Re: coffee grounds as acidifiers
We, in So Cal (with an expresso bar in our Nordstrom's women's lingerie
department, too, buddy - I wouldn't dare go anywhere else for MY coffee!), have
such alkaline soil that it would take a LOT of coffee to hinder plant growth.
And, as soil is as much a product of climate as it is of the parent material
rock underneath, I would conjecture that most of the Mediterranean climates of
the world have more alkaline to neutral soil as well. Of course that also means
that most Medit plants would rather be in alkaline soil...
I put a lot of coffee grounds in my compost bin as well. I also dust it
occasionally with lime to control flies, which, in theory, ought to balance me
out. I don't test the resulting product, but I've not killed anything yet - I
tend to not use compost on Medit plants as much as I do with my roses, food
plants and other ornamentals.
It takes a lot of material to substantially effect one's soil. I would think
that you'd have a helluva time moving your pH even one factor with coffee
grounds even if that's what you set out to do.
I'll have double shot, Joe, I've got some azaelas to plant... :-)
David King
double shotting his way to garden glory in Zone 24...
Bob Beer wrote:
> Here in Starbuckistan...er...Seattle, where you find espresso stands in such
> places as the central hall of university buildings, the women's lingerie
> department of Nordstrom's, and an espresso boat plying the Hiram Chittenden
> Locks, coffee grounds are in abundant supply. One friend who has a garden
> business regularly collects the grounds from a couple of espresso stands
> near his house and composts them. I think the only thing to consider is
> that they are fairly acidic. Our soils tend to be very acidic here anyway,
> but you might not want to be putting it on things that have major objections
> to acid soils.
>
> bob
>
> >From: "Richard F. Dufresne" <salvia@nr.infi.net>
> >Reply-To: salvia@nr.infi.net
> >To: MEDIT-PLANTS@ucdavis.edu
> >Subject: Re: coffee grounds as compost
> >Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2000 21:54:40 -0500 (EST)
> >
> >At 04:04 PM 2/24/2000 PST, you wrote:
> > >Hi, all,
> > >I work at SFO airport, and one day I idly asked the coffee lady what she
> >did
> > >with all the coffee grounds. Nothing. So she started saving them for me
> >to
> > >put in my compost. Is this maybe too much of a good thing? We've always
> > >put my tea bags and my husband's coffee grounds into our compost every
> >day,
> > >but that is a very small quantity.
> > >Also is anyone from the Bay Area planning on going to the orchid show at
> > >Fort Mason this weekend? Sincerely, Anne Conlon
> >
> >Anne:
> >
> >The best compost I ever made included coffee grounds, red maple leaves, and
> >dried horse manure in about a 1:8:2-3 ratio, intimately ground through a
> >Sears hammermill shredder. In 3 weeks, it had turned to nearly white leaf
> >mold, and in another 3 - 4 weeks, became nearly solid, pure worm castings.
> >I quickly learned that it made for tremendously robust plants and bagged as
> >much as I could for my soil mixes.
> >
> >My parents operated a family-style restaurant on US 202 in Granby, and
> >would
> >put the hot, wet coffee grounds in a separate bucket to keep the rest of
> >the
> >trash from becoming heavy, wet, and sloppy. I gathered and stockpiled it
> >for mixing with the leaves from our 15 red maple trees in autumn.
> >
> >That was in the late 70s in Massachusetts. How I wish I could have several
> >cubic yards of that now for my potting soil!! Alas, no handy restaurants,
> >no maple leaves, and no time. It would not surprise me if some restaurants
> >do the same as my parents.
> >
> >By themselves, coffee grounds have a lot of nitrogen, and will attract and
> >breed a LOT of earthworms.
> >
> >Richard F. Dufresne
> >313 Spur Road
> >Greensboro, North Carolina 27406 USA
> >336-674-3105
> >
>
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