My grandfather always had us throw our shrimp peels in his garden growing up. He always had the largest garden I’ve ever seen! I decided to try it for myself and used the exact same seeds and soil, but fertilized one with shrimp heads and one without. Check out the difference! And no- it won’t taste like shrimp
by MKrushelnisky
14 Comments
That is impressive. Is it only shrimp that would work, or crab and lobster shells too?
Wow that’s wild, I’m definitely going to give this a try!
I was peeling shrimp last night wondering if I could compost it and now I know 😄
Native Americans would use fish parts and plant a corn seed on top ( the ones by rivers still do) . So yeah, tail as old as time.
So the only source of nutrients for the big ones were shrimp shells and the other plants received nothing? Curious about your control method.
You can just use seaweed fertilizer, it’s pretty cheap on Amazon. My luck my dog would lick or eat the shells and have allergic reaction.
We love fishing. We used to have a peach tree. We would always bury the scraps from our caches around the tree. It gave us the biggest, sweetest, juicy peaches I have ever had. Only thing I miss about our old house is that tree!
If interested in understanding how this works, you can dive deep into some soil science videos or just check out some simple explanations of the nitrogen cycle.
Basically the decomposing raw waste feeds the right bacteria in the soil that can convert nitrogen and other compounds into plant-usable forms. This is happening in both groups of corn, but the bacteria that were fed can multiply and do a better job of feeding the plant.
Easy intro: https://youtu.be/A8qTRBc8Bws
Deep dive: https://youtu.be/ErMHR6Mc4Bk
Roughly how many shrimp peels would you say you used?
I compost my shrimp shells and fish skins, and I use a hydrolyzed fish fertilizer
Has anyone used crawfish remnants after a boil? Wondering if the typical seasoning would affect this process in any way.
Chitin is protective for soil pathogens as well. Super cool thanks for sharing
That’s an amazing result! Did you blend the shells in a mixer? Also, how deep would you have it buried?
Do shrimp peels work for all plants and do the peels need to be raw or is cooked ok?
I wonder if consuming the plant would affect someone with a severe shellfish allergy