Do you know what happens when you plant tomatoes with coffee grounds and eggshells? The answer is a whole lot of greatness for your tomato plants and you harvest!
By simply using coffee grounds and eggshells in the planting hole of your tomato plants, you can help power your young tomatoes to fast, healthy grow – and set the stage for your best crop of tomatoes ever.
Although there are all kinds of fertilizers that can help tomato plants grow better, there is something special when it comes to using both coffee grounds and eggshells to help tender young transplants get off to a fast start.
For tomatoes, that fast start can make a huge difference when it comes to a bigger and better harvest. But the real secret to success when using both effectively is knowing the correct way to apply them so your plants can best take in the nutrients that are so important to your tomatoes.
Why To Plant Coffee Grounds & Eggshells With Tomatoes
The Power Of Eggshells & Coffee Grounds
So how and why do these two ingredients help tomatoes so much? For starters, whether they are small transplants or mature producing plants, tomatoes are heavy feeders. Really, heavy feeders! And if they fail to get the nutrients they need, they simply will never produce to their full potential.
This can certainly be a problem later on for mature plants when it come to producing flowers and fruit – but if young tomato plants fail to get the nutrients they need early on, not only can it affect their growth, it also can make them easy targets for pests and disease.
But the good news is that is exactly where egg shells and coffee grounds can come to the rescue. Each of the two gives young tomato plants something vital for strong, healthy, early growth.
How Eggshells Help Tomato Plants
Egg shells contain an enormous amount of calcium. In fact, an egg shell is made up of 95% calcium carbonate. And when it comes to growing healthy tomato plants that produce healthy tomatoes – having enough calcium in the soil is critical.
Calcium is responsible for helping a tomato plant build strong branches and limbs. It also helps the plant move water all throughout those branches and foliage. But of even more importance – calcium is vital for helping to create strong flowering and healthy fruit.
When a tomato plant lacks calcium, it will produce fruit with what is known as blossom end rot. The flowering end of the fruit simply can’t fully develop. Because of that, the tomato that forms will end up with a black, mushy spot that ruins the fruit. See our article: How To Keep Your Tomatoes From Getting Blossom End Rot – The Simple Cure!
This is exactly where adding egg shells, or precisely, ground egg shells to your soil can prevent this from ever occurring. And, even more, help your plants grow healthier and stronger in the process.
Listen To Our Podcast On Eggshells & Coffee Grounds In The Garden Below!
Why Ground Eggshells?
You might be wondering why it’s important to use ground eggshells and not whole eggshells or small pieces. Unfortunately, larger egg shell pieces take too long to break down. In fact, it can take well over a year for a whole or even large egg shell piece to decompose.
Because of that, if you use large pieces, the plants growing this year really won’t benefit from the shell’s nutrients. But by grinding the egg shells into a fine powder (which can easily done with a coffee grinder), the calcium can absorb into the soil and the plants far faster.
How Coffee Grounds Help Tomatoes
Coffee grounds supply a different nutrient need for tomato plants. Spent coffee grounds contain nitrogen. And early on, nitrogen is very important for the development of tomato transplants. Nitrogen is responsible for helping plants grow strong stems, branches and foliage.
But what really makes the nitrogen in coffee ideal is that it is extremely easy for tomato plants to absorb. As the grounds become wet and decompose in the soil, they quickly leach out the nitrogen. The same goes for the phosphorous and potassium that are in coffee grounds as well – which can quickly get into the plants roots to help with plant and bloom development.
But if all that wasn’t enough reason to use coffee grounds, they are also great for helping to absorb and hold moisture. And for young tomato plants, that can be a huge help! Tomatoes need a lot of water to grow. And since the coffee grounds are “planted” near the roots, they help to hold that moisture right where plants can use it best.
How To Use On Planting Day
So how do you plant both ingredients with your tomato plants? And how much of each should you use? For strong and healthy tomatoes, it’s best to mix in two to three tablespoons of each into every tomato planting hole. Remember with the egg shells to first grind them into a powder to help them work fast
To help your tomato plants as quickly as possible, always mix the two ingredients toward the bottom of the hole. This is where the roots of the plant will be, and it will allow them to absorb much faster.
But don’t just stop with using them in the planting hole. You can also sprinkle both egg shell powder and coffee grounds on top of the soil. The nutrients from each will then soak into the soil slowly every time it rains or you water. For this, sprinkle two tablespoons of each a few inches around the main stem.
Here is to powering your tomatoes this year with eggshells and coffee grounds – and to your best tomato harvest ever!
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This Is My Garden is a garden website created by gardeners, for gardeners. Jim and Mary Competti have been writing gardening, DIY and recipe articles and books and speaking for over 15 years from their 46 acre Ohio farm. They publish three articles every week, 52 weeks a year. Sign up today to follow via email, or follow along!