Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat

Growing => Grow Your Own => Topic started by: stompy on May 19, 2011, 09:22

Title: Coffee grounds?
Post by: stompy on May 19, 2011, 09:22
Do you have to compost coffee grounds or can they be put down straight away as a mulch?

Where i work they get through alot of coffee and have been told i can have as much of it as i like, so i was thinking of using it as a mulch along with grass cuttings.
Just wondering if it would affect the planst at all?

I was thinking of using it around my squashes as a slug barrier and around carrots and brassicas to detere the root flies and also generally around the perenial plants and trees as a weed supressing mulch?

Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: arugula on May 19, 2011, 09:25
You can put it straight on the ground. :)
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: stompy on May 19, 2011, 09:27
Bloomin hec,

That was quick argyllie,

My plot will begin smelling like a french caffe as of Saturday  :lol:

Thanks
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: arugula on May 19, 2011, 09:33
Applied straight on the ground I think it is most effective as a slug barrier. :) I don't know how good it is at being a mulch...
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: stompy on May 19, 2011, 09:37
Quote
I don't know how good it is at being a mulch...

Im only thinking of using it as a mulch as i will have so much of it!

I work at a large hospital and the canteen and caffe have 2 machines each, and there is a constant cue for them. (all day)

Result. . . . . lots and lots of coffee grounds.
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: arugula on May 19, 2011, 09:40
I don't suppose it will do any harm, but see what others think too. :)
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: hamstergbert on May 19, 2011, 11:19
I save coffee grounds all winter and use them as a slug barrier layer around all my lettuces/salad leaf stuff.  I have no idea if it actually works or why it should or should not - all I can say is that it seems to have some sort of effect and on that basis I just keep doing it year after year.    Of course, it is possible that spreading the coffee grounds around in my veggie beds may eventually mutate into some sort of voodoo ritual with the original anti-slug intention being lost in the mists of antiquity and the process acquiring some sort of mystical spell-like folk magic status!


What doesn't get used like this in the anti-gastropod campaign simply gets chucked into the compost in the normal way.   At the end of the season, what has been used (sometimes built into quite a thick layer) gets dug in along with everything else.
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: Dreamer@45 on May 19, 2011, 12:20
I use loads of the stuff all around my plot as a soil conditioner with no serious visible adverse effects though when it gets bone dry as a mulch it laterally repels water, just something to watch for. :)
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: stompy on May 19, 2011, 12:23
Quote
when it gets bone dry as a mulch it laterally repels water, just something to watch for.

Thanks for that Dreamer, im going to be mixing it with the grass cuttings from the back garden too.
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: arugula on May 19, 2011, 13:05
I save coffee grounds all winter and use them as a slug barrier layer around all my lettuces/salad leaf stuff.  I have no idea if it actually works or why it should or should not....

I think it is meant to work due to their slight acidic and abrasive qualities. :)
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: Sweetpea C on May 13, 2013, 12:21
This is great information and the search engine worked too (I usually fail on it!).
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: ally on May 13, 2013, 13:27
I had blueberries in pots and I used to mulch with coffee grounds they seemed to like it ..... forgot about the anti slug properties ....
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: bravemurphy on May 13, 2013, 18:33
just inquired in work and I can get loads of it I mean loads.

Is it worth getting ?

if I compost it do worms not like it like slugs?
Title: Re: Coffee grounds?
Post by: rowan57 on May 13, 2013, 20:36
I think if you used TONS   :unsure: of coffee grounds you may acidify the soil somewhat, good for blueberries etc.  :lol: