Coffee grounds question

18 years ago

Hello from sunny So Cal.

I plan to put some Kangroo Paws into my garden soon and need some advice. I fell in love with them two years ago but killed my one plant with kindness by giving it a fertilizer with...(gasp)..Phosphorus. So, a few questions...

1. If these are so low-phos fussy, do I REALLY need to have my soil tested first? How fussy are they really?

2. My husband is quite fond of collecting coffee grounds from local Starbucks. Will this be bad for Native Ausie plants?

Thanks in advance - wish I were in country to ask in person.

Cheers,

plantRN

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Comments (11)

roysta
18 years ago
Not the sort of thing I'd put on my natives, but hey, one way to find out whether it'll be third time lucky.
trish_g
18 years ago
I wonder about coffee grounds, too, each time I empty the pot onto my plants - a Waterwise Initiative!!!
Does anyone know?
Trish
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trancegemini_wa
18 years ago
you dont say which ones youre going to plant, but being in socal your climate should be really suited to the wa species of kangaroo paw but they do need excellent drainage. the biggest danger would be in using artificial fertilisers which contain phosphorus so if youve used artificial fertilisers in the area youre planting in the past then it may be best to get a soil test done. me, personally I wouldnt be using any large amount of coffee grounds on them, but if youre a composter then a bit of compost is all they will need for their fertiliser requirements. They are fussy in that you will kill them with kindness, if the drainage is poor or you overwater then they can quickly die of fungal disease.

TG
plantRN
Original Author
18 years ago
Thanks to all - I plan to test and go from there. I KNOW these can be grown here - they are all over my kid's school and lovely. I hope to mix the red ones with the yellow if I can.

Cheers,

plantRN
nathanhurst
18 years ago
It'll certainly stop the snails munching your paws!
nathanhurst
18 years ago
It'll certainly stop the snails munching your paws!
User
18 years ago
I have read that coffee grounds are slightly acidic, so many natives wouldn't mind this. I doubt they would do much for 'feeding' the plant. It is really just a water saving routine. I think the best thing is to not always put them in the same spot and certainly don't use them on plants that enjoy alkaline conditions. If your husband is only getting the grounds without the water, then I really believe there is not much point except that it saves them going to landfill.
Cheers,
Dee.
Frank_S
18 years ago
Hello Dee,

I read in a book somewhere that the coffee grounds do have value in compost, more than say just grass, which is also needed anyway (or an equivalent material). The coffee comes from beans which are seeds after all, so would have protein value. The book said coffee grounds and tea leaves are fine - I had always worried about both. I still wonder though whether phosphorus in the coffee beans is an issue. Does anyone know?

Frank
User
18 years ago
Mmmm, good point Frank. You know, my Grandmother used to put all her tea-leaves on her garden of potted plants. She never used any fertilisers at all. She had the best looking plants around. So who knows!
Cheers,
Dee.
Onion
18 years ago
Hi there,
Turns out coffee grounds have the NPK ratio of 2.0/0.36/0.67. Blood meal, by the way, has no phosphorous - 15.0/0/0.

Best wishes,
~Onion
bahia
17 years ago
Coffee grounds have worked well for me where I have used them on Proteas and Anigozanthus. I'd suggest that you stick with cultivars of A. flavidus, which are so much more tolerant of both less than ideal drainage, and regular summer irrigation here in California. You will need to groom them to remove leaves with Black Inkspot diseases, which will especially attack plants that do not have full sun and good air circulation. I haven't found A. flavidus cultivars to be particularly intolerant of light fertilizing with general purpose fertilizer that includes phosphorus, but then we are cooler, wetter and have better water quality here in San Francisco Bay Area than southern California, with high salt Colorado River water as the general supply.