Aside from selected organic kitchen scraps and garden wastes, crushed eggshells also play a vital role when it comes to worm composting. Not only can it be used as food for your compost pals, it can also be included as an added material for your worm bins bedding. You can learn a lot more from this versatile ingredient by reading more of this article.
Eggshells as food for composting worms
Composting worms can absolutely be fed with crushed shells from eggs. You should know that compost worms will eat just about anything that’s organic (all except meat, seafood, poultry, dairy, oily, or spicy stuff). Aside from egg shells, you can also feed them scraps from your kitchen (fruit or vegetable peels, coffee grounds, old and stripped carton boxes, used tea bags) or garden (dried leaves, grass clippings, presoaked peat moss, coconut coir, twigs, barks).
How to apply eggshells inside the worm composting bin
Amongst other organic wastes, shells from eggs can be buried in the ground or sprinkled (you can pulverize the shells to make it more finer for sprinkling) on top of the bedding. Make sure that when you crush the shells, egg residue isn’t left over. You can also ensure this by drying it out first before mashing the shells into pieces. Now, if you happen to put in too much fruit scraps inside the bin (which may likely cause the bin to become from acidic later on), you may neutralize the bedding by sprinkling some of your crushed shells.
Why is there a need to pulverize the eggshells?
When you grind the shells from eggs, you not only help your worms eat these with a little ease, you will also see these disappear before long inside the worm bin (since your compost pals will be gorging on these along the way). Other than that, crushed shells from eggs help with the extra grit that worms need when they are processing their food (you can also consider putting in some garden soil for that much needed grit if you happen to run out of shells). Take note that worms are born without any teeth at all, that’s why they really have no other option for chewing their food (they just swallow small amounts of food). But in spite of this, they can still produce nutrient-rich worm compost out of the things that they have previously eaten.
The benefits of using crushed eggshells
Not only will your red worms or nightcrawler worms benefit from it, your worm bedding will do too. Crushed shells from eggs can help neutralize the pH level of the bedding. So when things start to get too acidic (worms can get burned from this) inside the worm bin, then these shells can help balance things out since it also contains calcium.
Other than balancing out the acidity level of the worm bin, you can breed more compost worms in next to no time, by continually adding in your calcium filled eggshells. It has also been said to help increase in the mating process of worms.
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18 thoughts on “Using Eggshells in Vermicomposting”
can you feed boil egg shell to the worms.
Yes! It will provide calcium for your composting worms which will help with egg production.
Jim
So I started vermicompost for my garden and fruit trees, giving them the best coco coir, azomite, greens, oatmeal, sea kelp powder and now my best friend is trying to raise some very expensive breeds of fish now he’s drooling over these worms. Maybe we can both benifit as hes willing to buy bulk worms and supplies and only supplementing his fish on my super worms leaving me tons to compost!
Yes but dont add salt to the boiling water
What about crab shell meal?
As fine as i can crush it.
Does it need to be a fine powder or is hand crushed going to be fine?
Ive been crushing it to fine powder since they have such tiny gizzards and since their bodies are so soft
Can you put hard boiled eggs in a worm bin? Yolk is fat but the rest is protein. Hate to throw them out if they can compost it.
Over many years keeping worms, I have noticed that they DO NOT eat egg shells Even when I grind them up finely, they are always left behind
What about dyed egg shells, are they safe?
I basically have the same question: Is it okay to use colored easter egg shells (crushed) in my worm bin? They are colored with a non toxic pen. I’ve looked all over and can’t find an answer
As long as the dye is non toxic you can add those crushed eggshells to your worm bin. To reduce the amount of ink or dyes you can add the eggshells to a pot of water, and bring to a boil to help remove the coloring.
Yes boil eggs for the shells and when the boil water cools apply it to your house plants for the calcium that is leached out of the shell. I put a few drops in the worms also.
My little wormies wander around with a single grain of coffee ground in their mouths, distributing the grounds evenly through the mix.
I rinse and rub the inside of the shells, then let them dry. After, I use my mortar and pestle to grind them very fine.
Is it okay to use colored easter egg shells (crushed) in my worm bin? They are colored with a non toxic pen.