Spent coffee grounds.

Community Community No dig gardening Preparing the ground Spent coffee grounds.

This topic contains 12 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by  compostpope 10 years, 5 months ago.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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  • #21513

    Stringfellow
    Participant

    Hi all,

    I have recently grabbed a few bags of this free stuff from the local Starbucks in the town where I live, then scattered it onto the surface of a couple of my raised beds. It seems that there is an inexhaustable supply from this coffee house – it’s always very busy!

    I wondered, can I overdo it with this material – a good nitrogen booster, but could this be a bad thing in large quantities? I grab a couple of bags each time I’m in town, so over the long term this could easily add up to a lot of material on my soil!

    Anyone else have any experience using this stuff or thoughts on this?

    Thanks in advance, and Merry Christmas!

    Tris

    #23663

    GMLetts
    Participant

    I’ll be curious to see what others say as well. Instead of adding my grounds to the compost pile I’ve been sprinkling them directly around the bases of my roses the last few months and in December I am still getting blooms.

    #23664

    ashleigh
    Participant

    a recent thread i saw on another forum seems to think that it’s hard to overuse coffee grounds –
    http://www.permies.com/t/10260/woodland/Coffee-grounds-mulch

    #23661

    Stringfellow
    Participant

    Thanks for the link Ashleigh – it does shed some light on the subject. Acidity is not a problem and it does offer worms some nice food.

    Following reading ‘Organic Matters’ of Charles’s latest book – spent coffee grounds class as an uncomposted organic matter and should therefore not be incorporated ‘as soil nutrients will be used in their decomposition, rather than for growing plants’.

    So, I as a novice wonders, is it okay to spread them on the surface (probably during winter?) or is it best to simply add it to compost heaps and let all the magic happen in there?

    Tris

    P.S. Got a beautiful copper trowel for Christmas – family wondered if it was an ornament as opposed to a tool!

    #23662

    charles
    Moderator

     Yes it is fine to use uncomposted organic matter on the surface, as long as it is not too dense and fibrous as with straw (because of slugs and keeping soil cool, damp), so coffee grounds are good, being granular and dark, soil warming underneath, and on the surface they are not in contact with enough soil to cause ‘nitrogen robbery’.

    And I agree the tools are wonderfully attractive, a friend just hung his copper spade on the kitchen wall!

    #23660

    Stringfellow
    Participant

    Many thanks Charles, that is helpful – I had not thought about the dark colour of ground coffee helping to warm the soil – seems so obvious!

    Upon receiving your most recent book as a Christmas gift, I have very much enjoyed reading it. I look forward to the next and certainly a day course in the next few years – when I can fit it in around everything else going on in my life!

    Tris

    #23665

    jawilliams
    Participant

    I have heard that coffee grounds deter slugs. How does this work? Is it the surface roughness or does it dry up the ‘slime’?

    #23666

    davidk
    Participant

    Yep my worms love them, & have for 15years, not sure I’m supposed to drink coffee; well one fix a day is hopefully OK!

    & then the powerful concoction is spread everywhere every few months!! (with the garden worms to do their bit!

    #23667

    I get a 10l bucket of coffee grounds from the local cafe and if I don’t have time just dump them on my raised beds or at the base of trees. A short time later, scraping the coffee off a little, there are lots of compost worms. Must be good.

    #23668

    janehead
    Participant

    Yes I have had success deterring slugs with coffee grains but you do need to put plenty down around the plant/s concerned. Also coffee grains in my wormery are wonderful as the worms seem to love them. Hope this helps

    #23669

    ladbrokes
    Member

    I’m lucky enough to get all the spent ground coffee from our local Costa. I’m spreading it all over my raised beds in places its 2″ thick. Underneath it is absolutely teaming with worms

    #23670

    grannyjanny
    Participant

    I have access to a reasonable amount of coffee grounds. Would it be better to add them to the com poster mix them in or put them on top of the manure that will be spread soon?

    #23671

    compostpope
    Participant

    In short, the answer to your question is “it depends”…!!

    In terms of composting ingredients coffee grounds are classed as a “green” – full of Nitrogen. If you feel you already have enough “greens” in your compost mix (grass clippings, veg peelings, weeds etc,) then from reading the above replies it seems to me that it would make sense to spread coffee grounds on top of your soil. I have no experience of this.

    On the other hand, if you have an excess of “browns” such as shredded leaves and twigs, straw etc then I think it would make sense to add it to these in the compost bin to get a nice balance (3 parts brown to 1 part green is a common estimate of this).

    I don’t have access to horse or cow manure so I am making as much garden compost as I can by making it as quickly as possible using the “hot” technique. At the moment I already have a good balance of green and brown material for my compost bin but I continue to pick up quite large amounts of coffee grounds from our cafe at work. I add them to the compost as I give it it’s first turn – usually about a week after first making the heap. My theory is that the compost is thereby getting a big input of nitrogen for a second “stew” without further addition of complex plant material which would take longer to be broken down. If I did not have enough coffee grounds I use grass clippings instead as these also break down very fast.

    I’m aiming to continue making compost into the winter for as long as possible (I am trying to think of ways to insulate my compost bins!) and whilst I will continue to have free access to shredded and partially-composted garden waste (brown) from the council I will find it difficult to get enough greens – so I will probably try mixing the browns with just coffee grounds (plus water and rock dust) as a first mix. I don’t yet know how well this will work out but it will be a fun project over the winter when there’s not much else to do in the garden – at least turning compost keeps you warm!!

    Does that help?

    Compostpope

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