I was wondering if you folks knew of a good use for pulverized egg shells? I've got tons of them from my business...18 dozen a week, and will have 90 dozen this weekend to crack and dry the shells. Do people ever buy this stuff? Come September I'll have 350 dozen eggshells pulverized and don't know if that's too much for one person to work with.

Any advice is appreciated!

I am trying very hard to NOT suggest you ship your toxic egg shells to me for safe disposal. ;-)

I suppose if you had really alkaline soil maybe you don't have a use for a lot of egg shells.

Inasmuch as your showing a a ME addy, I think your lawn, lilac, compost, most deciduous trees, and garden will all be pleased with regular annnual application of egg shell.

Leave it off of blueberry plantings.

Have fun.

If you have a Freecycle group or Craigslist in your area, I'm sure you'll find some takers.

Eggshells are really toxic for shipping?

I guess I'll sprinkle it around the yard

Thanks!

Eighteen dozen a week is not too many. I used to bring home at least that many from work. I'd crush them up and just add them as that days offering to the compost.

Even very alkaline soil (which I have) can benefit from egg shells.

Egg shells can be added to your soil, however I doubt anyone would actually buy them from you. Many people would take them if they were offered free, but then you may need to deal with your local public health people about that. Egg shells will eventually add some calcium to the soil but contrary to popular opinion that will not be very soon, so adding egg shells to the soil in the hope that they will correct this years Blossom End Rot problem won't do that.

Thanks all. I really appreciate the help! I'll just keep adding the dust to my compost bin.

The eggshells I compost don't seem to break down at all. How long does it take?

I think whole or just partially broken down shells would take quite some time. I bake mine to dry them out and then put them in the cuisinart to turn them into dust.

I've heard eggshells will help keep slugs away.

Tingull, Tom C and I don't live THAT far away that we couldn't take a bunch of those shells off your hands. I know a couple compost bins that would LOVE them!

Well, let me know if you're going to be coming to either the Full Circle Fair in Blue Hill this month or the Common Ground Country Fair in September. I'll be at both those events with my company and can deliver some egg shells if you folks are interested By Common Ground I'll have at least 4k eggs worth of shells pulverized.

As Mosak notes we live near (relatively) to Tin, and each other.

We share figuratively a ledge of granite covered with a thin smear of clay and sand.

A single adult maple (thats one big enough to sugar) can comfortably have spread as much as 5 pounds of egg shell under its drip edge each year.

Much as I might be tempted to make up a bug-a-boo about how toxic egg shell is, If Tin's trees could talk they would thank him for some shell.

I've got chickens and will again have a source of shells by fall. Here's a few ways I use them:

- Ground up to powder as a source of calcium for the chickens (They lay iron-clad eggs.)

- As Organic in NY say, I spread pulverized shells around plants the slugs are known to frequent. (Hi O. in NY! I grew up across the river in Pearl River, NY, long before the Adirondacks and now Maine beckoned.)

- I've made potting soil using them in place of perlite or vermiculite.

- I've even spread pulverized shells on the ice on the front steps to avoid killing myself going out to feed the compost.

- Any that don't find other uses get tossed into the compost bin where, in some period of time best left to the shells to worry about, they will become one with the earth.

What I haven't tried is blowing the contents out a pinhole and making intricately detailed Easter eggs.

TinGull, maybe I'll run into you at the Common Ground Fair. (Full Circle is the same weekend as the Falcon Ridge festival back home in NY.)

Wayne

Nice uses! And Tom, I'll definitely put some under some of my trees. Wonder if my multitude of blackberry brambles would like it.

Wayne, when you're at common ground, look for Barkwheats Dog Biscuits. That'll be me