Probably not. Personally I think there's enough grit in kitchen scraps and bedding without adding. But if it's working for you and works are healthy, probably not hurting either.

My worms seem to like the powdered egg shells when I scatter them over the kitchen scraps and cover that with shredded newspaper. I find lots of worms near the egg shells.

The decomposition processes such as nitrification etc tend to push bins in the acidic direction over time. I'm not sure the eggshells do a lot of anything unless the bin pH is low enough to dissolve them. The powdered eggshells should however provide some buffering to guard against pH "crashes". I believe worms prefer soils slightly skewed toward alkaline (up to around 8.0 pH judging from my internet readings), which is probably why they seem more attracted to wherever in the bin any eggshell powder has been scattered.

<BUT does is it really doing anything for the worms other than provide some grit for their gizzard?>

Certainly the worms need grit for their gizzard but my question is who has been scattering these "ground up eggshells" for the homeless worms?

I just use sand.

The pH in the forest always seems to work itself out somehow.

Just seems like a good way to use the eggshells and add calcium to the castings at the same time. some have claimed that the worms seek them out......I've never observed that but who knows?

Maybe instead of eggshells or sand as Gumby mentioned, glacial rock dust would be a good addition?

Harry

An interesting piece of info I came across the other day in my readings concerning the soil food web and about mineral balancing... it seems within an earthworm calcium carbonate is introduced into the shredded food contents (after its been through the gizzard), this is apparently done to support the bacteria that will do the actual digestion for the worm as the contents transits the rest of the digestive tract. Eggshells are nearly pure calcium carbonate (>95%). I just added more eggshell "dust" to my bins today. It seems to me the worms do actively seek it out by the observed numbers of them that are drawn to and end up congregating in the area where I spread the dust. Actually I had noticed this behavior also whenever I had dusted down any powdered dolomitic lime (that has both calcium and magnesium carbonates) into the bins, however I don't do it anymore as I now reserve that stuff exclusively for use in the garden where I'm bring up my Magnesium levels. I suppose it will depend upon the acidity of your bin as to the speed with whether the eggshells dissolve and its subsequent effect upon the acidity of the area vs the pH of the rest of the bin. For instance, I would assume bins with an acidity below say 6.5pH would see a more immediate and obvious response from the worms as oppose to a bin that's already at say above a 7.2pH

BTW, I don't think there are many (if any) earthworms found in pine forests or under stands of oak trees... I assume its likely due to the acidity of the soil... and I personally have yet to actually see a red wiggler ever in oak leaf litter (or among the decomposing pine needles and pine bark in a conifer forest). By contrast.... There's gotta be a reason composting worms like manure soooo much and there the population just explodes.

Care to share a link to where you found...

"monomer said:" <<An interesting piece of info I came across the other day in my readings
concerning the soil food web and about mineral balancing.>>

It was one of 3 places... without me having to search specifically for the passage, I most likely read it in Teaming With Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels (a book). The other possible places are the Grow Abundant Garden website (just add .com to the name to get to the website) or The Intelligent Gardener by Steve Solomon (another book). All 3 are interesting reads (excellent resources) that approach (growing) plant life through management of the soil. The book Teaming With Microbes takes the approach of understanding soil as a balance of microbial and larger life forms that also includes fungi, algae, and plants and how together they add and recycle nutrients in complex relationships... its an excellent read if you like biology and chemistry (its not so technical in its presentation as to make reading tedious and yet its as practical as it is enlightening). The other two sources I mentioned focus on the balancing of nutrients (mainly the minerals) in the soil... with the idea that if the minerals are balanced the soil life will be healthy and diverse and thus will produce nutrient dense food (referring to vegetable gardening). The idea is to start with a "standard" soil test and for a more complete assessment a "saturated paste" soil test to find out what minerals (and in what proportions) are available in the soil solution (this is from the saturated paste soil test) and what is held in reserve by the clay and the humic portions of the soil (info from the standard soil test) and then you can calculate and formulate what minerals/fertilizers to add to the soil to achieve a targeted balance of the essential and trace plant nutrients/minerals. If you buy into this approach to gardening then you begin to appreciate that soil life and soil mineral balance are intricately interconnected... and I'm finding all these relationships fascinating to learn about... and putting into practice is exciting. I've used some of these techniques I'm learning about already this past summer in the garden and have applied it as I prepared the garden this fall for next spring... can't wait for next spring to see how all this is going to work out. Of course this being a worm forum, its probably not the place for me to discuss this kind of stuff... I just thought I'd interject the part about the worms producing calcium carbonate in their digestive tract for the bacteria to do the actual digesting for the worm as I found it all quite interesting. I did harvest about 12 cu ft (about 90 gallons) of quality vermicompost from my bins this fall and worked most of it into the ~250 sq ft of raise beds... that should add to the nutrient and humic content of the soil... (with the raised beds being 12-14" tall, that works out to about 4% by volume... I'm expecting "big" things this coming spring.)

So Gumby... do you know what forums here discuss soil mineral balancing topics?

Okay Gumby I found it!!!

It is in Teaming With Microbes on page 98... maybe I can provide you a short excerpt (a preview just in case you might be interested in getting the book)...

"Next the food travels down the worm's esophagus into a crop. From this storage compartment it travels to the gizzard, an extremely strong muscle that is partially filled with sand and small rock particles. As the gizzard contracts and extends, the food is ground up by the sand, which serves as the "teeth" of this toothless worm. When the food is sufficiently ground up, it travels to the worm's intestine. Just before, however, it is mixed with a liquid calcium carbonate. Given their reputation for recycling organic matter, it is surprising to say the least that earthworms lack the necessary enzymes to digest it, relying instead on bacteria. All the grinding in the gizzard assures that what food does arrive in the intestines is sufficiently small and opened up for the bacteria living there to quickly digest it. Nutrients produced by the bacteria are finally absorbed into the worm's bloodstream, and any organic matter that is not fully digested is eliminated. This may be useless waste to the worm, but to a gardener it is a fantastic soil amendment."

In answer to this I can this[I also use a coffee grinder for this] I just know that a couple of days after adding the egg shell powder I cant see any trace of it.

Thank you mono.

Your post seems to support my earlier post about using sand. While sand was mentioned several times I did not see any mention of powdered eggshells.

It did not answer my earlier question <Certainly the worms need grit for their gizzard but my question is who has been scattering these "ground up eggshells" for the homeless worms?>

Ha, ha... In limestone based soils the calcium carbonate is going to be plentiful.

I wouldn't think eggshells work as well in being a sand substitute when it comes to grinding up stuff because its not really that hard to begin with (nothing compared to silicate) and I suspect it will dissolve if the pH is under neutral. I think however it will satisfy the worm's need for calcium being as how the worms apparently must produce their own liquid calcium carbonate at some point. Though calcium can be found in soil and in organic matter it may be lacking somewhat in acidic environments... however eggshells will provide ample quantities for the worms and the bacteria in the bedding. Its likely most bedding materials used in worm bins are going to be low in calcium.

Hopefully anyone using a Cuisinart food processor is aware there is a recall.

We actually have one (from that recall list)... however, looking at ours I think someone would have to have a heck of lot of eggshells to be able to use it to powder 'em up. I have a VitaMix that requires like at least 10 or more to use effectively so anymore I just take the few I get and put them into a baggie and crunch 'em with a rolling pin and call it good. It ain't powder but I just don't have the time or patience to do it right.

Exactly how many people do you think are using a food processor to powder eggshells?

<It ain't powder but I just don't have the time or patience to do it right.> That makes two of us. Have I mentioned using sand? It is organic.

IM not sure how much powdered eggshells help the worms so I look at it as a variance to their diet which cant hurt. Actually I use two cheap tools to do the job, one is a mini chopper which breaks them down somewhat then I put them in a cheap hamilton beach coffee grinder from walmart , does an excellent job. Before that though I will nuke them for 4-5 mins. to kill anything that might hurt the worms.

I just mash them down into the coffee grinder by hand and then grind them. I can do the shells of a dozen eggs at once that way. I think people who do it in a food processor or blender usually add water.

I Just got my WF360 on Friday but I used a mortar and pestal to grind my eggshells up ... it worked really well

I don't think the egg shells add "grit". I've added powdered egg shells to my bin without worms and after spraying with water and waiting about a week the powder is gone. This makes me think the shells serve more as a pH buffer than as grit for the worms.

That's interesting, I can't say as I've ever tried that. Guess I just assumed that when the eggshell powder vanished it was because the worms had consumed them. Might have to re-think that conclusion.

Could your initial bin material have been quite acidic?

Harry

I make a mix of powdered eggshells, oatmeal and cornmeal. I sprinkle it across the surface of the bin and in a day or so its gone, I do also spray it down. This morning after raising the lid I noticed the bed heaving as worms were at work below the surface. Below the surface is also food slurry.

Harry757- I don't add any citrus to my bin. However I do add a good amount of coffee grounds. I know coffee is slightly acidic but I don't know what the exact pH is. Other wise I just add typical kitchen scraps (potatoes, salad greens, and stuff like that). I assume this is a pretty typical composition.

hummersteve, going to try out your powdered eggshell/oatmeal mix - added some this morning.

duaroger, I used to add potato peels but worms seem to take forever to get to them and now I'm trying small amounts of citrus peels...........can't resist tinkering and observing what's happening.

Harry