Ground Coffee....

[whiskeyriot]

i saw in starbucks they're giving away used ground coffee for use on your garden??

i was wondering if anyone knows if you can use this on mary jane?

 

[Relik]

Coffee grounds are rich in N. You can use them to topdress your plants, or compost them, and I've heard some people feed them to their worms. But they are acidic and will lower your pH if you apply them too much (thinking about topdressing here). I rarely use them but you could always try them on a couple test plants.

I'm sure there are people here who use them regularly and will have better advice than mine.

Peace

 

[jaykush]

compost! i dont get it from starbucks but a few coffee heads always give it up free to me. and like relik said the wormbim will benefit greatly from coffee grounds
some info for ya, already in the organic fanatic thread but ill post it here.

Applying coffee grounds
directly to your garden:
Coffee grounds can be applied directly as
a top dressing to n-itrogen loving plants like
azaleas, lettuces, most perennials, and
allium plants. Adding brown material such
as leaves and dried grass to the mulch will
help balance the nutrition of your soil.
Mixing coffee grounds in
your compost:
Coffee grounds act as a green material with
a carbon-nitrogen (C-N) ratio of 20-1.
Combined with browns such as leaves and
straw, coffee grounds generate heat and will
speed up the compost process.
Using coffee grounds
in your worm bin:
Worms fed with coffee grounds
and other vegetarian materials
will flourish.

Most of the acidity in coffee is removed
during the brewing process. Used grounds
have an average pH of 6.9. Use your
grounds within 3 weeks to capture the
most nutritional value.

What’s in Coffee Grounds?
Starbucks commissioned a study in 1995
to better understand the make up of the
organic matter we call coffee grounds. The
following is the result of the analysis
performed by the University of Washington,
College of Forest Resources:
Primary Nutrients
Nitrogen
1.45%
Phosphorus
ND ug/g
Potassium
1204 ug/g
Secondary Nutrients
Calcium
389 ug/g
Magnesium
448 ug/g
Sulfur
high ug/g
Terms: ND = indicates sample is below
detection limit
ug/g= microgram / gram

 

[JackTheGrower]

Ahh I'm seeing these nice Coffee posts for the first time. Great thread.

I have used Coffee for several years both as a top dressing and the re-composting of my soil.

I like to brew Coffee and mix it with fish emulsion as well as kelp and things .

No problems..

Really happy not to be the only one.

 

[med_breeder]

just picked up like 100lbs a few hours ago!

please if you organic growers don't know, get to starbucks!
they give away free used coffee grinds, usually in neat little packages.

please take advantage.

fyi
peace

 

[Pimpslapped]

You know, I should really go by Starbucks and pick up some used grounds. I'd feel kinda bad though, since I detest coffee and I don't think they serve much of anything there I'd enjoy, not at the prices likely to be charged.

Walk in, ask for used grounds and walk out without buying anything... hmmm.. is that bad form?

 

[Dignan]

No way. It's just as if you were offering to come by and take away their glass or aluminum recyclables. It's a symbiotic thang... both you and Starbucks benefit.

 

[theFLINTSTONERS]

sounds sweet . . . and kudos to Starbucks for being willing to give away compostable coffee grounds . . . rather than adding them to the waste stream . . .

 

[Dignan]

sounds sweet . . . and kudos to Starbucks for being willing to give away compostable coffee grounds . . . rather than adding them to the waste stream . . .

Let's not be too generous with our praise... the Starbucks I go to gives me my grounds in those plastic grocery store bags... you know, the ones you see blowing all over the globe, across highways, stuck in trees, floating on waterways? LOL

The irony, of course, is that the grounds would vanish much quicker in a landfill than the plastic bags will!

I have to BEG them to not double-bag the grounds, too.

"Please, give them to me in a paper bag."

"But they're WET, sir. I'll put them in a plastic bag for you."

 

[InjectTruth]

Let's not be too generous with our praise... the Starbucks I go to gives me my grounds in those plastic grocery store bags... you know, the ones you see blowing all over the globe, across highways, stuck in trees, floating on waterways? LOL

The irony, of course, is that the grounds would vanish much quicker in a landfill than the plastic bags will!

I have to BEG them to not double-bag the grounds, too.

"Please, give them to me in a paper bag."

"But they're WET, sir. I'll put them in a plastic bag for you."

Is that meant to be bashing you on the head? for putting wet grounds in a paper bag, where they will fall through the bottom in 2 minutes?

If you use the bag again, then it wont end up in a landfill

Yay for anyone-but-me enviromentalism!!!

 

[Dignan]

Hey InjectTruth. So nice to see ya.

Is that meant to be bashing you on the head? for putting wet grounds in a paper bag, where they will fall through the bottom in 2 minutes?

Obviously not a barista... the grounds they give out (at our Starbuck's atleast) are from the espresso machine. Espresso is pressed, thus the moisture content is very low. I've had them put it in a paper bag before without a problem. Talking them into the paper is the trick.

If you use the bag again, then it wont end up in a landfill!!!

You're right. I should use a reusable bag for the grounds. Thanks for the tip.

Yay for anyone-but-me enviromentalism!!!

Please elaborate. ^^^ I try to mend any holes that exist in my efforts to live sustainably... so if you are pointing out some hole, I'm all ears.

Peace-

Dig

 

[billyba79]

If you wanted to top dress the soil w/ coffee grounds, how much would you use? Oh yeah...and you do this before or after you brew a cup?

 

[fortragni]

After it's brewed - most acidity is leached from the coffee. don't top dress too thickly cause when it drys out the water can bead and run right off the surface of the compressed coffee grounds layer. peace

 

[space cowgirl]

I wonder whether it matters if the grounds are organic or no? Hmm.

 

[reaperz]

non organic coffee grounds?