I have read different places you can crush your egg shells and soak in water. Then water your plants that need calcium. Also that using the egg shells in your garden help to get rid of slugs.Figured this was a good time to think about it with all the Easter eggs floating around. lol I don't know if its true but, I have a brug that Monika told me needs calcium so I am going to give it a try. I figure our resident mad scientist will have some input on this. lol
Egg shells and brugs
I always save egg shells. I keep adding them to bag in my freezer all winter long. They can be used like bone meal and thrown right into your planting holes.
I always save banana peels too. They're too good to throw away :)
Poppysue I always use my banana peels around what few roses I dare to grow. lol
I rinse and crush my egg shells and throw them in the compost pile. I also dispose of coffee grounds, banana peels and any other fruit/veggie waste that way.
I rinse my egg shells and then crush them and toss a heaping tablespoon of the crushed shells in my tomato and brug planting holes. For tomatoes, it helps stop blossom end rot. I don't know what it does for brugs, but I don't think it has hurt anything.
Learn something new every day! I know I throw a bunch of rotted bananas on top of my huge staghorn every year!
Yes, they are good for your plants plus keep snails away.
We have the oddest slugs here, they aren't big and slimey like the ones in TN, they feel like velvet. Haven't noticed these eating my plants either. Wonder what kind they are?
How can you stand to feel them? We don't have slugs here that I know of. Now watch, my hosta will be consumed this summer. LOL!
Brugie, it took a while before I would touch them, I just looked at first. I kept noticing that they didn't look slimey, so I touched one. I will try to get a picture(and then remember to upload them to the computer so I can post, lol)
I use crushed egg shells, coffee grounds, and crushed oyster shell around ,many of my tender plants.....no slugs, no snails.
Will the coffee which raises the acidic level slight bother Brugs?
Riker, I probably need to use my coffee grounds around my brugs because our soil is alkaline. I've been giving them a bit of iron, they sure green up when I do that!
I don't know if I have a slug problem or not. I'm not brave enough to go out at night and check. I put everything in my compost pile, except meat and grease.
It's the sharp edges of the egg shells that keep the slugs away. If they try to cross, their bodies are cut and they die.
We have 25 chickens, so we have lots of egg shells to use up. We have always crushed them up and added them to the garden.
I've never added any to individual growing holes, but I'm going to try that this year, Thanks Brugie.
I tried crunched egg shells last year to keep the slugs away. It doesn't work on Northwest slugs at my house. I eventually had 6 inch wide rings around the plants & the slugs went right over and up the brugs. Our slugs are huge, though - up to 8 or 9 inches (and many different colors). The big ones must have tougher skin. I did get even with the ones I caught. Chopping them in half stops them permanently!
I would just hate to have 9 inch slugs! Are they the banana slugs? Miss Lizzy posted a pic of one last year and it was so gross. Sometimes I think when I am out snailing and killing slugs that my punishment for being so cruel to them will be that I will be slimed thru eternity! I sure hope hell does not have your kind of slugs Sewcrazy!
There not so bad Kell.....the big ones are easier to spot and get rid of. Those little 1 inch jobbies are what drive me crazy!
They hide so easily under leaves and such....nothing like accidentally squishing them under foot YUCK!!!!
Riker, I remember those kind from TN, they would come out at night and crawl on my walkway. I have stepped on a few and it's a yuckie slimey feeling!
rikerbear, I hardly ever have problems with those tiny ones. (As the saying goes, they don't eat much. :) ) The majority of the ones chomping my plants are 3 to 4 inches. Oh, and they pop & squirt when you step on them. Definitely yuck!!! My youngest son as a toddler would stand & scream rather than go around a good sized slug. We still tease him about that. Yes, Kell, the big ones are the Banana Slugs. They are kind of light greenish. Somewhere I have some pictures I took with a ruler next to the slug. They are supposedly our only native slug here & supposedly only eat decaying stuff. HA! Several years ago we kept track of the number of slugs we salted one summer. The salt really didn't do the lawn much good & so now I keep trowels handy most everywhere. I know the total was over 2,000. It doesn't have to be night time - just wet. That's probably why we have so many.
You are going to be slimed and then salted for eternity Sewcrazy! LOL
"Oh, and they pop & squirt when you step on them."
OMG yuck!!! lol that just sent shivers. EEEEWWWW
Oh gosh, they must be totally disgusting. I just can't imagine having to deal with slugs and snails.
I usually save eggs shells all winter but for the birds in the spring. I wash them then bake them on low to kill samonella then run them throught the food processor and sprinkle around the feeders. It helps give more calcium to the birds so they lay harder shell eggs and get a better chance that the eggs hatch.
Shesh,I just go to the feed store and buy a 50 lb bag of crushed oystershell.....betcha the slugs won't cross that!
I give it to the chickens for the egg laying
Crestedchik, oystershell is the most awesome of all the organic slug deterants. ( that and diatom powder) I mix it in with my egg shells and coffee grounds.
I think my chickens eat the slugs cause I really don't have much of a problem with them.....
Anybody have a chicken deterent?They do more damage than any bug or slug........LOL
Weston oil works great on chicken :-) Yummy!!!!
Shelly ...........
"""Oh, and they pop & squirt when you step on them."
OMG yuck!!! lol that just sent shivers. EEEEWWWW """
Kinda sounds like when you bite a big grape huh?
hahahahahahahah !
My mother always crushed eggshells and soaked them in the water that she used for houseplants. Obviously they offer something good (i.e. calcium). I have been saving mine and using them on my Brug babes that are about 6 inches tall. They seem to be just fine with it.
SB!!!! You aint right! LOL Thanks for ruining grapes for awhile! :o)
Hey CC do they sell it in much smaller bags?? I think 10 lbs. would be plenty for me.
Heheh . Sorry 'bout that Shelly =)