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Adding Coffee Grounds to Alfalfa Tea? Is this okay?

16 years ago

Starbucks was REALLY generous this morning, and I now have a TON of coffee grounds. I was thinking of adding the leftovers to my currently brewing alfalfa tea and letting the mixture steep until I need to apply the tea again (in a week or two). Do you think that would throw it off? Has anyone added coffee grounds before? Thanks for any and all insight!!

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Comments (11)

banders
16 years ago
I think you'd get more benefit from the coffee grounds by just tossing them in the beds.

Barbara
bean_counter_z4
16 years ago
Unfortunately it won't add anything but color to your tea. If you have an abundance, the grounds are good sprinkled over the grass as well as the flower beds. A good compost pile additive too.
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I think you would be able to use the cooled leftover coffee to water your plants with. The only concern is it will stain the saucer or patio where it drains to. You can use the used coffee grounds or tea leaves to make a new batch of coffee or tea for a foliar feed or soil drench. You can use the grounds or tea leaves scratched into the soil. If you have a lawn, you can broadcast the grounds/tea leaves onto the lawn as a sort of fertilizer. I've never tried vermicomposting, as I have 2 compost piles outside, but I think it would be fun and create nice compost, and allow you to feed any other kitchen scraps as well. Laurie
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I apply alfalfa meal several times a year, use the coffee grounds we get daily from our coffee maker on randomly selected plants, ditto the banana peels. The roses seem happy and I am too because I haven't spent a ton of money or time tending to my 80 roses. I know there are more dedicated gardeners who do much more and they have gorgeous roses, so it's really an individual choice. You can probably overdo it but that may not be as much of a hazard with organic products. I hasten to add that's not my area of expertise. Ingrid
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As for being ready in 3 days... With the bacteria in horse manure to give it a boost, I totally believe it. Starting without it should take longer. As for the fungus (mold) on top, most common 'fuzzy' molds that we see are obligate aerobes (has to have oxygen to live). ('Water' molds that we associate with root rot belong to another group altogether.) Therefore, the more surface area, the more oxygen and opportunity for fungus to grow. I suspect if one stirs more often, it would reduce mold on top. And, fwiw, the type and quantity of bacteria from the horse poo depends on how fresh. Honestly speaking off the top of my head, I might be inclined to use (a smaller amount of) fresh horse poo for this purpose with the idea that the strict and facultative enteric anaerobes would go to town on the alfalfa and other goodies in the tea. Otoh, if you use composted manure, the strict anaerobes will be dead. [Strict anaerobes can't live around oxygen (we have lots of them in our gut) and facultative bacteria are happy with or without oxygen.] A good example of this are sewage plants that use either anaerobic and/or aerobic digestion in different phases of processing. From Wikipedia: "Anaerobic digestion Main article: Anaerobic digestion Anaerobic digestion is a bacterial process that is carried out in the absence of oxygen. The process can either be thermophilic digestion, in which sludge is fermented in tanks at a temperature of 55C, or mesophilic, at a temperature of around 36Â°C. Though allowing shorter retention time (and thus smaller tanks), thermophilic digestion is more expensive in terms of energy consumption for heating the sludge. Anaerobic Digestion is the most common (mesophilic) treatment of domestic sewage in septic tanks, which normally retain the sewage, from one day to two days, reducing the B.O.D. by about 35 to 40%. This reduction can be increased with a combination of anaerobic and aerobic treatment by installing 'Aerobic Treatment Units' (ATUs) in the Septic Tank. One major feature of anaerobic digestion is the production of biogas (with the most useful component being methane), which can be used in generators for electricity production and/or in boilers for heating purposes. Aerobic digestion Aerobic digestion is a bacterial process occurring in the presence of oxygen. Under aerobic conditions, bacteria rapidly consume organic matter and convert it into carbon dioxide. The operating costs used to be characteristically much greater for aerobic digestion because of the energy used by the blowers, pumps and motors needed to add oxygen to the process. However, since the advent of stone fibre filter technology which uses natural air currents for oxygenation, this no longer applies. Aerobic digestion can also be achieved by using diffuser systems or jet aerators to oxidize the sludge." For anyone wondering about methane, I wouldn't in the time period and quantity we're looking at. Plus, you're not using a closed system. Otoh, anaerobic digestion will produce more VSCs (Volatile Sulfur Compounds) and we all know what THEY smell like! ;-)
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Coffee grounds do have some fairly good levels of nutrients but you need a goodly amount to have much affect on a lawn. http://www.lenawee.mi.us/departments/solid-waste-department/backyard-composting/composting-with-coffee-grounds I have not yet found comparable information on tea leaves. Recycling both in the garden or on the lawn is much preferable than tossing them in the trash. What would the cornmeal be used for? I have seen alfalfa pellets and cubes but not powder, at least not in quantities to be economical to be added to a lawn.
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hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
16 years ago
What banders and bean_counter_z4 said. It's not going to add anything. Coffee grounds are a way to add organic material to the soil--either as is, or composted with other materials. It contains no easily accessible nutrients for plants that can be extracted into a tea.
diane_nj 6b/7a
16 years ago
A "coffee tea"? Ow, my brain just exploded and my keyboard hates when that happens... ;-))

Grounds have some N, but I agree, better to spread them directly on the soil. You can just spread the dry alfalfa too and skip the "tea", but hey, that's just me.
roseman
16 years ago
I would not add the coffee grounds to the tea. Why? Well, because the grounds are just a soil amendment and really offer nothing else. I always work them into the soil. They, along with earth worms, make the soils more friable. They are NOT a fertilizer.
phylrae
16 years ago
Taupe39,
I did that very thing about a month ago. I did it because I figured the tea and the grounds were going in the same place anyway, and it was easier. I know coffee is just an amendment, but it was just one less step.
One thing I will do differently next time with the tea is to make it in a HUGE TEABAG I had a friend make for me a few years ago out of a GIANT rectangle of doubled up gauze with a drawstring. (Some steep the alfalfa inside panty hose instead). The reason being, lately the alfalfa slurry, if you will, tends to lie down on top of the soil around the roses, and dry to an impenetrable mat (which I have had to then cultivate in order for water to permeate!)
:0) Phyl
anntn6b
16 years ago
Spread the coffee grounds.
Reason: when they are in the tea, you're going to find that dipping the grounds out of the brew-pot is one of the most disgusting thing you've ever done. It's bad enough when you're dipping liquid from the alfalfa; add the weight of the coffee grounds and that's worse.
patricianat
16 years ago
Coffee grounds en masse, call out to worms to come and partake of a feast they love. The alfalfa tea -- well, I am not even sure a worthy fishbait would want happy hour on it. It is great for the roses, but the coffee grounds are calling out to the worms to come and work the soil and they do it for pay, which is their favorite snack, coffee grounds. It is pure lobster to them.
Zyperiris
16 years ago
Oh good...I have not seen worms in my rose garden. I have added about 3 pounds of coffee grounds in the last month from Starbucks..It's really hot here in Seattle today...about 90..I came home and I swear one of my roses has new growth that looks like it grew 3 inches
pete41
16 years ago
Shade grown-fair trade?There is a noticeable difference in the way the worms,microbes and plants respond to the PC upper end Arabic's and the dollar store types which contain robustas.Also those of us who really pay attention to such things suspect that there may be a very minuscule bias to wards the single bean type from Central America over the African ones but even less of one in favor the Indonesian beans with the Turkish being shunned.In all cases single bean is preferred over blends even if the blends have higher rated components than singles.
banders
16 years ago
Pete's bored again ;-)

Barbara

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