Jordyn’s Page

Hello, my name is Jordyn.

I’m an assistant intern at the garden, and I help out with just about everything. I like making bouquets of flowers from the garden as well as taking funny pictures.

My Project

Question/Problem: How can I make calcium more available to my plants through the use of eggshells?

Answer: Water soluble calcium

Why?: When put in dirt it can take almost 10 years for regular crushed up eggshells to absorb into the plant! So by making the calcium water soluble, and changing it to calcium acetate it makes it more available to the plant.

Procedure: I collected leftover eggshells until I had over 200 grams of it. I roasted the eggshells at 325 for about 30 minutes until they started to brown slightly. I then weighed apple cider vinegar (Any vinegar works brown rice/white may be better though) and the shells out to a 10:1 ratio. For my biggest jar that was about 800 G vinegar 80 G Eggshell, and then I left them to sit in a cool dark place for 2 weeks burping when I feared it may explode.

Science Involved: The science behind this is fairly simple. You are mixing Calcium Carbonate (The eggshells) with acetic acid (The apple cider vinegar). This basically forms carbon dioxide and the calcium acetate, The Simplified formula looks like this:

CaCO3 + 2CH3COOH ———> Ca(CH3COO)2 + H20 + CO2

CaCO3= Eggshell

2CH3COOH= Vinegar

Ca(CH3COO)2= Calcium Acetate Final Product —>

H2O= Water

CO2= Carbon Dioxide

My Menagerie of Photos

The Grave of Fallen Solider, the formally alive bird Jodi found ripped apart in her garden. Naturally with both fallen and solider being spelt wrong. May 30

Fallen Soldiers Grave, now adored with wild daisies? Found outside the garden. May 30

A now hairless Sid, poor boy. June 15