Coffee Grounds in Compost

[Brendan ClarkeParticipant]

Hi, I’ve just started a cubic metre compost bin, covered and will be adding some more.
I followed Charles advice re coffeee grounds and have a local shop giving me their weekly grounds.
However since then (two weeks ago) I have read articles, which say that coffee grounds have an anti bacterial element and will kill off microbes, that worms are killed by the caffeine, and the caffeine even after being composted cal kill off plants in surrounding areas. I have put three buckets in so far, but will halt for now. Be grateful for thoughts and advice.
Brendan

[RaySParticipant]

When I lived nearer to town I would take all the used grounds from one of the cafes. I never experienced any problem at all. The compost pile, which was a cool one, was always full of worms. If I left a bag of grounds on the ground for a few weeks I invariably found that worms had invaded it if was moist enough. If I had too many grounds for the compost pile I would simply sprinkle them directly on the garden, around plants. Never a lack of worms.
I can’t comment on their effect on microbial life but I am under the impression that a good worm population goes hand in hand with a good microbial population.

[DiParticipant]

Listen to the man above. He’s on the money! It does take some sifting though to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to varied opinions in articles.

[charlesModerator]

Thanks Ray and Di for your comments here, and I hope this thread encourages everyone not to believe all the free “advice” you see.
Coffee grounds in particular attract a lot of nonsense. They work fine in my heaps.
Good luck with your composting Brendan.

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