Yes, Spider plants can benefit from eggshells, as it’s a natural source of calcium.
Calcium promotes healthy growth in indoor and outdoor plants and helps combat deficiencies in the potting soil. So, you must use eggshells in your Spider plant pot whenever possible.
However, remember that eggshells shouldn’t be used in large quantities. Otherwise, it will cause more harm to your plant’s roots than any good.
Let’s learn more about how to use them in Spider plants effectively.
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Do Spider Plants Like Eggshells?
As mentioned earlier, Spider plants do like eggshells, and you can add them to the pot periodically.
You can either use them in crushed form or powdered form. The crushed eggshells take a long time to break down in the soil. It can take a year or more for the decomposition process.
So, if you are expecting quick results after using crushed eggshells in your plant, you might get disappointed. This is why you should use them in powdered form.
Although it will also take time to break down in the soil, the overall time will be much shorter than the crushed eggshells. However, you should never use them in large quantities.
Since the eggshells only help provide calcium to the plant, you won’t see much of a difference in the plant’s growth solely because of this natural fertilizer.
You will also need to provide some compost or other commercial fertilizers to the plant.
But what should be the ideal quantity for using eggshells in your Spider plant?
Well, it depends on the container size. If you have a small plant, use a couple of tablespoons of eggshell powder. For a relatively bigger pot, increase the quantity accordingly.
Tips To Use Eggshells In Your Spider Plant
Here’s the list of tips for you –
1. Clean The Eggshells With Dishwash Soap
Yes, you need to clean the shells before using them as fertilizer in your Spider plant’s pot.
The cleaning process is quite important here because it helps remove any residual egg white and yolk from the shells. If you don’t clean the shells, they will rot in a couple of days, and the odor will be unbearable.
More importantly, it will also attract bugs to your plants, as they like to feed on such organic waste matter.
For cleaning, you can use any dishwashing soap or insecticidal soap available to you. Gently clean the inner side of the shells and make sure there is no residue left on the surface.
2. Let The Eggshells Dry Out Entirely
Again, this is an important step, and you shouldn’t ignore it at all.
When you rinse the eggshells, you need to allow them to dry out completely. Otherwise, the shells will remain wet and might invite fungal activity once you put them in the pot.
Also, if you want to use them in powdered form, you will find it difficult to grind them.
Since there might be some moisture content in them, you will probably end up getting a paste instead of a powder.
For the drying process, you can keep them in the sun for at least 2-3 days. You should put them in direct sun, though. It will help them attain a solid crisp texture.
Now, if you want to expedite this process, you can also oven-dry them for 15 minutes or so. This is a much faster process and will save a lot of time.
3. Crush Or Grind Them Before Adding To The Soil
As I mentioned earlier, the eggshells should be crushed into pieces or powder before using them. It greatly helps in the decomposition process.
In case you have a snail issue in your garden, you should crush them into tiny pieces. This should deter these garden pests. If you don’t have any such issues, you will only need to use eggshell powder in the pot.
Note: You can also use eggshell tea as a fertilizer for your Spider plant.
4. Add Soil On Top Of The Eggshells Powder
Even though you clean the eggshells, there might always be some residue that will remain on their surface. And as you know, it can attract unwanted pests in your Spider plant pot.
To avoid such issues, put the soil on top of the crushed or powdered eggshells.
Make sure to keep them well-covered, as it will help avoid any foul smell from the shells.
Apart from that, the bacteria present in the soil will decompose the eggshells pretty quickly with this method. So, that’s an added benefit of covering them with some soil mixture.
5. Water The Plant
Once you have added eggshells to the plant, you can water the plant.
Here, the watering stage is quite important because it helps settle the powder in the soil. If you have already watered the plant, you can use a garden spray to achieve the same outcome.
You don’t want to have an overwatering situation in the pot. So, it is always a good idea to spray the soil.
FAQs
Eggshells can be added to pretty much all the plants in your garden. This includes indoor as well as outdoor plants. Since eggshells provide calcium to the plants, you can use a few tablespoons of eggshell powder for each plant.
For spider plants, you can use any natural fertilizer like compost or vermicompost.
Any nitrogen-based fertilizer is good for this plant’s growth. So, choose your fertilizer accordingly, especially if you want to use some commercial fertilizer.
There could be many reasons why the Spider plant leans to one side. The primary reasons for this behavior, though, are the overwatering situation, top-heaviness and excessive sunlight.
Sometimes, the plant may also droop because of the underwatering situation. All these conditions make things difficult for the plant, which often leads to droopy leaves.
Yes, Spider plants thrive in acidic soil. Since coffee grounds are acidic in nature, you can surely add them to the soil.
Apart from that, the coffee extract is also rich in nitrogen. Therefore, it will boost the leaf growth of your Spider plant.
You can water your Spider plant every week or every ten days. It’s an ideal watering schedule that you can follow for this plant.
In summer, you can increase the watering frequency if the plant is relatively big and the soil dries out quickly. On the contrary, winter months are always cooler, so you will not have to water the plant too much. In these months, decrease the watering frequency and change the schedule accordingly.
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