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Coffee Grounds

jimscott

Tropical Fish Enthusiast
A co-worker of mine who has been watching me mother hen my CP's for the past six months wanted me to try an experiment. He wanted me to use coffee grounds as my soil media. I said - no thanks - but I would post the idea of utilizing coffee grounds. So, what do you all think?
 
This is a stupid question but will you be using the coffee grounds as the soil after you make coffee.lol
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That's a tough question, Jim. On the one hand, coffee grounds are somewhat acidic. On the other, I have seen mold grow on wet coffee grounds. If I was to use it, I would try it on a plant that I had extras of or could propagate easily, like D. capensis.

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BCK
 
I put old coffee grounds into our vermicomposting bin. The finished compost is just great for non-CPs, and I harvest some of the worms on occasion to feed the frog and newt in the CP terrarium - or chop one up for the hungry plants.

Personally, I don't think any CPs would grow too well in straight coffee grounds. If you try an experiment, let us know how it goes so we can say, "Oh yeah, jimscott tried that back in 2004 and....."

WildBill
 
I don't have an overwhelming desire to try the experiment, as my growlist is kinda small. I just couldn't bear to sacrifice any of my scorpiodes or spatulata - even though they would be my most likely candidates. What I could do, since I work at a lab, is test grounds for metals. particularly salts. That would pretty much give us the answer we need.

That's NOT astupid question!! It's a valid one. There would be a difference between straight up coffee grounds and water-leached grounds. I know because I can pretty much make a mug of coffee from the leftover grounds from my wife's Gevalia coffee. She's an espresso person. I'm a latte person. It takes me longer to doctor the coffee up than to drink it.
 
Here's a good answer - try in on a non-cp first! Perhaps a houseplant. Or, make a potful of the coffee soil w/out a plant - see if it starts to mold.
 
I just prepped two coffee grounds samples. One that has and one that hasn't been brewed. Thay will be analyzed for salts (calcium, magnesium, manganese, and potassium at the end of the week. They can also be analyzed for other metals. Should be interesting!
 
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Where did your co-worker come up with such a weird idea? Coffee grounds? huh. I guess you do learn something new everyday.
 
He collects the spent coffee grounds every day and uses it for his compost pile. So he thought.... maybe...
 
  • #10
Actually weve had the discussion here before. As far as I know nobody has actually tried it but Id deffinately not use JUST coffee grounds they mold too easily and is just asking for root rot
 
  • #11
I tried this experiment last spring using old coffee grounds mixed with some silica sand. I planted a vft in the mix a put it next to several others and waited. After three months the plants in the normal mix had grown well but the one in the coffee grounds was very stunted even though it looked fairly healthy. I never had any mold or fungus develop, but the odor it developed became unpleasant so I plucked it and planted it back into regular medium. The same vft is in dormancy now and is doing very well. Granted the number of variables and the somewhat unscientific nature of the experiment, I would say it's not a good idea.

I have seen wild Sarracenia alata growing in pure sugar-white sand and S. leukophylla growing from the sides of cyprus trees at water level, but I never saw any wild plants growing in coffee grounds.
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  • #12
Very good point, alandallas.  
I dump out leftover coffee for my rhododendron.  It is huge & seems to love it (acid loving plant).  
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 I DRY the used coffee grounds out (so they won't mold) then save them to be put into the compost pile in the spring.  They are a source of nitrogen.  You don't want that in cp's, right?  They are great for a vegetable garden, though.  And, speaking of this, I want to learn more on vermiculture, wildbill.  How did you get started?  Do you have one of those commercial units for the worms?  
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  • #13
Hi LavendarDawn -

For my first bin, I just used a rubbermaid bin that I had drilled lots of tiny holes in along the sides and top. The bedding was a few inches of peat moss. It always stayed a little on the wet side. So when it was time for another one, I used a bigger bin and propped up some heavy wire mesh in the bottom for drainage and on top of that some fine mesh. The bedding was around 6 inches of shredded newspapers.

For the worms, you need to get "red wigglers." I had ordered a pound of them off the internet. If your bin is really small, you can buy red wigglers at a bait and tackle supply.

We add all our kitchen vegetable scraps, banana peels, apple cores, etc. to it. Also old coffee grounds, CP scraps like old Nep pitchers, trimmed off flytraps, etc. We don't add any meat or greasy food scraps. Bready things are OK. It helps to add a small handful of dirt or soil on top of the scraps.

The finished compost is amazing stuff. They first time we used it it was like an "instant garden" and created a carpet of seedlings of different plants. At the time, we didn't know that a lot of vermicomposters first spread the compost out on a tarp or something and after everything sprouts then turn it over. The tomato seedlings that grew from the compost were our best plants last year!

There is a book out there with more info called, "Worms Eat My Garbage" - I think it was written by a teacher.

I hope this info helps.

WildBill
 
  • #14
"The best part of waking up... "
 
  • #15
... Is CPs in your cup. (Sorry, I couldn't resist
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).
 
  • #16
Ha!  
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  Funny guys!
WildBill, thanks for all that!  You make it sound easy!  
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 And I will look for that book.  
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  • #17
The coffee grounds do work for "other" plants. It acts kinda like coco peat but you have to add a dampoff agent or it will grow all kinds of things in a humid warm environment. It works better as an acidic tea for ocasional water though. Kinda like humus tea.

Joe
 
  • #18
I've got results!
ppm / mg/kg Before Brewing After Brewing
Potassium 19,100 898
Calcium 1,240 942
Magnesium 2,150 508
Sodium 726 540

What the numbers mean to CP's is another question. Does anyone have statistical info about the tolerance limits for these elements with regard to CP's?
 
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