North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Stephen Sadler" <Docshiva@Docshiva.org>]

What they need to biodegrade is low pH, moisture, aeration, and an
organically-rich matrix.  In such conditions, the soil is rich in bacteria,
and the bacterial population will gradually become more efficient at using
the eggshell.  The increase in that efficiency is generational, and
predictable.

You can biodegrade just about anything that way - as the other food
materials are used up, the bacteria gradually change their diet to materials
that are available.  Even 'non-biodegradable' materials can become fodder.  

Introducing a hard-to-degrade material into that sort of matrix is a way
that bacteriologists manipulate genetic change in bacterial populations, to
create environmentally useful flora.

In a dry, alkaline environment, eggshells won't biodegrade for a long, long,
time.

Stephen Sadler, Ph.D.
USDA 9, AHS heat zone 8, 
Sacramento CA - Mediterranean climate


-----Original Message-----
From: nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:nafex-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Jim Notkey
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 12:03 PM
To: North American Fruit Explorers
Subject: RE: [NAFEX] What is inadequacy in typical compost?

Jim,
Here in the piedmont of North Carolina, whether it is the warmer weather or
the red clay or the acid rain, our eggshells disappear in just a couple
months, whether I toss them in the compost or anywhere else in the yard.
Jim