I am starting a compost pile, I drink ALOT of coffee (work 3rd shift) at home and we have an ALOT of coffee grounds at work. I can probably have an ice cream bucket full every 2-3 days. My question is can you have too much? I know coffee grounds are great for compost but.... also silly question does flavored coffee matter?
Can you have too much coffee grounds??
Very hard to do, but remotely possible. It wouldn't take too much office paper shreds (from your dayjob?) to counteract them if you don't have enough leaves.
I doubt the flavoring woudl hurt the soil if it didn't hurt you, eh?
Just keep it moist and keep it turned- anything will compost.
K. James
dark circles under the buds and shaking leaves might also be a sign to cut them back on the caffeine. ;-)
lol mermaid. We get about 5 gallons of coffee 4-5 x per week from our local coffee house and I add shredded paper or newpaper to it along with kitchen scraps. I think its great stuff to have in your compost. I also rinse out the bucket and pour the "coffee" onto my plants. So far this stuff looks fantastic! I'm sure we are getting flavors in there too, but seems to not make a difference. I think my dog is addicted to espresso now though.
I just use coffee grounds from normal home usage, but it has a wonderful effect on the plants lucky enough to get it. i don't even bother composting it. Is paper alkaline? Is that why one composts coffee grounds with paper?
I still don't know enough about ph, though I am working on it.
I was told by a self-deemed "king of coffee grounds" that they are indeed, relatively neutral pH, that the acidic chemicals are brewed out. I've not done a test to know scientifically. Anyhow, things change pH after the compost pile has eaten them.
Paper is quite high in carbon and accessible throughout the year, a good coutnerbalance to the nitrogen-rich coffe grounds.
I just like the smell of teas and coffee when I am working with soil topdressed with them... And hop bells.
And hop bells soaked in yeasty water for a period to reduce the starch to a delightful mix of a liquid that makes men go to battle. LOL
If I've just added a big batch of kitchen scraps (which always includes at least a week's worth of coffee grounds) to my compost pile, I'll usually just add the next few days worth of grounds directly around the base of an azalea that I have in a very large pot... Can't grow rhodedendrons (spelling? ah!) down here, but I bet they'd love extra grounds too!
I compost my small amount of household coffee grounds in place. I just have 1 filter full of coffee grounds every morning and for years I've rotated putting it - filter and all - right onto a bed. I pick a bed that I dump it in for about 4 months straight and then move on to the next bed. Its good worm food. For the summer I've been building a lasagna bed in a lousy location and the kitchen scraps, leftovers from canning, spare paper and coffee grounds get dumped in place. In the next couple weeks I'll mix in peat moss and shredded newspaper and then cover the whole thing up with mulch - and by spring there will be awesome soil there.
Over the winter there is 1 bed close to the house that gets it and in the spring I pick up the still to be composted filters and throw them under the shrubs w a little mulch - they're gone shortly as soon as the weather warms up. I usually use unbleached filters but the bleached ones go just as fast.
After reading this and other threads, I decided to go on a coffee grounds hunt. Not everybody is willing to take a bucket and fill it up for you, but some will. Some people look at you like you are crazy, wanting their coffee grounds. Anyway, I walked into a Starbuck's and they gave me two bags right there. I guess that was about 5 pounds worth. Starbuck's inside a store, like Target or any other store, are not so willing, but in one Target they told me to call a day ahead and they would save me the day's grounds.
I don't know if I will get too many? I do have a lot of other stuff for the compost, though, so maybe it will get "diluted".
The only ones who suffer from too much coffee are the worms and they work day and night much harder just to decompose and haul your compost to where it is needed. LOL Never too much coffee grounds. Remember to treat them as Nitrogen and you will be fine.
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