Coffee grinds

[pogobob]

I've read some interesting articles about the use of coffee grinds with palms and cycads. Both of these plants are acid loving, and coffee supplies a lot of acid. Also I've heard that coffee grinds help plants avoid getting pest like aphids and mealybugs since the grinds give the plants a systemic that helps protect the plants. Also the grinds most likly help ammend the soil better and enrich it. I've been using it with my plants latly and I've already seen a decrease in pest. I'm very interested if any of you members have tried the same, and if so tell me what you think about the uses of coffee grinds.

Braden (pogo jr.)

[MattyB]

Hey Braden,  I've used them on my Hydrangeas to acidify and keep the blooms blue.

[TikiRick]

Braden,

I use coffee grounds on all of my palms. My soil is dredging from the riverbed and is very alkaline. The coffee does help to decrease the pH of the soil. A bonus is the garden sometimes smells like a nice hot cup of Joe!

[paulgila]

how are the grinds applied?do you mix with mulch or just add as a "topper"?

[TikiRick]

Just dump it on and hose it in!

[Kathryn]

I love to recycle so I will start trying this.

[TikiRick]

My old coffee maker used the white paper filters. I even threw the white paper filters into the mulch as well. Another few weeks, or layer of mulch and the filters decompose as well!

[paulgila]

cool! thanks rick!

[_Keith]

We drink coffee every morning, and I never waste the ground.  They always go on the ground somewhere.    

One hears all the time about how earthworms love coffee grounds, so as an experiment for 3 months I threw them into reletively small area where I planned to develop a new bed.   When I started to dig it for the plants last month, I felt like a worm murderer.  Every shovel full of dirt sliced through at least 3 earthworms.  So yes, it does attract earthworms too.

[GREENHAND]

Thats what Juan Valdeze would do, i always dump them on my L chineseis it seems to like it. no decaf though that like taking a bath with your socks on :laugh:

[paulgila]

what?doesn't everybody?

[FRITO]

I have thrown old grinds in the compost for about 2 years now. earthworms love it seems to help, cant hurt anything at least.  I just throw anything on the compost pile and it gets filtered throughtout the garden at some point or another.

reduce, re-use, recycle

[Scott]

Something else to throw in there. I'll try it. I wonder how the Rivularis would like it.....

[Mats]

Last year Tom Broome from Cycad Jungle wrote in another forum:

"I am still testing and have several experiments going on right now, but I think this is significant enough to mention. I've got a Cycas debaoensis plant that had Asian scale all over it. I cut all the leaves off and covered the soil area and covered the stem with used coffee grounds, and watered it in. In the last 5 months, it has produced 3 new leaves that are full size, and the plant is totally cured of Asian scale. I had an Encephalartos laurentianus pushing a new leaf with mealy bugs all over it, so that the leaflets were coming out a little mutated looking. I sprinkled some of the grounds on the leaf where it would hold them between the leaflets. 3 hours later, it rained and washed the grounds off. All the mealy bugs that were touched by the grounds were dead. This might be an easy and somewhat non toxic way to get rid of the Asian scale for homeowners."

[Palm Hound]

If you don't drink coffee, I suppose you could buy some and just toss it in without brewing it. What happens when you apply French Roast? Your palms get the Napoleon complex?

[GREENHAND]

Hmmm i could sneak behind starbucks and look in the dumster for old grounds.  

[George Sparkman]

I use alot of coffee grinds.During warmer weather I fertigate with "old cold coffee".I delute 15-20 lbs of grinds in a 30 gallons of water ,let it sit for a couple of days and then inject it thru the irrigation system.It really does a number on mealy bugs and systemically fights scale and other crap.It also keeps the ph in pots from coming up too much.I also use coffe grinds spread on top of the soil to keep brown snails in check.All my cycas get alot of grinds around the bases to fight the asian scale if or when it shows up.In the field growing areas we just blow grinds with gas-blowers into the indiviual blocks of revoluta,taitungensis,debaoensis & circinalis.I have no real proof that it works but I have no scale problems and it really works for mealy bug problems.And you can get for free at your local Starbucks.They have them in silver bags ,ready to go.If you don't see them just ask.They love to get rid of them.

George Sparkman

Cycads-n-Palms.com

[paulgila]

it helps if you spread alot of grounds out on a plastic sheet

(maybe a foot deep or so) & then roll around in them for 5-10 minutes before you put any on the palms.

that was weird even for me!

[mppalms]

At least up here around the bay, you can drop by some coffee places and they'll give you grounds for free.  Some of the Starbucks and Peets locations did that, plus a few of the local shops.  Just in case you don't drink enough coffee..

Jason

[brodklop]

I throw my coffee grinds in the soil every day. I was hopeing it was good for the soil. Thanks for the input.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Have been using coffee grounds, first on Cycads, getting faster growth and not having damaged leaves now from unknown bugs.  Now on palms, especially newly planted small ones, not having the new leaves eaten, do not know exactly why it works, it just does.

Coffee grounds are available from any place that serves coffee, they are very happy to have someone to take coffee grounds away, makes their life easier.

Another person i know mixes it in his mulch pile 50/50 for years, he says his garden has never been this healthy.

Seems to good to be true, so far so good, smell good too.

regards

colin

[tim_brissy_13]

I've started a compost bin this year, and a lot of coffee grounds goes in, but haven't applied it to the garden yet.

[Hollywood Palms]

Hi All,

I compost my grounds-have been for about 10 years. I also get grounds from Starbucks, CBTL, etc. Starbucks will wrap them up for me. I do a layer of coffee and then a banana leaf or two. The coffee grounds are great!

David

[_Keith]

I've gotten quite lazy and now do shovel composting.  I got out in a bed, or under the dripline of a tree.  Stick my shovel down as far as it will go and pot up a nice large divot.  I then shove my was in the hole, stick the divot back in and push it down with my foot.   Soil organisms do the rest.    No piles, no turning, no mess lingering around, no smells.

[Joe palma]

Guess I am behind the times and have never heard of this! I could have covered my property twice w/ all the coffee I drink.

I'll be starting applications this weekend. Thanks for the thread!!

I always thought that dolomite smelled like coffee grounds, but I think dolomite works the other way and increases pH and isn't known (at least to me) for bug/scale control.

[BS Man about Palms]

I heard about the coffee grounds for cycads to fight off mealy bugs and scale. I don't drink coffee, but I was mentioning I was gonna try it to a neighbor and she said Starbucks gives the bags away, just as George said.  It works a treat!!!  I had some liner Zamia nerophilidia that were almost white with mealybug, sprikled it on and walked away, mother nature did the rest! within a week, the "white" was back to green!!

(Did this the first time about 9 months ago)

[SunnyFl]

I started using coffee grounds after it was recommended here for my sulking crotons.  They perked right up - so I started using them on my hibs and bougies - and they like it too.  I'll bet the palms would benefit as well.

No coffee-maker at my house so I get the grounds at the nearby Circle K.  They have no objection to my emptying their used grounds out of the coffee-makers for use on the plants.

[Jeff zone 8 N.C.]

I'm interested in details of application of the coffee grounds for pest control. It sounds like some of you "sprinkle" the grounds on the plant, trunk and soil. Is this right? Does anyone ever apply them as a thick layer? Would actual coffee, sprayed on the plant, work as well?

[iamjv]

FYI,

Starbucks recycles grounds each and every day and they are free for the taking...  the grounds are usually in a bucket/container by the creamer/sugar bar.   Jv

[pogobob]

thanks for all the responses! I've coffeed up all my plants!

[BobbyinNY]

WOW.... This is GREAT NEWS..... I have such a problem with those DAMN mealybugs - they LOVE my coffee plant - so maybe I should give the coffee plant some of it's own medicine ... Since I drink at least 2 cups every day, I could easily re-use the grinds.... Thanks guys

[Hollywood Palms]

BS-

When did my name change to George!?!?

David-not George....

[_Keith]

(blonddude @ Feb. 23 2008,14:04)

QUOTE

BS-

When did my name change to George!?!?

David-not George....

You could be George, George, George of the Jungle.

Shame you can't put that to music in the post.  

[amazondk]

It is interesting this subject came up.  I have been looking at information on coffee grounds lately. A story came out in the newspaper here about using coffee grounds in standing water to kill mosquito larvae which transmit dengue fever.  Evidently the larvae die due to the coffee.  For some reason I ended up going from the coffee grounds to charcoal.  We only get pure lump charcoal here.  There are no manufactured brickets or anything.  When I BBQ, which is frequent, there is always charcoal left over.  I have started to dump this out around my plants.  There is a lot of man made soil in Amazonia that in many cases is from 2 to 4 thousand years old.  The indians made this soil by mixing charcoal, pottery shards, and organic matter together.  In some areas there are up to 200 hectares of land that has been converted in this manner.  The soil is still very rich.  So, I am going to add coffee to the charcoal and see what happens.  

dk

[Urban Rainforest]

We drink alot of coffee around here so after the rave reviews I decide to give it a try. Yesterday I put some grounds around my Clinostigma Savoryanum which in the past had been Mealy bug and ant central. I could'nt find bugs on it though which I believe is due to the fact that I hacked out the orange tree that was next to it. The orange tree was a magnet for every pest known to man. I think I'm going to put the next round of grounds around my Mad Fox so they don't even think about it   .

Steve

[PalmGuyWC]

There are two Starbucks within a stones throw from my house. I'm going to check today to see if I can retrieve their coffee grounds. Actually, I'm not fond of their coffee as it's to bitter and strong for me.....I much prefer my special French roast which I buy over in San Francisco. With or without coffee grounds I can't stick a spade in the soil without digging up earthworms.

Off subject, but I have 4 small dogs.....and they leave a lot of hard, "processed" food on my carpets....yeah, they need to be trained, but their deposits are hard and dry so they don't mess up the carpets. I go around and pick it up with toilet paper.  I'm wondering, would this be a good slow disolving fertilizer around my palms? Anyone with dog poo experience? And, yes, they are getting better as they go outside most of the time now. They are still young.

Dick

[Urban Rainforest]

I was reading Don's post about coffee grinds killing mosquitoes and I was wondering how this would work on killing mosquitoe larvae in the cups of bromeliads. Most of my bromeliads usually have larvae in them so this would be great if it would work. Does anyboby know if it would have a negative effect on the broms?

thanks,

Steve

[BS Man about Palms]

(blonddude @ Feb. 23 2008,12:04)

QUOTE

BS-

When did my name change to George!?!?

David-not George....

See post #17. When I last attended school, 17 comes before 23 so I referred to the first reference with "the detail".      

I KNOW you're David and have Blond hair.  

[Hollywood Palms]

Oh....

Not enough coffee yet.

As to dog and cat poo: Big no-no. Host to several bad buggies even when dried.

Aged chicken manure is the Mercedes of crap.

David

[Shon]

Just got a bag yesterday. More than happy to give it to me. Can't beat this deal free and it helps your plants. Seems like it is going to make the soil super dark and rich. Very cool thanks for starting this thread.