egg shell tea?

[neoguy]

This may be a stupid question, but here goes anyway.

Some time ago I read an article in a magazine, where the author placed egg shells in a jug of water, let them soak for a while and then watered her tomatoes with the tea.

Does this provide any benefit to the plants

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by neoguy

This may be a stupid question, but here goes anyway.

Some time ago I read an article in a magazine, where the author placed egg shells in a jug of water, let them soak for a while and then watered her tomatoes with the tea.

Does this provide any benefit to the plants

Please remember that the only stupid question is the one not asked.

The basis for putting eggshells in water, or eggshells in the planting hole for tomatoes is based on the now outdated belief that Ca++ is provided and thus BER ( blossom end rot) can be prevented.

In addition, eggshells need more than just water for the eggshell to break down and provide Ca++.

But as I just noted, adding Ca++ to the soil or watering plants with it is not the solution, ( pun intended) to BER prevention.

Only if the soil is completely lacking Ca++ would such an addition be useful, but rare indeed are the soils that are lacking in Ca++.

Soils that are too acidic can prevent Ca++ uptake b'c of mineral ion competition, but such soils can be amended to raise the pH.

The problem with BER is not Ca++ uptake, rather it's maldistribution within the plant that is the problem.

plants that have fruits that have BER have been shown to have plenty of Ca++ in the plant tissues.

[neoguy]

Dr. Carolyn,

Thank you for the prompt and experienced (read expert) response.

I figured the tea idea was probably handed down through the authors family over generations. Having read many of the threads regarding egg shells in general, I thought I knew what the answer was going to be. But, I wanted to post the question and I wanted to hear from the experts. And, I did

Carolyn, by the way, I recently ordered and received your book from the library. I've marked at least 25 pages of plants I want to grow next year. But where

Since I'll have to return this copy to the public domain, I'll be shopping for my own personal copy. As I've read in other posts, you have not made a dime on your great book, I'd be more than happy to pay retail price and shipping costs to you, versus Amazon or some other discount book seller. Let me know