Coffee Grounds...

susieq

Many years ago, while I worked at a business that was situated in a strip plaza, the other employee and I would make coffee for clients. Several times a day, we dumped the old coffee on the junipers just outside our entrance. There were junipers planted all along the walkway around the plaza....poor sad little things with only about 3 feet by 3 feet of dirt to grow in, surrounded by concrete.

We started to notice that our junipers were the only ones thriving. They were nice and green, healthy. The others around the plaza were yellowish and very sad. We joked that it was the coffee. It probably was. The acid from the coffee was just what they needed. So now I am thinking, why not put my coffee grounds on the junipers I have growing for bonsai. Could it hurt?
We go through a lot of coffee here and it seems like it would be a good way to get some acid on the junipers, azaleas, etc.....
I have just been burying the grounds in the veggie garden.

Comments welcome.
PS. We do use a flavored coffee once in a while, too.

Advertisement

Phogboy

Hey Suz,
I've heard that about grounds, but never heard anyone really expirience or experiment with it...did u just dump it over the top soil?

rowan57

I dont know if you get them in the USA, but coffee grounds are pretty good for stopping slugs as well.

Rowan

__________________
In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic....

Words and actions should help to unite, and not divide, the people of our various nationalities

I often talk to myself because i am the only one who truly understands me.

discobassoonist

I personally don't think there's anything particularly poisenous about coffee grounds, except that I know they left undisturbed, they have (when moist) the ability to attract mould. (Fungus and spores)
I remember, I left some in my coffee machine by accident, and when I took it out, it was a scary scene... ugh

But, it might have to do with a particular acidity, or it might even have to do with the fact that the grounds can retain a lot of moisture and act like mulch?

Dunno, just throwing this out there.
Cheers,
Dane

susieq

Phogboy, We did dump the old coffee from the pot directly onto the ground around the base of the junipers....half a dozen times a day, 5 days a week.

Rowan, yes indeed we have slugs here.....not as pretty as yours though. I lived just outside London many years ago as a child and was always facinated by the huge bright orange slugs and the big shiney black ones. Of course, I was 7 years old so they seemed huge. And they don't like coffee grounds, that sounds like a good thing. Thanks.

Dane, mine get white fuzz growing on them in just a few days when they are being collected to go out in the veggie garden.

toyota4wd94

Plain coffee grounds will not hurt acid loving plants.
I am unsure about the flavored coffees though. I guess it would depend whether it is artificailly flavored or naturally.
Starbucks has a campaign out where they will give you their used coffee grounds.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/4795882/
Regards,

Dave

__________________
"You can fight without ever winning,
but never ever win without a fight"
RUSH (resist)

susieq

Thanks Dave, I had actually heard about the Starbucks thing on the news. We don't have any close by, though. I might take a run over to Dunkin Doughnuts and see if they would like someone to pickup their grounds....

I was considering this only for junipers and maybe some of the azaleas.
Regards, susieq

Treebeard

...and there's me thinking you're asking do they have coffee grounds in the USA...

Regards,

Chris.

__________________
"Do not be hasty, that is my motto"
-JRR Tolkien, The Two Towers.
-----------------------------------
christopherguise.co.uk

rowan57

lol @ TreeBeard

__________________
In literary and art criticism there are two criteria, the political and the artistic....

Words and actions should help to unite, and not divide, the people of our various nationalities

I often talk to myself because i am the only one who truly understands me.