Has anyone used egg shells as fertilizer before? I tried for the first time and am embarrassed to say I forgot to rinse and bake my eggshells before grinding them up and sprinkling them into my monstera pot.
Is the mould threatening my plant? Despite the mould it seems like the plant is thriving with new leaf and stem growing healthy. Is there anyway to remove the mould other than repotting and replacing the dirt altogether? There isn’t any smell coming from the mould or anything, it just looks gross.
Any help is appreciated, I’m learning with every mistake I make. I’ve had these lil guys for over two years and they’ve been amazing, super durable despite the lack of plant knowledge I started out with. Is egg shell fertilizer worth it if done correctly?
by Mindless-Future9216
12 Comments
this is how i got fungus gnats so i would say dont use egg shells 😬
Untie that petiole!
What your plant needs is more light, not calcium, if you had it for 2 years and this is the size of its leaves 🙂
Egg shells can be a good source of calcium but it takes a hell of a long time for them to break down to usable calcium.
Egg shells as a soil additive make more sense outdoors, mixed into a large volume of soil that’ll be used over years. Or in compost. For more calcium in your soil just buy powder additive. Not sure what’ll happen to the plant. Mold is everywhere but yours is thriving and nobody here will be able to identify the species. More likely you’ll attract pests who feed on the shell detritus. Might be worth un potting and shaking off old soil but atp might just wanna let it ride rather than stress your plant out
Plants need the right ratio between various different minerals. Egg shells provide calcium, so they are only good as fertilizer in the very specific scenario where the soil lacks calcium but has a good amount of every other mineral. Even then, you’ll very easily end up just putting too much calcium in the soil, causing other issues. Fertilizing is a science, and for us hobby plant parents, we’re much better off trusting the pros and buying liguid fertilizer formulated with the exact ratio for the plant species.
Unrelated to the shells as fertilizer but I have these spores come up when my soil is almost too nutrient packed(sometimes I get it from using fox farms soil) and in low light conditions. They turn into yellow non toxic houseplant mushrooms. If this is bothering you then I would recommend fresh soil! Otherwise it will keep coming back. I tried diluting peroxide spray in the past but it has only helped killing the spores on the top layer.
Completely useless, takes months and years to break down.
Even if the shells were in there I think the mold is from it staying wet too long. If you had a chunky mix I don’t think it would have molded
eggshells are a crock. old wives tale. will contribute nothing to your pot. wrong form of calcium, for one. would take decades if not centuries to break down w/out some sort of outside processing involving dissolving the shell first w/ acid….
baking? why ?
not only that-just adding calcium, if that’s the idea, is also a bad idea, if you end up throwing the calcium/magnesium/potassium balances out of whack. the three are linked and are absorbed/used in specific ratios. (same for us, corals, elephants, pretty much everything. they’re all electron/electro regulators for cells). this is why it’s a ‘cal/mag’ supplement and not a ‘cal’ supplement when using a fert supplemental 😉
leave the mold alone. mold and fungi in a pot is a good sign 99% of the time. sign of healthy bioactivity in the soil. sometimes a sign of overwatering abit 😉
fwiw.
Personally, I would just take a spoon and scoop as much of the mold and that top layer of soil as possible.
Then assess if it’s necessary to re-pot.
But please don’t leave your plant full of mold.
Egg shells need to be soaked with vinegar to break down for 2 days and use vinegar diluted
U cc an use eggs shells they need to dry and grind them like powder but much slower to release