Coffee grounds

Hi all,

I've just been given some coffee grounds from a new coffee machine we have in the office.

I've heard they are good for flower beds but any tips for putting around roses, lavender and Daphne? Or any other uses

Many thanks

 

May be a useful addition to a compost heap.

 

I noticed some time ago that a local Waitrose had a sign outside saying spent coffee grounds help yourself.
I couldn't workout what they could be used for, mostly as a slug and snail deterrent I think.

 

Don't have a compost heap unfortunately

I know Starbucks used to package them and give them away for free but never got to use them before.

I've just read that you shouldn't use for Daphne or lavender but good for roses and just to sprinkle them around the base.

 

I use our coffee grounds around vulnerable plants. I think it helps a bit, but definitely not a total deterrent. However I'm desperate!

 

I use coffee grounds around my rhododendrons and it certainly gives them a boost. However it does absolutely nothing to deter slugs

 

Coffee grounds probably help to retain moisture in the soil.

 

I'd agree - they won't stop slugs/snails, but they're useful in the compost bin, or just for putting round plants as a mulch. Not something I use though.
I'm guessing the acidity will probably be the good point there @Debs64.

 

How to Reuse Coffee Grounds in Your Garden for Plant Growth

 

There was an article in New Scientist not long ago on the subject.
Best place for coffee grounds is on the compost heap.

A small extract from the article -
Coffee grounds, even after brewing, are still a rich source of caffeine. This compound seems to be produced by coffee bushes – at least in part – as a herbicide to suppress the growth of smaller competing plants. The phenomenon is called allelopathy and is a strategy loads of plants have evolved to help reduce the competition for light, space, water and nutrients around them.

Leaching out of the grounds, the highly soluble caffeine percolates through the soil and has been repeatedly shown to severely stunt the growth of small, neighbouring plants’ roots and slash the rate of seed germination, even at relatively tiny concentrations. Not exactly what the plantfluencers of social media promise.

 

Yeah it's a great "green" for the heap, despite being brown!

 

sounds like something that was in a bag of compost I had earlier in the year, germination was and still is non existent for quite a few seeds, those that did germinate were stunted.

I blamed the seeds at the time but results have been better with other composts I've used later with the same seed.

To be honest if that is what they have found with coffee grounds I wouldn't even put them on the compost heap.

 

The Slugs around Bexleyheath love a Starbucks Tall Latte Macchiato!

Anyway on friendly terms with my baristas and can get bags of old coffee grounds, which goes into my hot composter.

Anyway if you know any coffee roasters instead, the by product before roasting called the husk/coffee chaff, makes a perfect mulch, perhaps the best.

 

I'm not a coffee drinker myself but I know research found that the chains used to many beans for their perceived perfect cup. I can't remember the exact figure but it was roughly a quarter to a third more than was needed. It was supposedly the size they were ground to that causes the best flavour, not the amount, and the finer the beans, the more bitter the coffee. It makes you think perhaps they are throwing away profit and beans.