walls. The cells of the plants bind together to create a strong stem, which in turn results in abundant foliage and many flowers.
- Have your tomato or peppers ever suffered from blossom end rot? Blossom end rot is a condition that results in the fruit breaking down and rotting out at the point that the blossom attaches to the fruit. This is generally a result of a calcium deficiency and most commonly happens in tomatoes and peppers.
- Eggshells are primarily composed of calcium carbonate, which is alkaline. Adding eggshells to acidic soil can help raise the pH level towards neutrality. However, their impact on soil with a neutral or alkaline pH is minimal.
Adding ground eggshells to the hole in which you transplant your tomato and pepper plant starts is a great way to ensure that they have a slow release of calcium while they are growing.
To learn more about growing the best tomatoes, read my Guide for Growing Tomatoes.
FAQ
Yes, you can compost whole eggs, even if they are spoiled, but I would recommend just adding the eggshell. Take the time to rinse your eggshell prior to adding it to your compost.
No, when you cook an egg it kills all bacteria that can cause salmonella. The same goes for composting an egg. When you compost pile is actively composting, it will naturally heat up to above 140°F, which will kill all the bacteria that is a risk of salmonella. The heating up of the compost pile is called the hot composting process.
No, being the compost pile heats up during the active composition phase it will naturally kill off all of the bad bacteria. If you do choose to play it extra safe and sterilize the shells prior to composting them, you can do this by preheating your over to 200°F then placing a baking sheet of spread out eggshells into the warm oven for 20 minutes.
Eggshells are a great addition that will add calcium carbonate to the soil by use of organic matter. Calcium is a common kitchen waste product and is essential for the growth of strong plants stems and abundant fruit production.
More Easy Gardening Tips
If you are interested in natural pest management, check out my post A Guide To Organic Pest Management in the Garden. I also have a very popular post about Cheap Ways to Add Nitrogen to the Soil that you will love!
More Posts for Chicken Keepers!
If you're reading this, I'm guessing you either have, or are considering getting backyard chickens. Me too! I love our backyard layers.
We've raised more than 100 Cornish Cross chickens for meat in the past year and I share our experience in the post Meat Chickens: What We Learned.
During the months when egg production is high, consider water glassing your eggs to make them shelf stable for up to eight months (or more!) by reading How to Preserve Eggs. And here are all of my posts about preserving food.
Get my Free Guide for Raising Chicks E-Book and learn everything you need to know to get started on your backyard chicken journey!
Happy gardening!
- Meg
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