Oyster Shells For Raising Soil PH Question???

[greennewfie]

I have heard that sea shells are almost as good as dolomite lime but how fine are you supposed to crush the shells for them to be effective in raising the ph??

Ps. i googled and searched but couldnt find a straight answer!!

 

[ClamDigger]

a mortar and pestle if you wanna DIY
i buy mine by the feed sack at Shar-Kare for less then 20$ (canada) but any good bulk animal food store should sell Crushed Oyster Shell for chickens.

 

[greennewfie]

Ok cool thanks again Clam, so i guess pound it to dust i take it,, i have my seaweed fermenting out there and the water is getting almost thick and stringy wanted to see if using shells would be good enough instead off lime since i can get lots of them for free lol

 

[ClamDigger]

Ok cool thanks again Clam, so i guess pound it to dust i take it,, i have my seaweed fermenting out there and the water is getting almost thick and stringy wanted to see if using shells would be good enough instead off lime since i can get lots of them for free lol

it depends on how fast you want it to release, if you need a PH up RIGHT NOW then definitely make dust, but if it is a before hand soil amendment i would leave some small shards/chunks for later.

also if you "flake" oyster shell it creates air pockets in your dirt, which is very important in container gardening.

 

[greennewfie]

thats great info thanks Clam that answers more then all my questions lol!!!

 

[Wetdog]

About as fine as flour to do any good.

There are shell mounds if Fl that are well over 500 yrs old and not broken down and oyster shell driveways are quite common on the west coast of Fl.

The point is, if not extremely fine, it will just sit there forever.

Wet

 

[greennewfie]

Thanks dog also good info!

 

[NyQuilkush318]

Hey bro i got my shells am give it a try