A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Cold coffee as fertilizer??

Has NE ONE ever heard of this!? Someone told me they poured their old cold coffee out in their garden and it supposedly helped the plants grow...are they pulling my leg or what? Is there any reason this could hurt the plants?
NE feedback would be oh so appreciated
thanks!

I've done that many times instead of pouring it down the sink and my plants love it. The grounds are also great for a compost bin.

Karen

I've never heard of cold coffee for the plants but my sister-in-law uses cold, leftover tea (not ice tea) for her plants and swears that it works wonders. Actually, she does have really great houseplants. So I suppose that it might be about the same theory. I think I'll try it too.

Hmmm...I'm gonna have to try this! I always make way too much coffee in the morning, and this will put it to better use, rather than pouring it all down the sink! lol

That is very intresting1 I would have never thought of that. But since coffee is alkaline, it might not be a good idea to use too much too often. Some plants like a certain pH balance.

yikes...ok, I wont do the coffee every morning then lol.....once a week?
I had made some chamomile tea yesterday, and had forgotten to drink it...so I fed it to my flowers. A little worried, but i'm sure they will do fine

So, Looks like we ARE a bunch of COFFEE ADDICTS So I'll give Ya all the Facts I have on coffee. Starbucks(ifin ya live near one of those big cities) will save coffee grounds for you, Starbucks usually lables their bags with the date, so I'm guessing that there's a timeframe (2 weeks I think I've read..) in which potency is a factor.
Great for compost. Coffee grounds add great texture and acidity to your compost. Tea bags work well too.

Fertilizer. If you don't have a compost bin or pile, you can just add some grounds directly to the soil around your flowers for some extra fertilizer.

Control some bugs. Supposedly, ants hate coffee. So spread your old grounds around where you have ant problems.

Coffee grounds can be used directly on your lawn and beds without composting to provide nitrogen and protien source. I think the recommended rate of application is 10-20 lbs per 1000 sqft, but any amount that isn't smothering is good.
Coffee by-products can be used in the garden and farm as follows:

* Sprinkle used grounds around plants before rain or watering, for a slow-release nitrogen.
* Add to compost piles to increase nitrogen balance. Coffee filters and tea bags break down rapidly during composting.
* Dilute with water for a gentle, fast-acting liquid fertilizer. Use about a half-pound can of wet grounds in a five-gallon bucket of water; let sit outdoors to achieve ambient temperature.
* Mix into soil for houseplants or new vegetable beds.
* Encircle the base of the plant with a coffee and eggshell barrier to repel pests.
* If you are into vermi-posting, feed a little bit to your worms
And Yes, Cold coffe will be good for your plants.
And as For the Chamomile Tea We have LOTS of chamomile,Good Tea and can be used(without worry) as a liquid feed and plant tonic, effective against a number of plant diseases

Ok, I tried something new this morning. I made my plants a kind of coffee slurry. Took the used coffee grounds and a banana peel from breakfast, some browning lettuce leaves/ and a couple of old strawberries from the fridge. I threw it all in the blender and filled it with water. Whirred it like crazy and shazam...coffee slurry. Well, more like coffee soup but you get the jist. Then I took the concoction and put it in a gallon jug and filled it the rest of the way with water. I read somewhere that you can make something like this with just the veggie scraps but thought I'd go a little further and throw the coffee grounds in. I suppose a little will probably go a long way. So anyway, I'll see what happens and let ya know.

Has anyone else ever make the veggie scrap liquid for their garden?

woohoo lily! Let me know how that turns out! I've never thought to take bad food from the fridge to turn into plant food!
Must make attempt to clean out fridge tomorrow

Oh yea, there also one other little slurry that I read about. Take some manure (horse,cow,goat,sheep) and mix it with water. 1 gallon, I think, and put this lovely little mixture into a hose end sprayer thingy and fill the sprayer the rest of the way with water. Then, spray away. I've never used a blender for this though. (yuk) I've got a rabbit and I use his, um, tidbits and put them into a 1 gallon jug and shake it up til the tidbits pretty much disintigrate. Then I use the stuff. It's just the one little rabbit so I have to make the manure go as far as I can. (As far as fertilizer goes )

I just had an interesting thought...

COFFEE

VEGGIE and FRUIT SCRAPS

MANURE


The worlds greatest, fastest SUPER SLURRY.

ok, I'm done now...

yummmm...sounds delicious!! LOL

I got the coffee and the veggies...but no manure But there are some horses down the road...If I were to sneak out and go get some manure late one night, hubby would NEVER let me live that down!

Welllll, you could just ask the people who own the stable if you could have some manure for your garden. I bet they'd be happy to get rid of it.

As for the hubby...he's married to a gardener. He's got to expect a little nuttiness now and then. My hubby does.

Someone gave me a HUGE can of coffee a while back, and no one in my house drinks it! So when we planted our azaleas, I started putting a little bit of the fresh coffee grounds around the base of the plants. I use about one scoop per plant once a month. They are LOVING it! We planted one gallon plants back in March and April, and they are already over knee high!

Hi..
This is my first time to post (new member) and ya'll are so fun! Anyway, I'm a struggling gardener too and the blender thing is such a great idea. I've been saving coffee grounds for a couple weeks but had not hit on the most effective way to "dispense" it. Thanks, folks!

I've been experimenting with coffee grounds around hostas to repel slugs. Results are inconclusive. Miniature hostas appear to be salad bar for slugs...they're not eating regular size hostas.

growing up in the south, my grandmother put coffee grounds on flower beds all the time. If nothing else, it adds texture and tilth to the soil. I garden in Chicago, Illinois, with alkaline soil, so coffee and coffee grounds help to neutralize.