[Taff the Welder]

Great offer at Sainsbury’s last night. 2Kg of Mussels for £2.00. A great supper but ….. Can I use the shells for anything; on the Lottie or compost heap?

[angelavdavis]

Crush them up and scatter them around your brassicas to stop the slugs. 

[simonwatson]

Or as an additive to compost, just like egg shells.

[arugula]

I eat mussels as often as possible and I'd never thought of using the shells in this way. Good tip.

[Springlands]

You can do the same with prawn shells. 

[maxibo]

Oooh thanks for the heads up on the mussels offer!  I will see if its still on for tomorrows dinner!  I've been using crushed up egg shells around my veg, brassica's in particular and along with beer traps and just two or three pellets around the base of the plant have only lost 1 out of 24 calabrese/cabbages to slugs!  They seem to HATE them.  I whizz the shells in my food processor to crush them.  I guess you could do that with mussel shells if you didn't do too many at a time..... Either that or put them in a bag and bash hell out of them with a lump hammer!  Depends what sort of week you've had I suppose!  :blink:

[Taff the Welder]

Cheers guys, sore feet for slugs it is then.  The food processor is now opaque so tried crushing them with a hammer.  This needs several plastic bags as the sharp edges slice through easily. Found an old hessian sack & 15lb sledge does the trick.

[angelavdavis]

I must admit, had I seen the post before I would have suggested using a hammer or an old coffee grinder to grind up the shells - rather than a food processor.  I suspect the shells might destroy a food processor fairly quickly as they are a lot harder than egg shells.