Hi world;

soils here in Newfoundland are very acidic and many people use crushed
shells to reduce the acid levels in their gardens.  Also, in rural
Newfoundland, some people used to crush clam shells into powder and give it
to their hens to increase the strength of the egg shells.  I don't know if
it worked, but why not??

Thomas Clenche
Petley, Random Island, Newfoundland.
[log in to unmask]

ps. My first time on the list.


>From: NORA BRYAN <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Conchologists of America List <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: shells as fetilizers?
>Date: Fri, 21 Jan 2000 13:59:04 -0700
>
>Ezequiel
>I think your grandmother was basically correct.  Many soils are deficient
>in lime (calcium), in other words they are too acidic.  I cannot remember
>what the plant uses the lime for or whether it is needed to allow other
>nutrients to be utilized.  I would think that it would be better to crush
>the shells rather than leave them whole, but perhaps whole shells leach
>their calcium quickly enough in soil.
>Where I live, the opposite is true, we have too much lime in the soil and
>this prevents iron from being available to the plants, so serious gardeners
>here look for ways to make the soil more acidic. So adding shells here
>would not help the plants.
>
>Nora
>Calgary, Alberta
>CANADA


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