Coffee grounds around your palms?

[virtualpalm]

You ever drank So. Louisiana coffee? We call the stuff in other parts of the country coffee flavored water. Here, if your teaspoon stands up, its strong enough.

Keith, I drank PLENTY of coffee -- including Community with chicory -- when I lived in New Orleans in the early 1990s... and I must say that some of the Cuban coffee here in Miami would definitely be a contender for some of the strongest that I have had.

Jody

[Kathryn]

Maybe it OD'd on caffeine. You ever drank So. Louisiana coffee? We call the stuff in other parts of the country coffee flavored water. Here, if your teaspoon stands up, its strong enough.

I know what you mean. I bring my own coffee when staying at hotels - the coffee in the restaurants it usually way too weak and forget about using that prepackaged filter in the room!

[GTClover]

Absolutely. I collect used coffee grounds from work, dry them and sprinkle them around my palms, whether in pots or ground. I sometimes mix it into my potting mix. I also dry used teabags and sprinkle the tea leaves into my mix. Where I live in SW FL the soil is very alkaline which most palms hate. The acids in the coffee grounds neutralize alkalinity and enrich my lousy soil. Tea and coffee grounds have substances that promote plant growth and health, as well as repelling pests. Just skip the cream and sugar.

Hi Meg, et.al., I started saving coffee grounds as soon as this thread started and have about 10#s now and I'm wondering what kind of ratio of grounds to potting mix to use for my potted palms. Does 1 part in 10 sound about right or is that too high/low?

Thanks,

Susan

[Kathryn]

I've never mixed coffee grounds with my potting soil. I would be interested in what ratio others use.

I had some gnats or something in some of my palms a few years back. Due to feedback on this forum, I put coffee grounds on all of my indoor palms and haven't had any bugs in years. I've only used my own grounds, but I'll check with my local coffee shops to see what's available.

[PalmatierMeg]

Absolutely. I collect used coffee grounds from work, dry them and sprinkle them around my palms, whether in pots or ground. I sometimes mix it into my potting mix. I also dry used teabags and sprinkle the tea leaves into my mix. Where I live in SW FL the soil is very alkaline which most palms hate. The acids in the coffee grounds neutralize alkalinity and enrich my lousy soil. Tea and coffee grounds have substances that promote plant growth and health, as well as repelling pests. Just skip the cream and sugar.

Hi Meg, et.al., I started saving coffee grounds as soon as this thread started and have about 10#s now and I'm wondering what kind of ratio of grounds to potting mix to use for my potted palms. Does 1 part in 10 sound about right or is that too high/low?

Thanks,

Susan

Susan, I'm not very scientific about my coffee grounds. Periodically, when I collect a bunch I run around and sprinkle them into pots and around planted palms. I put a lot of them in the shade garden to help acidify my awful alkaline FL soil. The grounds, along with liberal application of mulch, have encouraged an explosion in the earthworm population. Last night I poured a couple ounces of leftover coffee into my 1g pressure sprayer and applied to seedlings in the shadehouse, where an Areca concinna was being preyed upon by mealybugs. I know a lot of people use coffee grounds but does anyone add brewed coffee to watering cans to help combat pests?

I collect most of my grounds from work, about 5 lbs per month. At home, I just dump used grounds or the contents of used teabags into my tub of potting mix and don't worry about drying out the grounds first.

[Howard007]

Very glad I stumbled upon this older thread! I had never heard of coffee grounds being beneficial for palms, but I'm definitely going to give it a try.

[SanDimas]

Been doing this for years....

It's organic material that eventually gets broken down/eaten by worms.

The grinds slightly makes the soil acidic also.

I do the same with tea leaves but those are used for outdoor plants.

Egg shells I also throw around the yard and crush them down as they become dry and brittle.

Shreded newspaper also makes good compost material.

http://www.wikihow.com/Compost

[KennyRE317]

Been doing this for years....

It's organic material that eventually gets broken down/eaten by worms.

The grinds slightly makes the soil acidic also.

I do the same with tea leaves but those are used for outdoor plants.

Egg shells I also throw around the yard and crush them down as they become dry and brittle.

Shreded newspaper also makes good compost material.

http://www.wikihow.com/Compost

I have a paper shredder outside in the garage to cut up newspaper which soak in water and mix into the soil

[edbrown_III]

I have used them but havent seen it arrest the vry agressive ausalypsis scale on very susceptable plants (in my experiments ie Cycas taitugensis) It didnt work on a large clump of Oldhammii bamboo . Certainly works as a soil amendment and acidifier for the soil.. Certainly it works on some of them but its affect is low grade . I use it where I can on some cycads that are not super suseptable to the scaleand I suspect it is providing a moderate but its not a panacea for everything. Theres a big variation in how suspectable cycads (and other plants I suspect) are to the scale. My humble opinion on the subject. Best regards Ed