eggshells in womery

[Alef]

Hi worm folk,

We eat a lot of eggs and I'm adding all the shells to my wormery. Any tips on how to grind them up easily? Currently I pop the shells in the oven to dry them out, then put them in a bowl and use a screwdriver handle like a pestle... but this is a bit laborious. What do others use, a blender perhaps?

Cheers,
Alef

[PeteF]

Hi Alef
I use a blender set on pulse it grinds the shell into very small particles and dust if left on for a bit so I leave the lid on to let it settle.
I also do the same with dried banana skins, peanut shells, pasta, oats and cereals

[WillyWorm]

I have an old coffee grinder I use forbegg shells.

[WillyWorm]

Alerts, don't over do the amount of egg shell you add to your worm bin. Egg shell is in fact lime (calcium carbonate) this raises the ph of your worm bin. Ideally worms like a natural ph that is about 7.0. Egg shell is added to to the bin for one of three reasons 1) to raise the ph 2) to provide grit for the worms to use in their gizzards to grind up their food and 3) to provide the small amount of calcium that worms may need.

George Pilkington in his book "Composting with Worms" says "ph control is not necessary in a worm bin".

The ph of your bin will fluctuate all the time dependent on what you feed and the way you manage the bin. You will still see some people saying if you have a lot of pot worms (the small white worms) in your bin that the ph is too low and you need to add lime. Pot worms, tiger worms European nightcrawlers can all live and function at the same ph so no action needs to be taken.

Pilkington goes on to say "I certainly won't be wasting my time checking the ph"

Willy

[Alef]

Thanks for all the feedback. I particularly like the idea of using an old coffee grinder! My bin does have a lot of little white worms so sounds like I need the egg shells...

[WillyWorm]

I have a lot of pot worms (little white worms). They perform a valuable part in the composting process so I've given up trying to do anything about them.

Willy

[WormyMcWormerson]

I give a couple of pinches of egg shell powder with every feed, so roughly 1/4 to 1/2 of a teaspoon per 1.5 kg of scraps. Still got plenty of pot worms, but they seem to get on fine with the wrigglers so no worries.

[elleyfant]

I never thought of power tools! I use a mortar and pestle. The larger bits (still less than half a mm across) all seem to end up in the sump..