What To Do With Pistachio Shells

Many people just love having pistachio nuts and after they are done eating all that is left of the pistachios are the cracked shells. The edible part of the pistachio is placed in the beige of pistachios and is actually very similar to a seed. Pistachio has a wonderful taste and is good for the body.

Pistachio Shell Nutrients

If they are being eaten as a snack when you are having a snack full of energy. Pistachio is high in fiber, protein and has healthy fat, besides all these many vitamins and minerals are also present in pistachios.

Pistachio trees are categorically desert plants which in fruition hosts groups of drupes, reddish and tiny in size. A proper desert summer is required which will be severe in temperature and dryness, this will lead to the perfect ripening of the drupes.

After the drupe matures, both the outer shell and inner shell cracks open. If you are an avid eater of pistachios the question might have popped up in your mind too-what to do with pistachio shells.

Use pistachio shells as mulch

Not only pistachio shells but the shells of all other nuts can be used as mulch. Nutshells of all types can be used as excellent organic mulch for your garden or the soil in front of the house. There is a brief process that should be followed to prepare the right type of mulch which will be more effective. The first task would be to get rid of the habit of throwing all the shells away.

You need to save the shells properly and later on add some other discarded entities with the pistachio shells.

Discarded scraps like small bark fragments, leaves, splinters of wood, and some other organic materials from your garden. After adding all the materials you will be needed to mix them up.

You should not try your bare hands as it will leave scars on your hand and might get a sharp cut too. Use a pan-like object for the gentle smashing or a hammer-like object will also do the task.

If you mostly buy salted pistachios then it is important to first wash them following by drying them in the open. As you will add them to the soil, removing the sodium content from the pistachio shells is very crucial. If you add mulch with high sodium present then it will harm the plants in your garden.

The shells of pistachio are rigid in structure and take a long time to break down into the soil. But when they start to get absorbed into the soil, the shells release fat, protein, carbon, and even enriching carbohydrates.

Your plant bodyguard

If you have a lovely plants collection then there is no need to ask questions like –what to do with pistachio shells, the answer is right there with your plants who would appreciate a pistachio bodyguard.

How do you use pistachio shells in the garden?

The pistachio shells work as a wonderful repellent against several imposter pests. You have to spread the pistachios in an arc-like shape around your plant’s base.

These pistachio shells also can stop small animals like raccoons and squirrels from disturbing the soil around the plants.

If you are willing to protect your plants against snails and slugs then the unsalted fresh pistachio shells won’t be of much use, only the salted pistachio shells would help repel snails and slugs.

You can rinse them a little but not too much beforehand as the pistachio shells would become normalized.

If you can collect a lot of pistachio shells over the days then you can use the shells heap to spread all around your garden making a no-entry border for repelling plant-eating insects and other rummaging animals.

But this doesn’t mean that your indoor plants don’t need any pistachio borders, you can use it on the house plants too to keep the house pests at bay.

Using shell for filling

Plant lovers would know how much difficult it is to find the desirable planter for your small plants. Often all you will get in the market are large planters with the requirement of excess soil.

Such a large planter is unnecessary when you are putting up small plants which would mostly remain inside the house and wouldn’t grow rapidly. But finding the right size is very difficult and is not decorated even when you find it.

This problem can be solved by something like pistachio shells. For efficient use of good soil and keeping your plants with more comfort use pistachio shells as a filler can be an excellent recycling opportunity.

The trick is to fill the planter’s bottom with a layer of pistachio shells in the right amount. If you are a plant lover you would already have the eye for the correct amount of shells to put. It is also informative to know exactly how much the specific plant would grow in maximum.

Then by leaving root space the soil can be placed with sufficient area for the plant on the surface. The plants like lettuce need only around twelve inches of actual soil and other common plants like tomatoes need much more soil.

So it is advised by experts to just search out the amount of soil for your lovely plant before starting the soil work.

Pistachio in art

Several artists from all over the world have proven that pistachio shells can be used for making great art as well. Due to the unique shape of pistachio shells resembling a miniature bowl, they have been used to create gorgeous art.

The perk is that even you can easily make your masterpiece with the help of DIY blogs and videos. The intellectual artists have shown this new dimension of using pistachio shells so naturally into art that many would be able to easily do it.

Often different types of flowers are made in art from pistachio shells and then added gorgeous colors to make the craft stand out.

When you dive into the world of pistachio shell craft, you will be amazed by the varieties in which they have been used. The shells have been painted in metal color and used in wall clocks, mirrors have been decorated by it, used in making wall art, in making showpieces, and even in paintings.

You can amaze yourself by checking out the blog of Pinterest on pistachio crafts.

Making an easy fire on winter nights

Whenever a campfire has been lit or a wood stove is in action the problem arises to keep the fire alive for a long duration. The hard shell-like wood of pistachio shells works as a catalyst or a kindler when added to a fire. But it should be remembered that along with carbohydrates and proteins, the shells also have fat content in them.

When fat-containing products directly come in contact with burning fire they tend to pop and spur. Therefore it is advised to use pistachio shells for closed fire pits and stand back two steps after adding the pistachio shells.

Experts have suggested a great trick that is to wrap shells in an old newspaper and then add it into the fire. This act would abandon the chances of the shell spin mostly.

If you are thinking if other nut shells can be used for the purpose or not, then the answer would be yes. But they contain fat as well, so using the newspaper technique would be useful. You can add pistachio shells while starting the fire or even at the time when the fire is slowly dying.

Plant drainage and composting

You might have already got the answer to the question of what to do with pistachio shells, but there is more. Every plant enthusiast would know about draining pebbles and might be using them to drain excess water from their plants.

Nowadays many modern pots don’t have the appropriate hole in them to drain the water either. Pistachio shells can come to the rescue of your water-blocked plants. You just need to line up in the rear with the shells. This needs to be done before adding the soil and the plant. Many would prefer the rocks and pebbles but using the shells has a very different advantage.

The pistachio shells which will be present below the soil will have the environment to slowly degrade and release out the minerals and nutrients into the soil.

Whenever the need arises to move the plant into a separate pot the shells can go with them and you don’t need to pluck them out. The excess water in plants is not good for them so they drain it out into the pistachio shells you added and remain healthy and shiny.

Due to being rich in various nutrients, pistachio shells are an excellent candidate to add for compost. Composting is the natural system of recycling nutrients into nature. Nurturing a compost pile is like a social responsibility of helping out nature in its process.

But pistachio shells in their rigid form take a long duration to start breaking down so you need to first crush them into smaller fragments before tossing them down as composting material. It is also feasible to keep the pistachio shells in water for an entire night and then adding the shells along with the other compost materials.

Conclusion

Pistachio shells have numerous uses being just scrap that often people throw away. You might have already got enlightened at least to some extent from the above processes to not just dump the pistachio shells next time. Among all other nut shells, pistachios have the most varying uses. The uses are so versatile that everyone might benefit from it one way or the other.