I have just opened up my compost heap. This has remained untouched for about 18 months inside a lidded plastic container. I was very pleased with the product ( sweet smelling ,dark brown humus ) apart from the eggshells. These have not rotted down at all. What did I do wrong ?. Should I have crushed them down first ,or are the farmers adding something to the chicken feed to make the shells indestructible ?
Nah, they just take a long time to break down. Crushing helps – but you’ll still sometimes end up with identifiable bits of eggshell. I just leave 'em in the compost when I spread it, I don’t think it’s a problem.
Mostly, what’s doing the composting is bacteria that live off dead plant remains, so they won’t have much effect on eggshells. Ground up (or not) they will still leach a little lime into the soil, which didn’t ought to hurt and may help, depending what your pH balance (or your soil’s, at any rate) is like.
My eggshells always disappear quickly in the compost pile. (Nothing survives my wonderful composters except for peach pits!) Is it possible that your compost pile is lacking whatever organism breaks them down? When I started my composters 4 years ago, I used a commercial compost starter. Maybe there was something included in it that is good for eggshells? Also, did you put enough “green stuff” into the compost? Perhaps there wasn’t enough nitrogen in there to break everything down completely.
Gosh, do I love composting!
Green Bean,
A quick word about commercial compost starters. They’re just ordinary fertilizer. It seems that the bacteria initially consume nitrogen as food. It’s a lot cheaper and just as effective to sprinkle a little lawn fertilizer over the pile and turn it in. A little water and presto!
I think mine said that it had microorganisms in it…I knew that some of the starters were worthless, but I thought that this one seemed better than the rest…but it was a while ago. I was starting virgin composters in an area of the yard that seemed downright sterile, so I thought I’d try the commercial starter–couldn’t hurt, might help. My composters are now fabulous and full of worms, so I did something right along the way. I don’t know if the starter helped, but the results were good.
Anyway, just sharing my experience. YMMV
I think there was enough green produce in the compost. I used tha lawn clippings from the mower , weeds and other surplus stuff from the garden ,vegetable waste from the kitchen plus such thinks as tea bags and coffee filter papers. I also used a commercial compost accelerator though I suspect it was just liquid fertilizer. I have heard the best way to make good compost is to pee onto your heap!.
My grandfather used to spread crushed-up eggshells directly on his garden, and he always had lovely tomatoes.
So there must be something nice in them, composted or not.
According to Let it Rot: The Gardener’s Guide to Composting by Stu Campbell:
He goes on to say that he has tried these activators and didn’t notice that things went much faster for him given that his compost piles were working well, but suggested that they might be useful for certain circumstances.
He also discussed the “activators” that were just fertilizer. He says that the best activator is good finished compost.
My composter is due for a turning. I’ll report back on the status of the eggshells. 
Hey, the worms must have eaten my update post. I did post with the eggshell status, but it must not have gone through.
What I said was that I only had visible eggshells in the top 6 inches or so of my composter. But I find that nothing in the top 6 inches breaks down very well, so that was no surprise. A bit deeper, I saw some eggshell bits. Below that, there were no visible eggshells at all. (except for in a pocket that had gone anaerobic. Ew!) I think something must be decomposing them. I was thinking that they may have just been being ground up by mechanical action, but the anaerobic pocket was really deep down, and there were large shell pieces in there, so I have to conclude that they are actually decomposing.
I’d offer you a shovelful of my compost, Rayne Man, but since you are across the pond, I guess that won’t work. But if anyone wants some of my compost to get their own pile started, I’ll be glad to give you some. I like to think of myself as a composting ambassador.
Also, I was back at the store where I got my original compost starter, and I was able to check out the package. It says that it does have microorganisms in it. Darn if I can remember the brand name, though. I do know that this brand is not availabe at places like Home Depot. The place I like to go (Bartell’s in Clark, NJ) has quite a variety of obscure garden products, like bobcat pee and coco mat by the yard. Anyway, I expect that you could find similar compost starters in any serious garden center.
And…the reason why I called this thread back up, is that I wanted to give another update on my eggshell situation. I gave the pile a full turn on the day of my last post (may 5). I also added a bunch of shredded newspaper in order to correct the balance. I gave it another turn yesterday, and found that it is a few weeks from being done! Yay! Only a few eggshell shards visible.
Thanks for those replies. At the moment I am not adding eggshells to the compost but I think I might crushh some , put them in and see what happens. On a garden programme on TV a couple of nights ago the presenter said he never added citrus waste ( orange peel , orange and lemon halves from the juicer etc. ) because he said that this makes the compost too acid. Any comments on that ?
Compost is acidic by nature. I just correct for it by adding lime to the garden every now and then.
I suppose it might make a difference depending on what you’re using the compost for. If you were using it for seed-starting or something, the pH balance might be really important, but since I use my compost as a general soil amendment, I don’t worry about it.
Also, I don’t eat THAT much citrus. I guess if someone made fresh-squeezed orange juice every day, that quantity of citrus rinds might throw things off balance.
Compost dilemma: I stick to a really easy organic lawn care formula which gives me a very reliable and healthy lawn. One thing that is important is to not bag grass clippings, but just mulch them (via the mower) as I mow the lawn.
Would I be better off adding the clippings into a compost pile since grass clippings are a large volume addition to a copost pile, then spreading the compost on the lawn…or is it better to let them get mulched into the lawn every cutting? As the grass clippings break down in the lawn, isn’t this a mini version of composting?
Keep doing what you’re doing. Reasons:
– If you collected the clippings, and then composted and spread them, it would make a lot of extra work for you. By letting them decompose in place, you’re saving a lot of effort. You’re basically doing what is referred to as sheet-composting–where you spread undecomposed or partially decomposed material and let it compost in place on or in the soil that it’s supposed to eventually amend.
– Grass clippings are nitrogen-rich “green stuff.” Many or most home gardeners have too much green stuff and not enough brown stuff to put in their composters, so the balance can go out of whack. This happens a LOT to people who put a lot of grass clippings in their compost piles. The grass is too wet and too full of nitrogen, so unless it is mixed with sufficient carbon-rich brown stuff, it turns into a stinky, smelly, mass. So, your compost is probably better off without the grass clippings anyway.
If you happen to find yourself in a situation where your composters seem to be in need of green stuff (decomposing too slowly, too dry), do collect some of those clippings and mix them in. But doing it on a regular basis gains you nothing and is a pain in the neck.
A final thought: It might be worth your while to give your lawn a “treat” of finished compost every now and then. The decomposing grass clippings won’t have quite the same nutrient balance as the stuff that’s coming out of your composter, so it might do well to get a dose of additional compost.
This article from the BBC tells you how to make the perfect compost :-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/htbg/module7/making_your_own_compost1.shtml
Apparently pissing on the heap is a Good Thing. This has the further advantage of scent marking the garden, so that any marauding elephants don’t hop into the heap and start munching the mulch.
Thanks, Green Bean. I’m exit 2 off the NJ Turnpike
I’ve been dying to add some more compost to the lawn, and I’ll add lime in to counter the effects of compost, which is apparently acidic. I haven’t done so in two years.
I’ve got one of the few lawns that doesn’t get taken down every summer by fungus and disease. I spend about 50 bucks for the entire year on the half acre of grass…excluding water. It doesn’t get super dark green for two weeks like everyone else pumping soluable ferts into the lawn, but it doesn’t die or suffer summer stress and fungi attacks. It is consistently nice from March to November. I’m tired of people saying , “wow - you must spend a lot of time on your lawn”.
Nothing like organic matter to keep plants happy. I’ve got enough earthworms to lease a few thousand off.
Newspaper used to have lead in it. Is it safe to use it in the mulch pile now ?
Yeah, really. I find those dark green carpet-like lawns hideous, because I I know what goes into making them that way. Also, the fact that they have to be flagged–:eek: But it’s a good way to tell who where the bad environmental citizens live.
We never water our lawn at all (except after we’ve overseeded it) and it stays nice and green. We should probably spend a bit more time on it, though! We have a push-reel mower, which (IMHO) is just the greatest thing. It takes us less time to mow than our neighbors with the same amount of lawn, especially since the push-mower is no-maintenance. If we had much larger piece of land, we might feel differently, but we don’t, so we don’t. I have to wonder why push-reels went out of favor. Maybe the older ones were harder to use than the newer ones are?
T. Slothrop, newsprint is fine … but it can take forever to break down, and it tends to glop together when wet. Don’t use the Sunday circulars. I’ve read that these days, colored newsprint is OK, but I avoid it.
As for activators, a few cups of bargain-brand dog kibble are all you need.
I tried worm composting in a fancypants bin. Huge asspain. I’m back to burying kitchen scraps directly in the garden.