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Florida Gardening

Speaking of coffee grounds...

13 years ago

A thread from my neck of the woods (Fort Myers) mentioned using coffee grounds for compost. I have been using the bags of grounds from Starbucks and they are a great nitrogen source apparently - everything greens up quickly when they are directly scattered around. My question is: Since I use a LOT of grounds, are there other specific things I should also be adding to make for a more complete set of nutrients?

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Comments (4)

junglegal
13 years ago
Make sure you mix them in your soil quite well if you are using that much. It can be too much of a good thing. They can serve as a watershed and impede the water from soaking into your soil. The earthworms they attract will benefit the soil more so than the grounds themselves. Anything organic especially oak leaves will help too.
Another plus is that they are great to ward off scale and mealy bugs (if they are fresh)
johnjsr
13 years ago
Good question. Here is an article that answers it.
john

Here is a link that might be useful: Coffee grounds
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"I hate top possibly sound stupid, but what would you use them on your lawn for. I have never heard of that." They provide organic matter and are also a mild fertilizer (about 1% - 2% N). Starbucks gives them away for free, so if there's a Starbucks convenient to you and you have a small lawn, you can take care of fertilizing the lawn for free. Since they're fairly low in N, they're not that practical for a large lawn.
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I already add coffee grounds to my plants, compost and worm farm, but the tip is for using actual coffee. Brew a pot, let it cool so you don't scald your plants and then put it in a sprayer and spray the ground and plants. The coffee comes in contact with the slugs and snails and they die from the caffeine. As the presenter mentions, this can be an expensive control, especially if you drink higher quality coffees. But there are a few 'really cheap' coffee options in places like Dollar General and if it is just the caffeine that does the killing, then those should suffice? I would be concerned that the caffeine would also kill worms, but seeing as the grounds are favored for worm farms, I don't think that will be an issue. If anything, it should make the entire yard smell awesome for a short while.
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I love the aroma and taste of good coffee. I grew up with coffee drinkers. Bunny I know what you’re saying once in a while you get that unusual tuna note or sometimes the skunk note. I really love cilantro and when I first tried it did taste like soap and bugs. I had it with Mexican food and so it was mixed with lime. I use cilantro in a lot of Southeast Asian foods where it is often mixed with lime, Nampa or fish sauce, and sugar. Heavenly in a dish. There is a Thai seafood salad the dressing for which is Fish/lime juice and palm sugar. He has other things too. Sometimes Tea, roses and raspberries have similar notes. We’re not gonna talk about toe jam and cheese.
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oukay
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you so much John. That is a great article! I guess the grounds really are a good thing!
johnjsr
13 years ago
You're welcome. I just use what we make at home, (no Starbucks here) but I mix in the crushed egg shells and chopped up banana peels. Potato peels would be good too, (for the K) if my wife would ever peel one. ;>)
john

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