Coffee grounds

How do you use coffie grounds in planting?
What does it add to soil and good for what type plants.?
Can you use irt in potting soil?
Does it change the PH?

I've spread coffee grounds at the base of my hostas and roses with great results. Some will say their acidic and will effect soil Ph, but from what I've read their 7.8 which is close to neutral. I've added them to compost too and they've really helped the bin heat up. I don't know about directly in soil though. I'm convinced their a benefit to the ground. BTW, Starbucks gives them away by the bag full.

I routinely put coffee grounds into the compost bins. If there is a slightly acidic edge to them, that's great because the native soil here is slightly alkaline. I often save up the spent tea leaves and work them into the soil around the pawpaw trees. Otherwise, into the compost bin. Good stuff.

I too add all of my coffee grounds to the compost pile as well as the coffee filters.

Paul

I water my plants with well water which is about 9. or higher. So coffie grounds would be great for the soil.

Another way I use the filters/used grounds - when potting up plants in gallon pots I put a couple of them in the bottom of the pot for drainage. The filters keep the potting soil from washing out when the plants are watered.

Now THAT's a good idea, Yuska!

Coffe grounds are good conditioners of the soil and also add a low level of nitrogen in them tho not enough to burn roots of tender plants. Worms love the spent coffee grounds and are often fed them in worm bins.

good information, thanks leaflady.

I mix my coffee grounds with crushed egg shells, and oyster shells and use them around my hostas, as snail and slug repellant.
The critters don't like the caffine, nor the rough edges of the shells.

RB, I'm glad to get that information for next growing season. Thanks for sharing with us.

I use coffee grounds for layers in lasagna beds, a nitrogen boost around perennials, and as a nitrogen source for my compost pile in the winter.

Your welcome leaflady :-) Hope it works for you as well as it does for me.

I toss the coffee grounds on the soil as is, whatever sticks to the filter goes on the compost pile.
I found that watered-down leftover coffee is wonderful for house plants. Often I will brew an other carafe with the same filter to get weaker coffee and I use that after it cools down. It works wonderful. The leaves are shiny, and right now the Christmas Cactus is setting buds again

I have tried using coffee grounds/water on my indoor plants, but I have gotten white mold on the top of the sil where the coffee grounds were... how do you prevent this from happening?
Thanks,
Mara

mosc0022
I use the coffee grounds on the soil outdoors, but water the houseplants with the coffee. I believe the white mold you are getting is part of the decomposition process of the grounds. The same thing happens in the compost pile. Try not putting any more grounds on your plants and scrape what is on there, off. The breakdown process of grounds in flowerpots might deplete the available Nitrogen, and your plants will look anemic. Hope this helps,
Jungeoma.

I just started hitting up local restaurants for their used coffee grounds, and I think I can get about the same quantity of tea (one of the best things about moving to the South this year is the constant supply of sweet tea).

I'm adding the coffee grounds directly to the soil as well as in my worm bin & soon to be compost piles...what about the tea leaves? just compost, or good for soil too?

thanks,
Christina Cat

This message was edited Feb 25, 2005 9:34 AM

I have a friend who is a homesteading subsistence farmer. She used to manage a large organic market farm here. She tells me she spreads coffee grounds around her pea plants and they yield remarkable quantities. Anyone ever heard of this? I've been hording my coffee grounds all winter instead of just putting them in with the rest of my kitchen waste into the various compost piles.

Same here. Dont want to waste any thing good. LOL

Peas, huh? Gonna try that tomorrow...

I certainly will try it on the peas - Lord knows I drink enough coffee I have peas coming on.

Does anybody know what Teccino is? I am not supposed to drink coffee anymore, so occasionally I drink this stuff called Teccino. It's made with roasted carob, barley, chicory root, figs, almonds, dates, and natural hazelnut flavor. You make it the same way you make coffee.

Hmm...sounds very similar to "Postem", a coffee substitute made from barley or the like that has been around for years. I don't think it had all the carob and other ingredients you listed in it though.

I'll have to check into Teccino...might be something I'd like to try! Thanks!

And by the way,...I don't remember saying to you, "Welcome TO DG!"

Horseshoe, thanks for the welcome. I tried Postem once and didn't like it at all. Teccino is much better. You'll probably have to look in a really good health food store.

Hey Gang..
Dig a hole in the shade and put your coffee grounds and filters in it. Worms will come to the free food and turn grounds into very rich castings, PLUS, you get free worms for your worm bin.. I believe in the 3 Rs..

Reduce - Reuse - Recycle

Good Luck with your coffee grounds and filters.

I live by the three Rs! Very good advice, thank you! Now to find some shade, hmmm....

You can even pour the grounds (and filters) on the surface, then cover with grass mulch. As Bizy notes, the worms will do the rest of the work. It works as kind of a side dressing during the growing season.

It's even a good media for mushrooms. http://www.groworganic.com/item_SPR214_EspressoOysterMushroomKitCertifi.html

Great tips, everyone!! I'm enjoying this thread.

Alternatively, a person could eliminate the filters altogether by using a reusable one. I'm not a coffee connoisseur though, so don't know how good they are. At the very least, there are some excellent unbleached filters available, which would probably integrate more healthily (?) into the grass than the bleached kind.

Our soil here tends to be alkaline, so the acidity of coffee grounds is not a problem. Just out of curiosity, does anyone here have soil that's too acid to be adding coffee grounds?

When grounds are added in the mix that becomes a hot composting pile/bin/tumbler the acidity doesn't seem to matter. It mix goes pretty neutral by the time the compost is complete/cooled. Other experience?

WOW! Some people thought I was a crazy putting my coffee grounds around outdoors plants. Well, I turned an old firepit where former owners of our land had burned anything and everything into a blooming circle of dahlias and wax begonias. : )

Mary, formerly "mbutcher". I was bored with that handle and I live on a house on a hill.

I dump out my extra coffee and grounds on my compost pile, and anything outside my back door. My stephanotis LOVES them.

I use a "gold" coffee filter and never buy filters. Karen

Used coffee grounds are basically neutral so if your soil is acidic or alkaline - used grounds will not affect PH. I would not use them indoors - your potted plants are "closed" systems that do no have all the micro's, bacteria or worms to break down grounds - I drink cappucino so no filters I just empty into an old coffee can and when it gets full it either goes to my worms or the compost heap or the nearest plant (outside)

Starbucks (at least in the Dallas metroplex) gives away its used espresso grounds for the asking. They even package them up in a nice neat 10lb bag. I put these grounds on my lawn and in my new flowerbeds. Free fertilizer -- my favorite!!

Carla

This message was edited Sep 22, 2006 11:04 AM

When I was a kid, I had several older male relatives who liked to fish. We'd thrown coffee grounds out in the yard, and after dark we'd go catch the worms to use as bait.

You had to be fast to catch them, though. Worms are surprisingly nimble at disappearing down their holes.

I don't drink coffee, so no grounds of my own, but I may go see if I can raid the local Starbucks. I'm about to till some beds to put fall bulbs into.