i think all plants like calcium but theres not enough in the shells to make that much diffrence. break them up as small as you can and spread them around.

Agree with Terry. The calcium benefit, if there is any, is minimal and since it takes so long for the shells to break down the benefit would be for next year's garden, not this years plants.

Egg shells "might" have some benefit if one has a slug problem since they supposedly are irritating to slugs but otherwise their use in the garden is primarily considered one of the old garden myths that doesn't hold up to any sort of testing or proof.

Search 'egg shells' here for lots of discussions about them.

Dave

I just read where you can take 12 egg shells and soak them in water for 24 hours and use the water on your plants. I don't know how beneficial this would be...

You can add them to your compost pile. You will have to screen your compost to remove what doesn't disintegrate.

I got a tip from someone at a local nursery. They said break your eggshells in medium sized pieces and spread them out on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 min to dry them out. Apparently, when they are extra crispy they break down faster. Then throw them in the blender and blast them until they're almost a powder. Then just throw them in your soil at planting or add them to the top inch or two around your plants.

As for how much nutritional value they actually have I couldn't tell you. But from experience (I've done this several times this year) the next morning, I would look under my mulch and the worms are having a feast! I've never been able to attract worms any other way but for some reason they love the eggshells. And as we all know if you've got worms in your garden then you've got pretty darn good soil! :)

Happy experimenting!

I always put crushed eggshells around my peppers and tomatoes to help prevent blossom end rot, usually around when they first start flowering. Supposedly it takes too long to break down to be of any benefit but if I remember to do this, I never have to worry about rot.

When I had worms, I found they really love those half shells for little houses. So I just toss them in the lasagna garden. I figure they get turned into the soil and the worms have nice little sleeping houses.

This is my second year of grinding up egg shells saved during the winter. I mixed 1/4 cup in each planting hole for tomatoes. This year I did not do the peppers because last year the plants got huge but didn't produce many peppers. The stems were very thick, almost shrub-like.

Personally, I think the very best use for them is in the compost pile. No blending, no extra crushing, just time. I add them to pots of tomatoes and peppers at planting time. I have read many books and magazines that recommend this. Myth or not, I never have blossom end rot...

I tend to pulverize mine (agree, cripsy works better, but I just leave mine in a paper bag for a couple of days before using something heavy to crush them)and put them in the compost too. I don't know if this is what morbian is talking about, but I add the powdered eggshells to my worm bin because they like to use the little particles in their gizzards as grit.

Mine are probably getting extra crispy laying in the lasagna garden baking in the 114 degree heat and drought!

I see this is an old thread but I am offering my two cents. I use straight egg shells and coffee grounds around trees, bushes and in my vegetable garden. I hoe whatever I threw on the soil right into my rows. After doing this one year, several weeks later while planting in the garden I found a number of tomato seedlings that had sprouted from the previous years tomatoes that had fallen. I decided to dig them up and respace them in the garden. What I found was astonishing to me. Some of the seedlings had wrapped their roots around little pieces of egg shells and those that did were greener, bigger, healthier and stronger. So I believe you will certainly benefit if those egg shells .... Immediately! I also did this with a small pine I found in my yard. I transplanted it and surrounded it with both. It became lost by Russian olive overgrowth. I recovered it after a year only to find it thriving ... Having grown multiple branches and looking strong. So don't believe all the theories - the proof is in the pudding!