Eggshells as a growing medium mix?

[jimscott]

Someone mentioned that eggshells are comprised of Calcium Carbonate and that it could be used as a soil medium for Mexican butterworts. Can anyone verify this?

 

[Fryster]

Well, I don't know about pings but my grandmother used to use old egg shells in her media for regular-type houseplants.

And that was in the "olden days"; 1920's and 1930's...........

I bet some natural calcium would be fine with pings. At the very least considered rather inert by the pings.

 

[billylh]

oooo, im going to experiment with this one
and what a coincidence, i can get a hold of a ton of egg shells.

~b

 

[The Griffin]

Here is something else you can try to ease into it(took me a while to find, but I remember this from many years ago). It's from a page on caring for Nepenthes:

Egg shells - This is something an old woman told me once. She said
that the secret to her beautiful plants was a biweekly shot of egg
shell water. Making egg shell water is a simple enough task. First,
take the egg shells of six eggs. Put them in an oven at 300 degrees
for about 15 minutes. Take them out and stuff them in to a 1 gallon
water jug which may be capped. Fill the jug with hot water and let
it sit in the sun for about a week. After that time, shake the jug
vigorously and water your plants liberally.

 

[billylh]

what if you boiled the eggshells? eggshell tea anyone?

 

[sgardner]

I think there is too many easier ways to get calcium in the soil to bother with egg shells. You can buy calcium in the form of granuals, powder, and solid blocks for animals. It is cheap too.
I have wondered about using crushed oyster shells, it would be easier cleaner and still has calcium. the crushed egg shells i am refering to are the ones used to substitute a chickens diet when they are laying eggs. I think i pay $15.00 for a big bag.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

cracked oyster shells are cheap too and I use that in alkaline loving plants because it raises the PH making it more basic. I even added it to a couple nepenthes that are known to come from limestone areas. Campanulata (sp) and northiana Shoudl work with pings too. The power stuff would wash out too fast I would think but crushed egg shells is an idea too though. would eb smaller pieces than the oyster shells.

than again your talking to someone who no longer grows pings.

 

[MasterGrower]

I think it is a good idea since I used to grind up egg shells and sprinkle it on our houseplants.
I'll try Griffin's idea to see if it really works.

 

[jrod]

CaCO3 is readily available in lots of forms. I just mentioned egg shells to illustrate a point. The easiest thing to use is probably washed Aragonite, which is commonly available in the aquarium hobby along with crushed coral. Even though most crushed coral is cultured now, and not reef collected, I'd still recommend steering clear of it for plant and aquarium use for serious environmental reasons. Either way, egg shells, coral shells, and most other animal shells and bones are comprised of almost 100% CaCO3. Get out there and experiment =)

A side thought... maybe bone meal? The big problem with egg shells is going to be washing all the goop out of them. Probably best to avoid them outside of composts.

 

[jimscott]

I still have a bag of crushed coral that I can turn into a mix just for Mexican pings. I thought only P. gypsicola benfitted from the crushed coral but maybe the others would as well.

 

[rco911]

Hi Guys, I know this post was from back in April, but just wanted to bump this and see where everyone was at with the eggshell thing?

OK - I am a sarracenia nutcase, but I recently started to get into those greasy lil' buggers called pings.. Kinda neat, they do grow on ya. Since I am starting out more or less with mex. pings, any suggestions on the medium? Right now im using a general pourus mix of just peat/perlite - mostly perlite. How is the CaCO3 working out with the eggshells?

I was at the pet store today, and noticed that there was some aquarium substrate that was 100% CaCO3. Looked like crushed rock and some particles of shells in there. It was a rough grit of sand looking thing. It was CITES approved (at least, said so on the bag) but before spending some $ on buying the stuff, I wanted to hear suggestions from the experienced ping growers out there. For my other garden projects, I have perlite, vermiculite, and peat laying around the yard... and I can readily obtain pumice if need be.

P. gypsicola I have read on a few sites would benifit, but others suggest that other pings may benefit as well

Just wanted to year y'alls suggestions. Wouldja help a noobie ping brutha out?! Thank yeh

Rob

 

[Crissytal]

Hey Rob,

I've had very bad experiences with the common peat/perlite or peat/sand mix. Others have had great success with it, but it's just not for me.

I've been using a mix mainly of aquatic plant soil. I threw some perlite, vermiculite, sand (when I have it, not necessary) and a handful of peat (which isn't necessary either) into it. I use enough of everything to clearly see it in the mix, except the peat. I have also been experimenting with cuttlebone. I've been breaking it up into small chucks and adding what's left (chunks and powder) to the above mix. So far so good with everything. I wanted to try the crushed coral, but I can only get it in 20 something pound bags around here.

Jim can shed some more light on the crushed coral.

Crystal

 

[jimscott]

I converted the whole Mexican ping collection over to this concoction of mostly Perlite, crushed coral, and eggshells, with a little bit of peat and sand. That was over a month ago and the plants didn't react at all to the change. Can't say they went and did noteworthy things, either. Here's a not so wonderful picture of them, from 10 days ago:

These pings aren't terribly picky about what they are growing, so I would say that what you have is also fine.

 

[rco911]

Thanks Jimscott!! I appreciate it! I actually had some pumice and did a nice lil' horticultural sand, perlite, pumice, vermiculite, and a little peat mix. I recently acquired a couple of new mex. pings and potted them up in that mixture. I kinda like the pumice - doesn't really float away like the perlite.

Jim - another question - do you top water your pings? Does it drain into that little tray below? or do you water from the bottom? Ive read of others only watering these pings kind of like a house plant from the top. Others I've read use the tray method, but keep it on the "dryer" side of things?

Thanks again!

Rob

 

[sgardner]

Just for the record i put my P. moctezumeae in a similar mix as jim when this thread first started. Looking at the plant today i cant say it looks any better than any of the other moctezumeae that i grew on a sand/peat/vermiculite mix. They all slowly whither away and finally die. I put my heterophylla in the mix and the tips of the leaves quit turning brown, the plant looks better than it did and even flowered. I am going to put P. gypsicola in this mix when i get it again. I think that certain plants are more picky than others, and every body grows there plants under different conditions so what works for one person may not work for others. Dont give up on the coral mix yet, try changing some of the other variables like water, temp, and light, or if you dont have time for that stick with whats tried and true....

 

[jimscott]

I don't entirely trust top watering Mexican pings, so I water the tray. But when you think about it, all plants do get rained upon. It's just that we have artificial environments and we have to do what nature would normally do, like ensuring adequate drainage. Top watering really shouldn't be a bad thing.

 

[Not a Number]

According to this article:

The plants are further divided into calciphilious (calcium-loving), and calciphobic (calcium-hating). P.gypsicola and P.heterophylla are examples of the former, while P. colimensis, P.cyclosecta, P.ehlersia, P.esseriana, P.moranensis, P.rotundiflora, and P. zecheri are examples of the latter. The calciphilious forms appreciate high pH media (either vermiculite based, or with an addition of limestone or gypsum to the planting mix). The calciphobic species appreciate a standard, acid CP mix like peat/sand.

Does anybody have a list of the calciphilious speces?

 

[sgardner]

I did not know there was a technical name for calcium loving/hating Pings. I am trying to compile a list based apon observations of wild plants. I have realized that alot of these plants naturally grow in either soil, but there are a few that will only grow in one or the other. I am going to pick Fernandos brain when i get a chance and there are a few members of this forum that could be really helpful too. To answer your question i have not found an actual list but i will make one. Ed read is another Ping Nut that has visited them in the wild, he might be another good source.... I will post my findings unless one of the Pinguicula nuts wants to chime in and save me the work

 

[Not a Number]

Forbes Conrad would be a good source too. He's spent some time in the field in Mexico.

 

[Mark Wilson]

I recently noticed that a few of my gypsicolas are having issues and are developing brown tips so I am going to repot them tonight.I ended up buying one of those bags of coral and use a coffee grinder to grind them more or less into sand.DON'T WORRY,my wife gave it to me and I didn't sneak it into the basement,LOL
They had all been doing fine so I hope it helps to change the media.I had been using Joseph's recipe with APS,silica sand, coral sand,but basically am going to get rid of the sand and not scimp on the Root Shield and feeding the powdered bloodworms and see how that goes.