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I have access to a large amount of egg shells, (local bakery) but I doubt they will be free range. Will they be OK to go in the composter & are the best baked first.
Janet.

Just crush them right into your compost. I add them to the bottom of my bean trench  :)

Egg shells are great for compost, particularly if it gets a bit acid (eg from adding fruit waste) but they do need to be broken up quite a bit as they take a long time to breakdown. No need to bake them first.

I'm going to say something different here :-\ My experience is that fresh eggshells do attract rats. For years I've saved all my shells during the year in a container on the combi-boiler, so come the planting season they're nicely 'baked'. If I couldn't do that I'd certainly bake them at the bottom of a low-heat oven.

Then I use them primarily for their slug-repellant properties. I crush them in a bowl, rather like making pastry? and use handfuls under every plant I put in, to deter the underground slugs, and cover the surface soil with a thick layer also.

Of course, the shells, once dug into my heavy clay soil at the end of the season, also improves, certainly, the structure of it.

Another great tip thanks Hyacinth

Quote from: grannyjanny on January 01, 2009, 22:06:50
I have access to a large amount of egg shells, (local bakery) but I doubt they will be free range. Will they be OK to go in the composter & are the best baked first.
Janet.

I put the one or two that we use straight into compost, and so few don't seem to attract rats. But perhaps with so many you'd better be careful.

But you have given me an idea - did you just ask the bakery for egg shells? I'd never have thought of that!

Hi PS. Yes I did, they also have a coffee machine & I think they have large glass jars. We have a co-op in the village & I might ask for fruit & veg that they can't sell. Now we have a 1/2 plot I need all I can get.
Janet