Once you have crushed your shells, soak them in an apple cider vinegar mixture (one part shells to three parts vinegar) in order to pull out the calcium carbonate. Making Oyster Shell TeaĪnother smart strategy for using oyster shells is to brew them into vinegar tea. This will allow the pieces to chemically interlock and become rooted in the soil so that they don’t blow away. Although when used as a mulch, layers about two inches thick are best.Īfter adding oyster shell to your soil, be sure to water it in thoroughly. When used for garden plants, about four to six pounds per 100 square feet is ideal. Apply the crushed shells over your garden in thick layers, depending on how much you need. The best time of year to add oyster shell mulch is in the late spring or early summer when the soil has warmed up. There are many different strategies for applying oyster shells to your garden. When applied at the openings of their tunnels, the sharp shards and gritty texture also works as a deterrent in the soil to keep moles and voles far away from your plants. You can also use oyster shells to keep garden pests away. Because oyster shells are almost pure calcium carbonate, they make a useful supplement for poultry farmers that want their chickens to lay thick-shelled eggs. And, it helps prevent potted plants from getting waterlogged by allowing water to run through the soil without getting trapped along the way.Īs it turns out, oyster shell has plenty of advantages for your home besides the fertility of your garden. The coarse texture of oyster shells also helps to reduce compaction in the soil. If you’re growing leafy greens like lettuce and spinach or cruciferous vegetables like cabbage and broccoli, adding powdered oyster shells to your soil will make a big difference in your plants’ overall growth rates and vitality. Their calcium content helps to balance soil pH levels, improves nitrate uptake, aids enzyme formation and strengthens plant cell walls. There are plenty of ways that oyster shells are useful for your garden. How Does Oyster Shell Benefit the Soil and Crops? Instead of using whole oyster shells and having to crush them yourself, you may also find using oyster shell flour provides the same benefits.

After washing them thoroughly, you can break the shells into smaller pieces by covering them with a cloth and using a hammer to pound them into a powder. This is important since the sea salt that naturally gets encrusted on these shells can burn your plants if it builds up too much. When you collect your own shells, be sure to wash and boil them before adding them to your soil. Although, a better idea is to collect them yourself if you live near the ocean or simply contact a local seafood restaurant to see if they are willing to set you up with some of their daily shell garbage. However, the quantities they are sold in means that getting enough shells for your lawn or garden might get expensive.

Where Can You Get Oyster Shell?Ĭrushed oyster shells can be bought from most landscaping supply companies. Crushed shells also help to create habitat spaces for soil microbes in compost piles, which helps them to break down compost piles faster. This results in regulating pH levels and increasing the intake levels of fertilizer for your garden plants. Adding crushed shells to the soil produces a long-lasting release of nutrients. When ground into a fine powder, they are a high-quality soil additive due to their calcium and micronutrient content. Oyster shells have plenty of benefits on land as well. For this reason, they are considered a keystone species. When oysters die in the ocean, their shells create reefs that are habitat space for dozens of other creatures. Additionally, their shells tend to contain high levels of calcium carbonate (about 96%). Most oysters live in saltwater or brackish environments. What Are Oyster Shells?Īs the name implies, oyster shells are the hard exoskeleton of a variety of mollusks that are in the family Ostreoidea. However, you can purchase them from our affiliate here. We realize many of you are landing on this page in hopes to purchase oyster shells and we apologize, but we do not sell them. With just a little pre-planning and effort, you can add the nutrients of one of nature’s best forms of natural calcium and minerals right where the roots of your plants can take advantage of them. It might seem like too much time and effort to turn these shells into a form that your plants can pull nutrients from, but the truth is that the process is easier than you expect. Specifically, the empty oyster shells from your last seafood feast have some surprising benefits for your lawn and garden. There might be many more uses for your kitchen scraps than you realize.

Algae species feed for oyster spat