5 Simple Truths About Adding Coffee Ground & Egg Shells To The Garden

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  • čas přidán 21. 07. 2024
  • In this video I will be covering the truths about adding coffee grounds and eggshells in the garden. There are many questions, many misconceptions, so I will be answering the questions and laying to rest the misconceptions about these 2 fantastic free resources.

Komentáře • 373

  • @Gracenglory5
    @Gracenglory5 Před 3 lety +230

    1 Tbs pulverized egg shells (coffee/spice grinder) and 1 Tbs distilled vinegar. Combine, let foam for about 30 min. Add to 1 gallon of water. Calcium is now bio available. Water your plants with it.

    • @lisaparlove989
      @lisaparlove989 Před 3 lety +17

      It has stopped tomatoe blight for me. Also use it in my potted plants.

    • @thefrugivoreanimal
      @thefrugivoreanimal Před 3 lety +10

      I hear that you need to ferment for 2 days?🤔 is it good for the leaves and soil?

    • @jeanproctor987
      @jeanproctor987 Před 3 lety +25

      Thanks, Tina Marie. I learned this from Old Alabama Gardener. I used it when some beautiful Amish Paste volunteer tomatoes started to get blossom end rot, along with several others of the thirty tomato varieties we grew this year. I let the baked, ground egg shells/vinegar mixture foam up, waited about 30 minutes, and divided it around all of our plants, more on the plants already showing affected fruits. Then I watered well around the base of the plants. In less than 2 weeks there was evidence that there were no new fruits with BER, and the fruits that had already shown the black spots on their blossom ends actually had the rot stopped! Very impressive.

    • @kathleenray1827
      @kathleenray1827 Před 3 lety +7

      Do you spray the leaves or just water at the base?

    • @tracycrider7778
      @tracycrider7778 Před 2 lety +6

      @@kathleenray1827 water the base

  • @emptynestgardens9057
    @emptynestgardens9057 Před 3 lety +147

    I think of my compost pile as another crop (soil) so things like coffee grounds and eggshells are fertilizer for my compost. 😉

    • @Ssen0nesS
      @Ssen0nesS Před 3 lety +23

      This. Organic matter goes into compost pile. Compost goes into garden.
      Ppl make so complicated.......I don't get it.

    • @SiebMab
      @SiebMab Před 3 lety +4

      I use bamboo leaf and Amaranth leaf for my compost and vegetables grow up fast

    • @bseant420
      @bseant420 Před 2 lety +13

      @@Ssen0nesS exactly, people always ask what i feed my plants i say i've never fed my plants in the last decade or so, but i feed my soil all the time.

  • @michaelmullin3585
    @michaelmullin3585 Před 3 lety +87

    My grandmother dug coffee grounds and eggshells into her rose garden every morning after breakfast. For fifty years. She had beautiful roses nearly all of the year, no insect problems, and she never put any chemicals on the roses.

    • @jeannine9066
      @jeannine9066 Před 3 lety +10

      I add banana peels to a blender with water and my roses love them also!

    • @th7764
      @th7764 Před rokem +1

      Me too

    • @jamien7806
      @jamien7806 Před rokem +2

      My grandma did that and added little bit beer

    • @tompaul2591
      @tompaul2591 Před měsícem +3

      ​​@@jamien7806that's just the excuse she used to sneak a beer out of the house🙂

  • @jillz1542
    @jillz1542 Před 16 dny +1

    BRAND NEW / newbie (patio/ containers) 'gardener" here - this is BY FAR the Best🎉 , Most explanatory, coffee grounds, eggshells, weathering etc, video I've seen. Thank You!!!

  • @doctorhousemd566
    @doctorhousemd566 Před 3 lety +18

    Luke doesn't try and be a wonderful awesome teacher He just is! A wonderful awesome teacher!

  • @lisajacobs3639
    @lisajacobs3639 Před 3 lety +85

    Egg shells will cause your blender container to get scratched up. I use an electric spice/coffee grinder and it works great! Will break down shells to powder!

    • @lisajacobs3639
      @lisajacobs3639 Před 3 lety +12

      Also, I baked my eggshells ONLY 1 time. It caused my house to stink so bad that I will never do that again.

    • @FrozEnbyWolf150
      @FrozEnbyWolf150 Před 3 lety +4

      I do the same thing. First I dry the eggshells over the pilot light, then I pulverize them in the coffee grinder. I tend to use them around my nightshades.

    • @trishthehomesteader9873
      @trishthehomesteader9873 Před 3 lety

      I do that too. My egg shells get dispersed between me, the chickens and the compost. I need to eat more eggs! 😁

    • @desertflower9557
      @desertflower9557 Před 3 lety

      Thanks for that info.!

    • @compiticny1445
      @compiticny1445 Před 3 lety +1

      I picked up a blender at a garage sale after the DW had a few comments about me using "hers". I dry the eggshells in the sun and then pulverize them. I also use the blender for soft kitchen scraps and weeds which I add to a bucket of water which sits for a day or so before adding to the garden or the compost.

  • @FrozEnbyWolf150
    @FrozEnbyWolf150 Před 3 lety +167

    One word of caution about coffee grounds is that they still contain caffeine, which can stunt the growth of some seedlings. Coffee grounds work better around mature plants that are already established, or as a compost ingredient. The earthworms love it, and I've noticed they move a lot faster as a result.

    • @desertflower9557
      @desertflower9557 Před 3 lety +38

      That’s funny to me! Ha ha. The worms seem to move faster, my morning chuckle. Thanks.

    • @tommytigert5993
      @tommytigert5993 Před 3 lety +26

      @@desertflower9557 give them worms a little extra shigglen in their wiggle..

    • @spadetheace5934
      @spadetheace5934 Před 3 lety +31

      Earthworm: eats coffee once
      Im fast as fck boi

    • @barbarasanders7965
      @barbarasanders7965 Před 3 lety +4

      @@spadetheace5934 try and be productive and you will feel better.

    • @judylee1860
      @judylee1860 Před 3 lety +1

      😂

  • @missourigirl4101
    @missourigirl4101 Před 3 lety +2

    Such helpful info Luke. Thanks for sharing that info. So important to know and can make a difference in our gardens.

  • @bigdogbob845
    @bigdogbob845 Před 3 lety +52

    I only use coffee grounds and egg shells in my compost pile, that way I know they have already had time to breakdown and are better suited to add to my garden.

    • @tericiaanderson7628
      @tericiaanderson7628 Před 3 lety +3

      me too, or I bury them deep and just look at it as long term return not an immediate one.

  • @bethanyperkins3687
    @bethanyperkins3687 Před 3 lety +4

    Thank you for this great info. I hadn't heard about sterilizing eggshells but it makes total sense.

  • @Mary-had-a-lil-farm
    @Mary-had-a-lil-farm Před rokem +1

    This is such useful and straightforward information so thank you so much 😊.

  • @northamlights9120
    @northamlights9120 Před 3 lety +2

    Thank you so much for taking the time away from your own family to help us take care of ours with your knowledge, tips and tricks. I know your family is blessed to have you work so hard on what us placed on the table. Thank you so much for sharing with us 🙏🏼🤍

  • @Proudchristian1975
    @Proudchristian1975 Před rokem

    Thank you so much for the advice about the semanella with the eggshells I had no idea I'm new to gardening and I have been grounding my exhales into powder but I did not know to bake them 1st so thank you thank you there

  • @karensheart
    @karensheart Před 3 lety

    Wonderful advise. Thank you so much!!

  • @lizzyg.5852
    @lizzyg.5852 Před 3 lety +2

    Thank you for the great information!
    ❤ your channel !!!

  • @rudimentalgardening
    @rudimentalgardening Před 3 lety

    Thanks for reiterating these facts. I see posts weekly where gardeners are instructed to put egg shells in their garden to fix BER. They will argue with you and tell you that you don't know what you are talking about. I just tell them to educate themselves.

  • @jlsteelcrafts8378
    @jlsteelcrafts8378 Před 3 lety +2

    Another great vid. Been watching him for awhile and I live in his area ! So even better 8 )

  • @Zellonous
    @Zellonous Před 2 lety +4

    I have read a magnesium deficiency in plants looks like calcium deficiency. Epsom salt is water soluble and immediately available

  • @spottedsparrowgardens9999

    Thank you for this! So tired if hearing about eggs under tomatoes to help them. I did try and never worked. I add eggshell and coffee year round to the same raised beds and started to worry about raising the acidity. Had noticed coffee grounds didn't seem to help with leaf growth like I thought it should. This explains alot. Thanks again!!!

  • @florabynum9090
    @florabynum9090 Před 3 lety +1

    Great looking garden. ❤️ your channel.

  • @lowellwillier2800
    @lowellwillier2800 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for the tips. Very helpful!👍🏽

  • @OBXSunset
    @OBXSunset Před 3 lety +15

    I've been putting used coffee grounds around my pepper plants the last 2 years, and they have been loving it.

  • @nonnyd1573
    @nonnyd1573 Před rokem +1

    Thanks for explaining this for an amateur gardener

  • @barbarasanders7965
    @barbarasanders7965 Před 3 lety

    This was very helpful and very well explained.

  • @diannemiller4754
    @diannemiller4754 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for the information very helpful as I have lots of eggs and coffee grounds daily. Most go to my compost.

  • @Klaudieja
    @Klaudieja Před 3 lety

    Thank you so much for explaining this.

  • @D.A.Hanks14
    @D.A.Hanks14 Před 3 lety +1

    I have an Oster that I bought for $19.95 at Walmart, and I use it to powder eggshells, charcoal and old rotten drywall. I will occasionally run chicken bones through it as well. It works great! I thought for sure I would bend the blades, but it has held up very well, despite running some burn-pile charcoal through it that occasionally sparked as I hit a missed nail or something. I did NOT know that about the salmonella and egg shells; great info, thanks!

  • @cynthiacisneros1694
    @cynthiacisneros1694 Před 2 lety

    Very valuable information, thank you❣️

  • @EDLaw-wo5it
    @EDLaw-wo5it Před rokem +4

    My question has already been answered in the comments. I sure didn’t know about salmonella in the shells and thanks for that. I got some endrot in my tomatoes last year and solved it with cheap antacid tab’s ground into a powder then soaked overnight in water and poured around the plants. I received results almost immediately. Not a blemish one on the next setting.

  • @cherihabegger9856
    @cherihabegger9856 Před 3 lety +2

    Good information. I never have sterilized my egg shells, but I will now.

  • @erinsmith2373
    @erinsmith2373 Před 3 lety

    Love this. There is always a debate in the Facebook garden group about coffee grounds.

  • @caterinaliberatore9478

    Very informative. Thank you.

  • @lecheflan4777
    @lecheflan4777 Před 3 lety

    Super-helpful. Thank you!

  • @deniseallee2802
    @deniseallee2802 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for the advice and truth

  • @yellowbird5411
    @yellowbird5411 Před rokem +7

    I watched a video from a woman who brought a plant back to life with plain ol' coffee. The plant looked amazing, as it was almost dead, apparently. So, now, every morning I take my leftover (from making one cup) grounds and put them into a glass coffee carafe I use for a lot of purposes, and I fill it up with water and the leftover bit of grounds. The water is a light tan. I water my plants with it, and dump the grounds there, too. I have noticed in the past two days, after four days of doing this, that the plants have perked up and the leaves have turned dark green. I don't want to overdo it, so will try to space it out over a couple of weeks before adding what amounts to a "tea" again. A coffee tea. Who would have thought?

  • @brownsbackyardgardening651
    @brownsbackyardgardening651 Před 3 lety +16

    Ours works well. We add diced up banana peels too. We use a vitamix machine and it emulsifies it. We add half the pitcher to two gallons of water in our watering can. We do it about every 2 weeks and we get large harvests. 🤷‍♀️😁

    • @redinthethevalley
      @redinthethevalley Před 3 lety +2

      I’ve been keeping banana peels in a jar and add water to it.. when the flowers started falling off of my pepper plants I too the jar of peels and water, poured out about two cups into a five gallon bucket and used a small sour cream container and water the base of each pepper plant... that was two weeks ago now and I have the largest cayenne peppers growing! Thought I would share this .. I’m going to do what you’ve done by dicing the bananas then add them into the jar and add the water! Thanks for the tip!!

    • @shabbychicbohodotcom
      @shabbychicbohodotcom Před 9 měsíci

      Do the banana peels need to be rotten?

  • @t.m.button7229
    @t.m.button7229 Před 3 lety

    Wow that is beautiful amazing

  • @judylee1860
    @judylee1860 Před 3 lety

    Another good video. I love grazing the garden too. Yep, no cooties are going into the compost. 👌🏻✅🤛🏻

  • @Liv40873
    @Liv40873 Před 3 lety +2

    I throw eggshells and coffee grounds directly onto my garden plot all your long. In the spring it gets tilled in, during the growing season it gets layered on top of the garden with the grass clippings I put on the garden. This is the second year of my garden, started with a Bermuda grass yard last year, and my plants are doing so much better this year.

  • @cynthiaprice3528
    @cynthiaprice3528 Před 3 lety +4

    @MIgardener I use coffee in my garden from time to time. Instead of grounds I usually take a cup of leftover coffee and dilute it with a gallon of water. I use it on my blueberries and greens. They seem to like it. Am I harming my plants in any way? I use the grounds around my greens whenever I see slugs and snails. Something about the coffee keeps them away. Thank you Luke ...love your channel. I always learn something here.

  • @garyb4929
    @garyb4929 Před 3 lety

    great review on egg shell & grounds. A lit of my egg shells(after baking) go to my quail hens,

  • @hulksmash26
    @hulksmash26 Před 2 měsíci

    Good tips,thank you.🙏

  • @ericchill864
    @ericchill864 Před 3 lety

    Thank you and blessings...

  • @charlestessier7843
    @charlestessier7843 Před 3 lety

    Well done again. Over time. This is by no means the first time you use these words because quite frankly, there is no snappy way to get things done when dealing with our soil. As for myself I prefer composting the materials mentioned by making a hot compost pile. Best way of getting nitrogen and calcium plant available sooner, and even then we cannot forget these 2 words , over time since it’s not happening overnight.

  • @jamestyrer6067
    @jamestyrer6067 Před rokem

    Thanks for this information

  • @MGMG-88
    @MGMG-88 Před 3 lety +23

    I never thought about salmonella on egg shells. Thank you for mentioning it.

    • @BestGranny10
      @BestGranny10 Před 2 lety

      Right! I was gonna skip the oven part!

    • @lyndastigallhelland2855
      @lyndastigallhelland2855 Před rokem

      Me neither about sampling spelling. But very important. I will put in the oven. Thanks lots.

  • @earthkeepinggreen7763
    @earthkeepinggreen7763 Před 3 lety +3

    After blending into micro size I add to my worm bin.
    My garden loves the added worm casting😁

  • @johnroydelacruz1433
    @johnroydelacruz1433 Před 3 lety +1

    Thanks my teacher

  • @mikegizzi9420
    @mikegizzi9420 Před rokem

    Thanks that was a good overview

  • @Gumby1978
    @Gumby1978 Před rokem

    Great advice

  • @mindydiaz9015
    @mindydiaz9015 Před 3 lety

    I honestly use fish food as well. I make a mix of tea leaves bc I dont drink coffee sugar eggshells gind them up together. To me it works my first year hollyhocks are 5 feet tall. The leaves are bigger than my head. They definitely will be a good 8 ft tall next season. I'm so excited to see it.

  • @DillonGSmith
    @DillonGSmith Před 3 lety

    Great video!

  • @revisingknowledgemaga2498

    Wow!! I have been making eggshell powder, and Did not know this, it's bagged up and I thought was ready for use, is it possible to put it in the airfryer, if nit I will of course figure out a way, possible the grill and and using a cookie tray, thank you, such an amazing channel, East of Cadillac so your my go to expert Now!!! God bless you!!

  • @kittiew260
    @kittiew260 Před 3 lety +19

    I was just going to say eventually shell and coffee add value. Good items to toss into a bed being put to rest in fall.

    • @theurzamachine
      @theurzamachine Před 3 lety +5

      I put everything into the soil in the fall and let the worms take care of it. They really get to work until mid November and return around early April. The only thing that persists is the odd chicken bone sticking out of the soil.

    • @bigbubba4170
      @bigbubba4170 Před 3 lety +5

      @@theurzamachine I take all the leftover bones from previous meals, and when I cookout over the grill, I throw the bones IN the fire. After the ashes are cool, the bones are easily crumbled by hand into the soil. Lotsa minerals.

  • @seksijessi6540
    @seksijessi6540 Před 4 měsíci

    Hi!! I really like the way you explain things and give extra info!!! Thank you!
    Also, thank you for clarifying that coffee grounds won’t change the PH. I didn’t know that!
    You mentioned this was because we wash the acidity away when we brew it. Could you also explain what would happen if I used fresh unbrewed coffee grounds? Or what if I used the coffee to water my plant? I was hoping to lower the PH for my tomatoes and pothos.
    THANKS! 😺

  • @carriejo9759
    @carriejo9759 Před 2 lety +4

    My grandfather always burried coffee grounds, raw veggie & fruit scraps, and egg shells to the compost bin for years. He had several bins and areas. Large logs laying on the ground in a pile, a compost bin for smaller branches, one bin that he added his scraps to, and one compost that was almost perfect that as he needed it we screened it to make sure big stuff wasn't still in there before using it. I have yet to get where he was!

  • @SiebMab
    @SiebMab Před 3 lety +2

    For my compost now have I use bamboo leafs and some of Amaranths leaf 🍃 to make my vegetables growing up very fast

  • @kaiteemitchell9453
    @kaiteemitchell9453 Před 3 lety +3

    I add all year long every year. Works great 😁 I grow beneficial nitrogen plants around my others like clover and toss all kinds of compost below the soil as soon as the ground unfreezes

  • @Not_all_as_it_seems
    @Not_all_as_it_seems Před 3 lety +1

    You have clearly highlighted why you rotate 3-4 compost heaps, so you have a fresh batch each planting season.

  • @JessicaLee.3
    @JessicaLee.3 Před 3 lety

    I put my coffee grounds and egg shells in my in garden worm tower. Works like a charm.

  • @Mrs.Patriot
    @Mrs.Patriot Před 3 lety +11

    Love this info! I have coffee grounds! But beware of eggshells in the blender. They dull the blades so either get one from the thrift store, or pound them with the flat side of a mallet or in a mortar and pestle.

  • @sandystrauch7321
    @sandystrauch7321 Před 11 měsíci

    ❤all the information!!!!

  • @scotthenderson8577
    @scotthenderson8577 Před 3 lety

    Compost baby! Every once in a while I'll put my worms and put them in. Love your advice! Keeps me on my toes. Keep doing your vid.

  • @debpratt52
    @debpratt52 Před rokem

    I use dried egg shells when making coffee each morning. I keep a can to empty the coffee grounds/eggs shells into and when it's full, I add it to one of my gardens. We have clay soil here and anything to loosen it up is welcome. I also add the soggy spruce needles that collect in the house gutters. LOL. The flowers and veggies seem to like it.

  • @shaunspellman2856
    @shaunspellman2856 Před 9 měsíci

    Never mind you just answered my question!

  • @lootztimone4325
    @lootztimone4325 Před 3 lety +3

    My nightcrawlers and redworms take care of these things faster, I like to mix the coffee with rockdust and everything else especially kale plant thick stems. Worms also love the eggshells whole, because I noticed they like to shak up in it. Like a worm motel.

  • @WannabeOperator
    @WannabeOperator Před rokem

    There was a study done by the Alabama agriculture extension I believe the name was, they found that coarsely ground egg shells performed roughly just as well as ag lime. And finely ground shells outperformed pure calcium carbonate as far as putting readily available for uptake calcium in the soil goes. My blossom end rot never came back after trying it

  • @testicularoxide5055
    @testicularoxide5055 Před 3 lety

    Brawndo, its what plants crave!!👍

  • @kaiteemitchell9453
    @kaiteemitchell9453 Před 3 lety +5

    I once added cheap coffee grounds strait to my soil….. killed everything 🤣🤣🤣 I didn’t know you had to use leftover grounds, not fresh ones 🤪

  • @cletusmartin4628
    @cletusmartin4628 Před rokem +1

    found that adding eggshells and coffee grounds to the charcoal grill after I'm done cooking really helps and adds carbon to the mix.

  • @Honid1
    @Honid1 Před 4 měsíci

    I make a tea like fertilizer. I take Banana peels. Instant coffee, Epsom salt and lots of water and let it sit in a two litter bottle. I take crushed eggs shells when I setup my containers and add eggshells and my fert tea to the soil in the pots over the winter and let it sit under my uv lights with my plants that I allow to grow indoors over the harsh minnesota winters

  • @mandyrobertson4704
    @mandyrobertson4704 Před 3 lety +2

    I've read that you can breakdown eggshells in apple cider vinegar and in a few weeks it will create calcium solution that can be readily available to your plants. It does need to be diluted with water, tho.

  • @yhc5318
    @yhc5318 Před 3 lety +2

    I actually grind the shells and grounds in a magic bullet to fine dust, it seems to work better with nutrient uptake. Your tums solution is something I just tried, too soon for noticeable results.

  • @Diana-ze8wu
    @Diana-ze8wu Před 3 lety +1

    I grind shrimp shells and add to my compost. Not sure what it does but it feels right 😃

  • @RobbieTeacher
    @RobbieTeacher Před 3 lety +28

    To summarize: Just. Be. Patient. 😊

  • @peterturner1582
    @peterturner1582 Před 3 lety

    I always pulverize my eggshells after sterilizing them in the oven. If I have banana peels I dry them and grind them up to add to my veggie beds for a hit of Potassium along with the Calcium. Sometimes I add white vinegar to the eggshells and leave it overnight. It is then strained and added at the rate of one tablespoon per litre of water. This makes a really fast acting calcium foliar spray.

  • @zettabytesofknowledge8235

    nice video, good content

  • @hawaiidiver68
    @hawaiidiver68 Před 3 lety +8

    I put that stuff in my compost pile versus in with my plants.

  • @amyhahn2046
    @amyhahn2046 Před 2 lety

    I put coffee grounds around my milkweeds to keep the aphids off. Works great.

  • @elcarpe9186
    @elcarpe9186 Před 2 lety +1

    in November every year, I take my leaves and run them twice through my mulching vacuum tool then add directly to soil (8ft x 16ft garden) - then spread some coffee grounds, dig out the summer worth of ash/dirt from my fire pit and then run the tiller and churn it all together before the first snow. sits all winter and then till again before planting in spring - gets me good zuccini, summer squash and tomaters. every other year i add 2 big bricks of new dirt and same amount of Peat moss. pretty healthy dirt. should i add other stuff?

  • @jameskantor0459
    @jameskantor0459 Před 3 lety

    Thanks for sharing how long it takes.

  • @thuyvinguyen6998
    @thuyvinguyen6998 Před 3 lety

    Are those tender sweet cucumbers? My tender sweet cucumbers from your shop are growing great! Love them!

  • @stephanieray6587
    @stephanieray6587 Před 3 lety +11

    What about adding vinegar to the eggshells to break them down to calcium and carbon dioxide?

  • @HealthyGMom
    @HealthyGMom Před 2 lety

    Thank you very much

  • @live2groove
    @live2groove Před 8 měsíci

    I just add them every year, so this year was getting nutrients that I added last year, this year's egg shells and grounds will give nutrients next year and so on. Also, add Corbon to it as well. The cardboard tube from toilet paper rolls are great or any brown paper bags.

  • @HowToCuisine
    @HowToCuisine Před 3 lety

    You read in my mind! 😱😱😱

  • @livehardone9437
    @livehardone9437 Před 2 lety

    Soil amendment is a long term program. The key is to do it and keep adding these and other long term items each and every year. What you put in today is for the next year or two.

  • @doriannickells4011
    @doriannickells4011 Před 3 lety +1

    I add those to my compost system, and when I grow my tomatoes, (mostly in big pots of potting soil/compost, because we have really heavy clay soil), I bury a small chunk of Ca/Mg supplement pills from the drug store into each pot, near the roots, and do not have blossom end rot anymore.

  • @Gledii
    @Gledii Před 3 lety +1

    quick question. i got an specific fertilizer for tomatoes but it doenst containg Ca+2. a part from egg shells , how can i add quickly Ca+2 as nutrient? thanks

  • @dhoffman4955
    @dhoffman4955 Před 3 lety

    Would you please do a comprehensive garden tour? I think you mentioned that you were watering less because you were using a high humus soil. Also, you added a microbial booster this year. Do you use municipal water? Is it chlorinated? I understand chlorinated water will kill beneficial microbes. Do you have nitrogen fixing plants growing among your cultivatars? How are you managing pests? This may be too much for one video, but I’m so impressed with your yields.

  • @oldporkchops
    @oldporkchops Před rokem

    Hi Luke, Starbucks gave me two full boxes of coffee grounds in loose trash bags that were in boxes. Total weight is about 50-75 lbs. It's early November here in NE Georgia. How do you suggest I use them in my 60 sq ft of raised beds? Should I spread them on top or mix them into the soil? Should I add it now or wait until next spring? Thanks so much for helping out.

  • @shaunspellman2856
    @shaunspellman2856 Před 9 měsíci +1

    Do I use cleaned egg shells or fresh cracked straight to water for soaking to use for plants? I have fiddle leaf figs, a majesty palm, money tree and the peace lily!

  • @HaywireHomestead
    @HaywireHomestead Před 2 lety

    I have used them in my carrot beds they do help but like you said not right away.

  • @flatout5815
    @flatout5815 Před rokem

    My game plan is to have 3 soil piles, 1 will be used while 1 is breaking down (composting) 1 will be the add material to pile. Then rotate out the garden beds or buckets soil every year, taking the used soil out to make it the next composting pile then fill with the second pile.

  • @rick6605
    @rick6605 Před 3 lety +1

    Agreed!

  • @cathyann6835
    @cathyann6835 Před 2 lety +3

    I put crushed eggshells in my raised beds to keep the cats from using it as a litter box. It works. I notice birds seem to like them and I've seen some of the shells get carried off by them. After the plants start coming up the cats have usually started avoiding the boxes. One cat still doesn't care and will lay on some of my plants. So this year I'm going to try putting plastic forks prongs up around the borders and plants.

    • @tracycrider7778
      @tracycrider7778 Před rokem +1

      Lay briar brambles across thickly it will stop

    • @yellowbird5411
      @yellowbird5411 Před rokem

      Probably even a bunch of sticks stuck in the ground would help discourage them.

  • @tamararoberts9307
    @tamararoberts9307 Před 3 lety

    I only use hard-boiled egg shells and put into my compost pile and bins and worm totes after crushing finely

  • @iamtheusualguy2611
    @iamtheusualguy2611 Před 3 lety +24

    More details about eggshells: Calcium in eggshells is what everyone cares about but it's mostly in the form of solid calciumcarbonate CaCO3, which is unusable for plants.
    Plants like tomatoes need water-soluble Ca2+ ions. In general, plants need all their nutrients water soluable because how else would it go into the plant lol. This is why it doesn't usually work immediately to randomly put eggshells in soil because you need a process to convert CaCO3 into Ca2+. This is what decomposition and letting nature run its course does: All the organisms and the environmental factors like rain water and weather will slowly convert it into Ca2+. But this takes AGES, usually months to many years depending on particle size. By the time any Ca2+ is actually available, your season is long over and your plants have probably died.
    There is a way to circumvent the natural decomposition and break-down process and make it quicker with the help of chemistry knowledge: The "eggs-in-a-vinegar-solution-experiment" is a popular school kids experiment to explain a bit of chemistry. You can use the same background to your advantage here:
    You properly sterilize and crush (better pulverize to increase surface area) dried eggshells and add it to a vinegar solution. Let it react until no more bubbles appear (takes a couple of hours). Most household available vinegar is 5-10% acetic acid in water.
    The chemical reaction that happens is: CaCO3(s) + 2CH3COOH(l) -> Ca(CH3COO)2(s) + H2O(l) + CO2(g). The reaction products are all harmless what you get is solved Calciumacetate, which gives you the Ca2+ ions. Calciumacetate is used in the food industry as an additive so its actually even edible in small quantities so harmless overall. You then make a further dilution of 1:100 of that solution in regular water and voila, liquid Calcium.
    While absorption rates of Calciumacetate is not perfect, it is a way to immediately inject plants with a dose of calcium. There are other compounds with calcium that have proven to be much more effective, like Calciumnitrate for example and these are used in the agrifood industry on a larger scale, however you cannot make these things at home as the reactions require professional lab setups to handle the reactions.
    The reaction with eggshells in vinegar will never fully be a complete one since eggshells are only 95-99% calciumcarbonate, so you will always have leftovers. Simply strain out all the stuff that is undesirable and you get a clear, slightly smelly end product which should smell like vinegar but is not actually vinegar.
    The proportion of vinegar to eggshells is not too important as long as you don't completely go nuts. Maybe like eggshells of 2 eggs to 100ml of 10% vinegar. Even if there is excess vinegar left, by the time you have diluted the already diluted solution by 1:100, the left-over vinegar will not be nearly as potent to harm your plants or soil

    • @FloraM44
      @FloraM44 Před 3 lety +1

      Interesting, thanks for the info!!

    • @lnishot5
      @lnishot5 Před rokem +1

      Well, ok then

    • @marlajestice7418
      @marlajestice7418 Před rokem

      That’s a lot of info👍🏼

    • @susankruger7890
      @susankruger7890 Před 11 měsíci

      THANK YOU for taking the time to write this all out! This is what I really needed to know now, to help my struggling tomatoes! 🍅🙏

  • @thetommantom
    @thetommantom Před 3 lety +1

    Turns out the corner of my house where I had 3 yards of compost was actually sitting on top of like 3 feet deep over 12ft at the corner with a bush and rocks now I have like 9 yards of dirt

  • @G-boi
    @G-boi Před 3 lety +2

    Put one tablespoon of eggshell powder into a pitcher and add two tablespoons of white vinegar to it, after you've done that, stir this up and leave this mixture over night, what will happen is that the calcium will be converted into a form of calcium that will de solve into water making it available for the plants to take it up.
    So after a night of converting you need to add one liter of water to this mixture and stir it through before giving it to the plants.