Thought this was interesting and wondered if anyone had started daylily seeds in eggshells before as shown in the last part of the video.

I hadn't given much thought to throwing eggshells in the garden, but my mom did it all the time and we had lots of chickens and used lots of eggs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Old eggs and eggshells always go in my compost pile.

Haven't contributed for some time now, however this forum theme regarding eggs & eggshells requires comment folks .... Whoooooa! Not so fast with those garden omelettes! ...

I'm a believer - from my own experiences - of using eggs + eggshells for both indoor & open garden situations & I don't disagree with any of the points or suggestions made - at face values .... However, there's much more to this 'cake' than just tossing in that egg - or it's shell. My experiences have shown me that ...

Putting a whole egg into the transplant or seed hole can result in a dramatic visit from garden visitors. Raccoon & skunks (Armadillos too?) - even squirrels in some cases, will have them uprooting your seeds or seedlings or transplants to get at that egg. They are able to smell it from some distance & will simply determine exactly where it is & dig that egg up, along with your cherished transplants or seeds or seedlings or whatever you've put into the ground with that egg.

Count on it. Urban or Suburban or rural? .... Doesn't matter - as these critters are out & about at (usually) nite & are always hunting about for edible items - and eggs are on that list. I've personally NOT used the 'Tea' method but have used the 'scatter-the-stuff-on-the-soil-surface' method. (I garden on a glacial deposit of sand & gravel & rocks so soil building is a never-ending strategy hereabouts.) .... But again - you need to be careful to protect your seeds etc.

What attracts these nite marauders is the scent of the eggs. Therefore those unwashed shells are as attractive as the whole eggs themselves. The comment about composting works of course. Laying down some poultry wire fencing or hardware cloth/screening over or around your plants or seeds will obviously stop them from digging ... However, it won't stop them from trying - if they detect eggs with their superior noses. If they think that there's food under that wire, they'll try to get to it & your transplants might be damaged or destroyed in the process.

No doubt most of you have seen what a hungry skunk is able to do to your lawn when hunting June-bug or crane fly larvae. Neat little holes dug through your turf to extract a larvae the size of a paper-clip. Now, imagine a larvae the size of an egg (!!!) .... Not a neat little teaspoon sized hole anymore - think excavation ....

One last point to consider. Any whole egg will eventually go bad. It will rot. It'll take some time. Several days or even a week or so but nevertheless it will become pretty odoriferous & will bring in any critter that relishes such a delightful meal. Just thought it best to let you know what to prepare for if you start burying such critter delicacies in your garden.

@Wildbirds, thanks for that heads up! That is great info to know.

I once put bonemeal in the garden and found that it invited some squirrels to dig in the garden (I assume it was squirrels). I didn't think about it, but both eggshells and bonemeal are sources of calcium, so maybe that is the common denominator?

When I plant out my tomatoes, I put clean egg shells and a banana peel into the planting hole first, as fertilizer. It works well, and I've never had them dug up, but those are much deeper holes and perhaps less "aromatic" to critters. I doubt that I would ever try it with my daylilies, or in a more shallow hole as I have all of the regular critters as well as a neighborhood skunk.

Somewhat off-topic: our laws here are ridiculous; we can legally trap the skunk, we can kill the skunk, but we CAN'T move the skunk somewhere else. It's just stupid.

I wonder what the logic is for that rule, Terry?

I use bone meal when I plant daylilies, and put a handful in the bottom of the hole before planting. I have never had any problems adding bone meal that way.

touchofsky said:I wonder what the logic is for that rule, Terry?

It allegedly has to do with rabies transmission, I think. We're not allowed to move a potentially rabid animal to another place, but it's just fine and dandy for us to trap it and torture it. Like I said, stupid.

Again from my own experience ..... Bonemeal & bloodmeal once they become wet (You buy the stuff dry & you apply it dry) - will smell like carrion, decomposing animal matter - which it actually is. I've found that it attracts coyotes + foxes + raccoons + skunks - but NOT squirrels hereabouts for me (Mid-central Ontario).

Occassionally such critters will dig down for it IF they detect a quantity of it in the soil, under the surface. I've found the best approach is to mix it well with the soil so there's NOT a pocket of it. Not a lump of it for the animals to detect & to attempt to dig up. When blended with the soil they WILL be attracted to it by it's appealing - to them - odour. But they usually realize that to eat it they're going to get quite a lot of 'fibre & grit' with it, & after a brief smell-taste will likely move on to the fella next door's garden who has put a dozen Grade 'A' large white Leghorn eggs under his Giant pumpkin seeds.

Love your sense of humor Wildbirds. I crush up the eggshells and broadcast them over individual plants in the winter. During planting season when available I mix them in the planting holes.

Mike, after they're dried up, I too crush up eggshells as fine as possible and mix them in my compost before spreading it, to add calcium. I've never used the actual egg in the gardens for the same reason @Wildbirds mentioned from their own experience. I haven't experienced it, but I've figured it out with logic and common sense. Just the same as no meats or dairy go in to the compost bin. As a general rule, only botanicals go in. Dried eggshells aren't botanicals, but they provide beneficial nutrients. I can't explain it bc I'm no scientist.

Wildbirds said:Haven't contributed for some time now, however this forum theme regarding eggs & eggshells requires comment folks .... Whoooooa! Not so fast with those garden omelettes! ...

I'm a believer - from my own experiences - of using eggs + eggshells for both indoor & open garden situations & I don't disagree with any of the points or suggestions made - at face values .... However, there's much more to this 'cake' than just tossing in that egg - or it's shell. My experiences have shown me that ...

Putting a whole egg into the transplant or seed hole can result in a dramatic visit from garden visitors. Raccoon & skunks (Armadillos too?) - even squirrels in some cases, will have them uprooting your seeds or seedlings or transplants to get at that egg. They are able to smell it from some distance & will simply determine exactly where it is & dig that egg up, along with your cherished transplants or seeds or seedlings or whatever you've put into the ground with that egg.

Count on it. Urban or Suburban or rural? .... Doesn't matter - as these critters are out & about at (usually) nite & are always hunting about for edible items - and eggs are on that list. I've personally NOT used the 'Tea' method but have used the 'scatter-the-stuff-on-the-soil-surface' method. (I garden on a glacial deposit of sand & gravel & rocks so soil building is a never-ending strategy hereabouts.) .... But again - you need to be careful to protect your seeds etc.

What attracts these nite marauders is the scent of the eggs. Therefore those unwashed shells are as attractive as the whole eggs themselves. The comment about composting works of course. Laying down some poultry wire fencing or hardware cloth/screening over or around your plants or seeds will obviously stop them from digging ... However, it won't stop them from trying - if they detect eggs with their superior noses. If they think that there's food under that wire, they'll try to get to it & your transplants might be damaged or destroyed in the process.

No doubt most of you have seen what a hungry skunk is able to do to your lawn when hunting June-bug or crane fly larvae. Neat little holes dug through your turf to extract a larvae the size of a paper-clip. Now, imagine a larvae the size of an egg (!!!) .... Not a neat little teaspoon sized hole anymore - think excavation ....

One last point to consider. Any whole egg will eventually go bad. It will rot. It'll take some time. Several days or even a week or so but nevertheless it will become pretty odoriferous & will bring in any critter that relishes such a delightful meal. Just thought it best to let you know what to prepare for if you start burying such critter delicacies in your garden.

... and bears

Charley

Charley ... Never thought about bears being a daylily problem. BUT if'n ya put some eggs out - OK. Makes sense.

We have quite a few blacks bears hereabouts. Every year several are seen out & about this area. We've had one HUGE fella smash our wildbird feeders - bent a 1.5 inch metal pole over right to the ground like it was a spaghetti noodle. Our son made that bird feeder when he was 14 & he's now on his way to 56 .... ('twas a family heirloom - Hah!)

Had blacks in the yard cleaning up windfall apples a few times & stealing Concord Grapes - but never been near the daylilies. One a couple of years ago scraped an area about 6-7 or so feet across into a small central pile of grass & goldenrod weed. No scat underneath. No food I could find. Simply being creative? ... Or marking territory?

Anyway, we encourage wildlife hereabouts including tolerating bears. The only critters to bother my daylilies - especially when in pots - are field voles. (Many confuse them with moles - these two animals are as different as sheep are from goats) When I have put down certain composts & manures we've had coyotes & skunks investigate the pungent stuff by pawing at it - but no real plants damages resulted.

This is an interesting passion. We share the land hereabouts with the countryside critters. Lottsa black/gray squirrels here too but they bite the blooms off of tulips but never - yet? - any daylilies. Deer are a very occasional visitor and never during spring-summer-autumn daylily growing months. Pleased spring's now here again ...

No bears here
I took the birdbath heater out too soon. All frozen and Iced up this morning. Sorry Wildbirds There is still a lot of suet and seeds at the feeder. Going up to mid forties today and fifties there after.
My grandkids left me some eggshells on the kitchen counter

Why the apology? (Perhaps I'm missing something?) ....

This IS about daylilies - at least some of it is. For us my daylilies (Spouse has little interest in my plants.) are simply part of the overall blend of why we live here and how we live here. Tree huggers? ... Back-to-the-landers? ... Perhaps. I liken it to simply wanting to live in the country & to enjoy what that provides & to grow things (Over 20 years with daylilies - Seems to get more 'serious' every year!) .... I do believe that this interest in plants & countryside experiences is a genetic thing, going back to my earliest memories.

For over 30 years we've lived here on our wee patch of land surrounded by active farms (Livestock & crops & maple sugaring BUT more crops nowadays than livestock) and by both mature mixed woodlands & swamps & 'river' valleys ('River' during flood - but actually just a nice sized canoeing creek 98% of the time) .... . Hundreds & hundreds of acres of all this varied terrain within a hop-skip-and-jump. We chose this spot because of all of this (Plus some personal history too of course).

Anyway folks, we've been feeding wildbirds all year long - 4 seasons - for most of those 30 years. Various seeds (I mix my own depending on the season & weather) plus suet - even in hot weather. We've planted plenty of berry & fruit producing vines & trees & shrubs for natural foraging. All of this by plan & design to encourage & bring in both creatures & birds.

Bringing in the small critters - chipmunks, cottontail rabbits, squirrels, white-footed deer mice, etc plus wild turkeys & whitetail deer .... With this mix of wildlife encouraged to be here, also come the omnivores & predators - crows + ravens + coopers hawks + great horned owls + black bears + coy-wolves + red foxes + 'coons + skunks etc. (We're located within an hour of Toronto International Airport which means the HUGE city itself.)

In all this time we've had little problem with my daylilies. I'm VERY aware that other areas DO have sometimes severe animal problems breeding & growing their daylilies - but we simply don't. My biggest problem animals are crows & voles. Voles will dig down under in-ground plants, and especially potted daylilies, to munch on the roots. Crows are prone to pull up young seedlings (In-ground & potted) to see what's edible that comes up with the root-ball (My assumption) The other thing crows do is collect shiny & unusual things that appeal to them, so they'll pull up marking-tags & fly off with them to stash in their collection in some hollow tree or behind your own chimney (Have a look sometime)

We don't live in the Garden of Eden or Utopia but we do live WITH the wide range of wildlife - fur & feathered - without a lot of hassle from them. For certain if we lived in high-population whitetail deer country or with peccaries or feral hogs or whatever that could damage or destroy my daylilies, we'd operate differently - defensively - just like many of you do now. We're fortunate folks to have happened upon this place 3 decades ago.

I keep some poultry for esthetics. I like to see them foraging around the yard. (They're shed is across the property to keep then away from my daylilies) I like to hear them 'talking' among themselves when doing so. I like to hand feed them grain or old bread on the back lawn sometimes. The passing vehicle traffic enjoys seeing them out front of the home ranging over the boulevard ("Oh! Look at the cute chickens Charlie!"). However, EVERY year we've lost some to foxes & occasionally a goshawk or red-tail or two. Ravens & crows outsmart our hens out free-ranging with their clutch of chicks & steal away with one or two from time to time .... But we KNOW this is going to happen & let more hens set & hatch than we need replacement chicks (We don't eat the birds. They die contentedly here from old age.)

My daylilies are a lifestyle thing here, not a commercial aspect. We've managed to blend my plants with our other controlled & wild natural 'gardens' .... and our overall lifestyle. My daylilies ARE important. However, everything has to kind of fit together for this all to work, and for us to be content. So far, so good ...

Wildbirds that was not an apology. Just a frail attempt at humor. Your setting sounds so peaceful. I grew up with chickens that my grandmother raised back in the West Indies. We always went roaming up the hills that was close by to bird watch and sight seeing. That was a great time and place for growing up. I understand your appreciation for your serene location.

Sounds lovely @Wildbirds

Eggshells have long been recommended (I used gardening books years ago from Jerry Baker, who advocated household items in the garden) for two purposes. First, they can be finely crushed and used in shady areas around hosta and other shade loving plants to deter slugs. These sub for diatomaceous earth (expensive!) The eggshells cut their slimy slug bodies. Also, crushed eggshells can be used around red colored Japanese maples to help make the red color more vivid in early spring. It's the potassium in the eggshells. I've used both of these ideas for years.

I've also used other of his homegrown remedies in the garden. Had fun years ago when I grew roses with one rose concoction containing whiskey!! It was the sugar in the whiskey the roses liked.

Julie the question is : how much of the whiskey went into the concoction ?

All of it!! LOL. I never liked whiskey.