Sea Urchin shells for lime.

[abyss]

G'day punters,

I am wondering if any Members have tried sea urchin shell in the garden as a lime substitute ?

Apparently the shell and spines are made of calcium carbonate. (Is this Lime ?)

 

[brown40]

Never substituted with echinoderms, but have put crustaceans (crab & lobster parts) in the compost. They take a little while to decompose if they aren't crushed up good, but they are excellent for Ca, MG, and a bunch of trace elements. You will attract critters to your pile, which may create more problems than its worth to some. I don't know you'd get a predictable or immediate result, and don't think any pH buffering would be going on, but eventually they'd be available for uptake.

 

[abyss]

Thanks brown40,
I chucked a ute load on my garden that have been laying in the bush for a couple of years.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
Urchins are harvested in Australia for the roe which is at best around 10% of the whole critter, and I am trying to utilise the remaining 90% of shell, spines and gut.
I know that they are harvested in the USA also but can't find any info on using the byproduct.

 

[brown40]

Yeah, we harvest the smaller green versions of them here as well, but they get shipped to the southern part of the state for processing. The shells are a lot less robust than crabs or lobster--I bet they'll crush up nicely. The crustaceans take some smashing, but urchins will collapse under your foot... I think exposed to the air they'll take a lot longer than if you get them into the matrix, in the wet & dark.
I've been mulling over collecting shell and salmon scoots from some processors, and bringing home part-spent herring from fishing, and trying the animal route, I just don't have enough wood chipped for browns, and don't want to get coyotes in the habit of making my home a destination. Coast of Maine makes some really nice compost out of the stuff, I'm just not sure how they/if they deal with the stink.

 

[abyss]

The stuff I'm using does not stink it actually has an earthy smell.
The centre of the shell has broken down into small pieces but the spines are mostly intact but not sharp.