If you happen to be a bonsai enthusiast, it is natural to ponder are eggshell good for bonsai and whether it works as potent nutrition for the soil to help your bonsai plant grow. Of all the many ways you can enhance the nutrients in your soil, eggshells are certainly one of the most effective ways to achieve that purpose.
Eggshell nutrition is a great source of calcium for the soil that is essential for the growth of bonsai trees. In addition to this, eggshells play a crucial role in enriching the soil with nutrients that work as an added benefit to the overall well-being of your bonsai plant.
In this article, I will give an extensive overview of all the upsides eggshell nutrition has on the soil and how it helps your bonsai grow.
In this article, you will find an in-depth explanation of how eggshell nutrition can help your bonsai grow and how you can apply it to make your bonsai healthier.
So, make sure to stick around till the end!
What Are The Benefits of Using Eggshells for Bonsai Plants?
The primary benefits of using eggshells for bonsai plants are the nutrients you get out of them in your soil. Using eggshells can be a great source of calcium and potassium for your soil, which can play a determinative factor in the growth of your bonsai tree.
Here is a detailed explanation of how calcium and potassium can help your bonsai grow.
Calcium
Calcium is one of the most significant nutrients that is crucial to the growth of any plant in soil. If the soil lacks the required amount of calcium needed for your Bonsai plant, the growth will be significantly stagnated.
Apart from this, your plant might also succumb to various diseases due to the lack of the required amount of calcium in the soil.
Potassium
Three elements are considered essential to the growth of any plant. Potassium, alongside nitrogen and phosphorus, plays a crucial role in their parts in making the health of your bonsai plants vigorous.
Potassium plays an important part in developing the capability to withstand diseases. Besides, it enables your plant to handle environmental stress better.
How Does Eggshell Affect The Soil of The Bonsai Plants?
For the most part, bonsai plants contain a large amount of calcium carbonate. In other words, it is also regarded as lime, which tends to be alkaline. Adding eggshells to the soil helps existing calcium carbonate break into elements such as calcium and carbonate.
The carbonate takes part in a reaction with the acidic parts of the soil to neutralize its effects. As a result, the overall pH of the soil increases significantly. In general, eggshells can make the soil of your bonsai significantly richer in nutrients, and it is extremely beneficial to the overall growth of your bonsai plant.
Notwithstanding all the upsides of eggshell nutrition for your bonsai plant, it is important to note that at times, overfeeding your soil with an overflow of nutrients can cause damage to the roots and overall health of your plant.
Experts suggest that a total of five tablespoons of crushed eggshells is ideal for the overall health and growth of your bonsai tree.
How Can I Add Eggshells To My Bonsai Plant?
Of all the natural add-ons available to boost the nutrients in your bonsai soil, eggshells are one of the most efficient sources that you can find to help with the overall growth of your bonsai plant.
There are many productive ways to apply eggshells as nutrients to your soil. Here is a list of popular methods available to apply to your soil.
Applying Eggshell In The Form Of Liquid
Liquid eggshell is a cost-efficient fertilizer that can serve the purpose of an effective fertilizer in addition to being an amazing source of nutrients for your plant soil.
The procedures that involve making liquid eggshell fertilizer at home are quite simple. Here are the steps that you need to follow to make the solution at your convenience.
To begin the process, you need to boil about twenty shells for every gallon of water you will be using. Once you are done with the boiling process, you have to keep the shells in water for about eight hours.
After that, you need to store the water in a confined jar and apply it to the soil while watering the plants.
In most cases, applying the liquid about once a week is ample for boosting the nutrition of your Bonsai soil.
Keep in mind that although it may supply your soil with many necessary nutrients that are essential to the growth of your plant, it might not prove to be enough of a reserve to check off every element of nutrients your plant may require.
Applying Eggshells In The Form Of Powder
This method of applying eggshells is often regarded as one of the most simplistic methods of applying fertilizer to your soil. The first step of making a powdered eggshell requires you to crush all the eggshells and store them in a container of sorts.
Make sure to dry your shells properly before you proceed to crush them since it is important to break them into smaller pieces.
After crushing and storing the eggshells in a container, use as many as five tablespoons of the crushed eggshell around your bonsai tree. This is also a cost-saving alternative to apply to your soil in place of fertilizer.
Do keep in mind that adding too much eggshell powder can cause a high concentration of lime in your bonsai soil. As a result, your plant might turn yellow in appearance and suffer damage to its roots. Therefore, it is advisable to use this technique sporadically to get its maximum efficacy.
Applying Eggshell In The Form Of Sprinkles
Sprinkling eggshell powder is a convenient way to add nutrients to your bonsai soil. Take the remaining eggshell powder after crushing it into powder and sprinkle it on your bonsai for added benefits.
If you want your tree to have a constant supply of nutrients, make sure to sprinkle crushed eggshells over the soil every two weeks.
Can Eggshells Work As A Permanent Substitute For Your Bonsai Tree?
As it happens, eggshells are not a permanent substitute for using other forms of fertilizer on your bonsai soil. Because eggshells lack two of the most important nutrients, nitrogen and phosphorus, it is imperative to use fertilizers that can work as a steady source of those elements as well.
Nitrogen and phosphorus help your bonsai look more vivid and strengthen its roots significantly. A healthy mixture of different sorts of fertilizers ensures the healthy and robust growth of your bonsai plant.
Conclusion
Eggshells are a prolific source of calcium and potassium in your bonsai soil. Since these two elements are indispensable elements for the growth and health of all sorts of soil, eggshells serve as an economical way of providing those nutrients to your bonsai plants.
In addition to this, the methods of applying eggshells to your bonsai are the most convenient and affordable.
Applying eggshells to the soil is beneficial to your bonsai as they can healthily fulfill the need for calcium in the soil. But as is true for all other fertilizers, it is important to maintain the use of eggshells at a suitable level.
If you apply eggshells to your bonsai in the prescribed methods discussed above, your plant will surely have healthy and vigorous growth.
