Coffee grounds! and i mean COFFEE GROUNDS!!

[Gazinga]

ok, so i have stumbled upon a gold mine of used cofee grounds! I have three starbucks on my home from work i pass, i now stop at each one on teh way home every dey i work (5days a week) and get a full white trash can bag full of coffee grounds from each!

DO the math! 3 full bags a day + 5 days a week! for free!

let me tell you it adds up to ALOT of compost material very quickly!

SO question is.....how much coffee grounds is too much? How long to let it compost before use, what are its benefits and draw backs?

 

[Gazinga]

um....anyone?

 

[Southern Gardener]

Not really sure how much is too much, but I use coffee grounds from work and from home. Here is what I found out:

While it is widely thought that they are acidic it has been shown that most of this acidity is removed in the brewing process. Used grounds are essentialy neutral and composting them with other materials will buffer any minor residual acidity.

The amount of grounds you would want to add to a compost pile is dependent on how many you may have available to you. If you were just using the amount that an average household might generate you should have no concerns. But some of you may have access to larger volumes and in that case you should limit the percentage to no more than 25% of the volume of the pile.

 

[vfem]

Not really sure how much is too much, but I use coffee grounds from work and from home. Here is what I found out:

While it is widely thought that they are acidic it has been shown that most of this acidity is removed in the brewing process. Used grounds are essentialy neutral and composting them with other materials will buffer any minor residual acidity.

The amount of grounds you would want to add to a compost pile is dependent on how many you may have available to you. If you were just using the amount that an average household might generate you should have no concerns. But some of you may have access to larger volumes and in that case you should limit the percentage to no more than 25% of the volume of the pile.

I concur!

(I've always wanted to say that!!! LOL)

 

[beavis]

use the coffee grounds sparingly, perhaps at most 10 percent of your entire compost pile..........

 

[inchworm]

Wish I could remember where, but I recently read that coffee grounds are a favorite treat for earthworms. They suggested sprinkling liberally wherever you wanted earthworms.

Inchworm (no relation)

 

[setter4]

They say up to 25% on the Oregon State Univ. site...
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=1042&storyType=garden

 

[vfem]

I was also told to sprinkle it around beds you want to keep slugs out of!!! The potency for it though wears off about a week or so. So you can save some to sprinkle around weekly to ward off those pests!!!

 

[Southern Gardener]

They say up to 25% on the Oregon State Univ. site...
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/news/story.php?S_No=1042&storyType=garden

I think that is where I got the info in the above post.

Red wiggler worms LOVE coffee grounds

beavis - why use sparingly?

 

[Southern Gardener]

Not really sure how much is too much, but I use coffee grounds from work and from home. Here is what I found out:

While it is widely thought that they are acidic it has been shown that most of this acidity is removed in the brewing process. Used grounds are essentialy neutral and composting them with other materials will buffer any minor residual acidity.

The amount of grounds you would want to add to a compost pile is dependent on how many you may have available to you. If you were just using the amount that an average household might generate you should have no concerns. But some of you may have access to larger volumes and in that case you should limit the percentage to no more than 25% of the volume of the pile.

I concur!

(I've always wanted to say that!!! LOL)

I'm glad I could help!