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What are coffee grounds good for in the garden


Are Coffee Grounds Good for your Garden?

Using Coffee Grounds in the Garden

Using coffee grounds for gardening is a hot tip floating around with enthusiasts. So are coffee grounds good for gardens? Like most things in life, the answer here cannot be a simple yes or no. For the sake of closure, let’s say that is true, but with caveats. 

Here are some tips to use and some pointers to consider when thinking of coffee for your garden.

Use Them As Compost

Using all those spent coffee grounds as compost is a very sensible choice. Just add them to the heap and let the compost bin do its job. Incidentally, composting is taking off in the coffee industry as well. Many pods are now designed with the view of being compost-friendly.

If you choose to drop coffee grounds in the compost bin, remember they qualify as green compost material. You may want to balance it with brown compost material (like dry or dead leaves).

 

The Acidic Leanings Of Coffee

Those considering adding coffee directly to the garden will likely worry about the acidic content of coffee. That’s a reasonable approach. Fresh coffee grounds do tend to be acidic, even if on the mild side. Spent coffee grounds, on the other hand, veer towards the neutral. The expected pH value of used coffee grounds is 6.5 to 6.8. For reference, a pH of 7 is considered neutral.

So calm your worries on that count, and let the coffee do its job. However, do try to match coffee with plants that love more acidic soil. Which brings us to the next point.

Using Coffee As Fertiliser

Adding coffee grounds directly to the soil as a fertiliser can be a good option. Coffee grounds are rich in nutrients, especially nitrogen. They also have some amount of other nutrients like potassium and phosphorous. Overall, this means that adding coffee grounds to your garden can work fairly well as a fertiliser.

Coffee should be spread in a thin layer, rather than being clumped in one place. Spreading it as a thin layer not only spreads out the nutrients, it also reduces the chances of caffeine affecting one particular spot of the garden.

Fresh grounds have more caffeine, but the content of used grounds is debatable. The regular inference would be to assume that used grounds have lower caffeine. However, that is not always true. There’s a good chance that at least a portion of the grounds has high caffeine content.

Fresh Ground Coffee As A Fertiliser

Unused ground coffee as a fertiliser is an expensive option, especially when compared to conventional options. Used coffee grounds are a waste product put to use in gardening. Fresh grounds have their regular use and I’d suggest avoiding them unless you think it necessary.

When using fresh grounds, don’t forget about the caffeine and pH levels. Spread it as a very thin layer. Give preference to acid-loving plants like hydrangeas and blueberries. Root vegetables like carrots and radishes respond well to the acidity.

When adding caffeine, keep note of the expected effects. For example, avoid adding any caffeine to plants that are germinating. Freshly seeded areas should be avoided as well. Fresh grounds, and caffeine in general, have allelopathic properties. This can stunt plant growth and do more harm than good.

Some people suggest using decaf grounds, both for new and used grounds. The idea is that the lack of caffeine in the grounds can avoid associated problems.

Removing Weeds And Pests

Here’s one positive of adding fresh grounds and caffeine to the garden. Strategically placed, the caffeine provided by fresh grounds can be used to deter the growth of weeds. This process hinges on the allelopathic properties of caffeine.

Another useful aspect is that caffeine pushes back several pests. Chief amongst these are slugs and snails. It is worth noting that while these critters avoid coffee, it is not exactly a foolproof method. Slugs don’t exactly like coffee, but they won’t run away from it either.

Interestingly, coffee grounds also discourage pets from entering the area. Cats, for example, avoid exposure to caffeine. This will keep the garden free of the cat and stop it from becoming a litterbox! Some extra care is needed if your pet is a dog and has a penchant for eating or licking random things. In such a case, avoid caffeine for the dog and consign it to the compost heap.

Vermicompost

Apparently, earthworms love coffee! Adding some coffee grounds to the worm bin can attract more worms. You could also occasionally add used coffee paper filters to the bin. It’s a rather simple method to get some good results.

Coffee Grounds As Mulch

Mulching is very beneficial to plants and every serious gardener considers the option. But then getting ahold of mulch isn’t easy! Getting coffee grounds to play that role seems like a no-brainer. The results, however, do not agree. Many gardeners have found that using coffee grounds as mulch can be very destructive to the plants.

A different approach is required with coffee grounds. A thick layer of mulch with coffee grounds will lead to caffeine-rich soil and stunted plants. Instead, consider mixing coffee grounds with other organic material. Another possibility is to add a thin layer of coffee grounds on the soil, and then rake it to mix it all up. This way, the coffee grounds are spread and cannot lump together. This way, the plants get undisturbed water supply and the caffeine content is not overwhelming.

Other Ways to Use Coffee Grounds in the Garden

When used correctly, coffee grounds can be a great addition to your garden. Many gardeners find it is a safe, natural, and effective way to boost their gardens without using harsh chemicals or pesticides.

Using Coffee Grounds As Fertilizer

Home › Composting › Compost Ingredients

Compost Ingredients

By: Heather Rhoades

Image by ThamKC

Whether you make your cup of coffee daily or you have noticed your local coffee house has started to put out bags of used coffee, you may be wondering about composting with coffee grounds. Are coffee grounds as fertilizer a good idea? How do coffee grounds used for gardens help or hurt? Keep reading to learn more about coffee grounds and gardening.

Composting Coffee Grounds

Composting with coffee is a great way to make use of something that would otherwise end up taking up space in a landfill. Composting coffee grounds helps to add nitrogen to your compost pile.

Composting coffee grounds is as easy as throwing the used coffee grounds onto your compost pile. Used coffee filters can be composted as well.

If you will be adding used coffee grounds to your compost pile, keep in mind that they are considered green compost material and will need to be balanced with the addition of some brown compost material.

Coffee Grounds as Fertilizer

Used coffee grounds for gardening does not end with compost. Many people choose to place coffee grounds straight onto the soil and use it as a fertilizer. The thing to keep in mind is while coffee grounds add nitrogen to your compost, they will not immediately add nitrogen to your soil.

The benefit of using coffee grounds as a fertilizer is that it adds organic material to the soil, which improves drainage, water retention, and aeration in the soil. The used coffee grounds will also help microorganisms beneficial to plant growth thrive as well as attract earthworms.

Many people feel that coffee grounds lower the pH (or raise the acid level) of soil, which is good for acid loving plants. This is only true for unwashed coffee grounds though. Fresh coffee grounds are acidic. Used coffee grounds are neutral. If you rinse your used coffee grounds, they will have a near neutral pH of 6.5 and will not affect the acid levels of the soil.

To use coffee grounds as fertilizer, work the coffee grounds into the soil around your plants. Leftover diluted coffee works well like this too.

Other Uses for Used Coffee Grounds in Gardens

Coffee grounds can also be used in your garden for other things.

Using Fresh Coffee Grounds

We get lots of questions about using fresh coffee grounds in the garden. While it’s not always recommended, it shouldn’t be a problem in some situations.

Coffee grounds and gardening go together naturally. Whether you are composting with coffee grounds or using used coffee grounds around the yard, you will find that coffee can give your garden as much of a pick me up as it does for you.

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the pros and cons of using coffee in the garden and in the garden - an article on the TCHK

The advice not to throw away the coffee pulp, but to take it under the tomato bush can be found in many collections of non-traditional uses of coffee. Compost, fertilizer, insecticide and soil acidifier - a variety of useful properties are attributed to this product. In fact, everything is not as simple as it seems at first glance. Below, we will look at a few of the main arguments for using coffee in the garden and see which ones should be treated with caution.

Is coffee a useful fertilizer?

There is a common belief that coffee grounds can act as an ideal natural way to feed the beds: they contain about 3% of useful micronutrients, including magnesium, potassium, calcium and phosphorus, as well as nitrogen. However, "natural" does not mean "safe" and "useful".

According to a 2016 study by Australian scientists, recommendations for using used coffee grounds either directly in the soil or as compost should be considered... anecdotal. Empirically, the Australians have found that this kind of "fertilizer" not only does not improve growth rates, but even reduces them.

Why? Looks like it's all about the caffeine. There is a lot of it even in the sleeping coffee grounds. Now raise your hand if you remember that caffeine is toxic to other non-caffeine plants. In addition, coffee grounds have antibacterial properties, which negatively affects the natural processes characteristic of composting.

However, one cannot fail to mention exceptions. According to the experience of experienced flower growers, azaleas, roses, hydrangeas and camellias respond well to such top dressing, increasing the number of buds. I like the coffee diet and evergreen shrubs, as well as ferns.

Coffee acidifies alkaline soil

One of the most common gardening tips about coffee grounds is to use them to acidify the soil. It seems to make sense: everyone knows that coffee is sour. The question is how sour the thick will be.

It turns out not very good.

Although the caffeine is still present in this product, the acid present in the grain is water soluble. Therefore, our drink becomes sour, and not the used grounds, which have a pH close to neutral (from 6. 5 to 6.8 pH).

The conclusion is obvious. Coffee as an acidifier is pure myth. The used grounds practically do not have the acidic properties of the drink.

Coffee keeps pests away

Really, it does. After all, caffeine is toxic not only to plants, but also to insects. Scientists have already proven that coffee grounds are very effective against bugs and midges. There is a version that it also helps to drive away slugs and snails, but this hypothesis requires additional research.

Coffee is an effective soil conditioner

On the one hand, yes, the coffee grounds add some looseness. However, at the same time, its toxic properties continue to work, which means that the active use of such an additive will destroy the gardener's main friends - worms. Many Internet sources write that worms like coffee, but in reality, such a feast will have an extremely negative impact on their health. Well, then it’s easy to calculate: no worms - no natural “baking powder”.

Coffee against weeds

As we remember, caffeine inhibits plant growth. This property is very useful when it is necessary to destroy weeds. In order to achieve the desired effect, it is necessary to cover the soil with coffee grounds where harmful plants are completely unbound, but at the same time away from useful plantings.

Coffee is likely to really deal with weeds. But where is the line between the "garbage" in the garden and your favorite cucumbers?

As you can see, using coffee in the garden is not easy: there are not only pluses, but also minuses that must be taken into account when conducting experiments.

If you want to find a useful use for coffee grounds, make a scrub out of it. Or use for house cleaning. How exactly - we wrote in this article.

for which plants are suitable, how to use cake and ground coffee in the garden and garden

Content:

    1. For which plants are
    2. Methods of use
      • Watering
      • Mulching
      • Supplement
      • compost
      • for seedlings
      • Pest control
    3. Where not to use
    4. Helpful tips

thick as a fertilizer for indoor plants, flowers and gardens.

The answer to the question of whether coffee grounds can be used as fertilizer is obvious: of course you can! But let's take a closer look at what benefits this brings to plants.

  1. By adding coffee grounds to the soil, especially clay and loam soil, its structure becomes looser, drainage capacity and air exchange improve. In addition, coffee attracts earthworms, which also contribute to loosening the soil.
  2. The smell of coffee can repel harmful insects. He doesn't like cats either. If you sprinkle your garden beds with coffee grounds, you don't have to worry that uninvited visits from your pet will damage tender plantings.
  3. It is believed that fresh coffee has an increased level of acidity, and top dressing with such characteristics is not suitable for every plant. However, to avoid acidification of the soil, it is enough to shed thick water and then apply in the garden or vegetable garden.
  4. Coffee grounds as a fertilizer are rich in minerals and trace elements. Potassium and phosphorus contribute to good flowering and abundant fruiting. Nitrogen activates the rapid growth of plants. Copper helps to resist a number of diseases. And although the total amount of useful substances in coffee cake is about 2–3%, which means that it can hardly be considered a full-fledged fertilizer, the use of grounds as an organic plant food is fully justified.

What kind of plants is coffee fertilizer suitable for

And yet, dormant coffee is a nutrient that is not suitable for every plant. Therefore, before you widely use it in your garden, you need to study for which plants it is most effective to use coffee grounds as a fertilizer. It is most useful for flowers that prefer a low pH level - azaleas, hydrangeas, heathers and rhododendrons. Due to the large amount of potassium in the composition, coffee grounds can be used as a fertilizer when growing vegetable crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Feeding fruit trees with sleeping coffee will also help to significantly increase their fruiting. Magnesium, which is part of coffee, is useful for berry bushes. Magnesium and potassium will help to get a high yield of root crops, while nitrogen is indispensable for green crops.

Roses, palms, ficuses and ferns, as well as violets and asparagus, respond best to coffee fertilization. When using coffee grounds as a fertilizer for houseplants, it is recommended to shed and dry it first. If you simply pour the rest of the coffee from the cup into the pot, most likely there will be no benefit, but on the contrary, the soil may become covered with a crust and begin to mold. To prevent this, you need to mix the prepared thick with soil suitable for this type of plant.

Coffee with sugar or milk should not be used for horticultural, horticultural and flower crops, since sugar attracts ants, and milk provokes the development of putrefactive processes in the soil, which can damage the root system of plants.

Methods of use

Watering

Used coffee must be diluted with a sufficient amount of liquid before it can be used as a fertilizer for watering plants. To prepare a solution for 10 liters of water, 1 cup of grounds is required. Cake is poured with a small amount of water and left to swell for about a day. After swelling, the amount of liquid is adjusted to the calculated amount and used for watering plants.

After feeding the plants with coffee grounds, it is advisable to water the soil again, but with clean water. This technique will allow the minerals to be slowly released, nourishing the plants. When planting bushes, you should spill the ground with coffee solution at the rate of 1 liter under the bush.

Mulching

Coffee grounds can also be used for mulching crops to protect soil from drying out, repel pests and improve soil structure. However, it must be remembered that when using the grounds as mulch, as in the case of using coffee cake as a fertilizer in the garden in the country, it should be thoroughly dried to prevent the development of mold.

Soil supplement

Dormant ground coffee as a fertilizer can be added to the planting hole or hole before planting to improve soil structure. This technique makes the land more drained and loose, which ultimately has a positive effect on plant health and yield. When used on light soils, the thick acts as a binder. In this case, top dressing is applied to the upper soil layer at the rate of 200 ml per 1 m².

Compost

To speed up the maturation of the compost, it is enough to spill each layer no more than 10 cm thick with coffee infusion. Coffee grounds perform the function of nitrogen components that trigger an exothermic reaction inside the compost heap, in other words, heating it up, due to which the compost matures much faster. This method is so effective that some summer residents specifically purchase inexpensive varieties of ground coffee and sprinkle layers of compost on them.

For seedlings

Recently, the method of growing vegetable seedlings on a coffee substrate has become popular. But in order to prevent depletion of the soil, it is necessary from time to time to feed the seedlings with complex fertilizers.

Protection against pests

Coffee pomace as a fertilizer in the garden is also very effective for protecting plants from sexually mature individuals of harmful insects - ants, snails, aphids, slugs. According to the experience of some gardeners, coffee can also destroy pest larvae, in particular mosquitoes and garden bugs. This remedy is not as effective as insecticides, but also much safer.

Where not to use coffee grounds

Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, so if used in excess, you can burn the root system, which will lead to the death of the plant.

Poorly dried coffee waste can cause mold and fungal diseases and kill plants. In addition, coffee fertilizer is not suitable for tradescantia, asparagus, geraniums and other crops that prefer more alkaline soil. Top dressing from pomace can change the shade of rose flowers.

Helpful hints

Dried coffee grounds are very light, so when used dry, even the slightest breeze can blow them off the garden.

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