How to use coffee grounds as fertilizer

How can coffee ground be used as fertilizer?

Whether you make your cup of coffee daily or you have noticed your local coffee house has started to put out bags of used coffee, you may be wondering about composting with coffee grounds.Ā 


Are coffee grounds as fertilizer a good idea?Ā 

The answer is yes.Ā 

Coffee grounds make great fertilizer because of all the key nutrients like nitrogen, calcium, potassium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and chromium present in them.

So, if you make a daily pot of coffee, you have a fabulous source of organic matter right at your fingertips.Ā 

Most soil does not contain the essential nutrients needed for optimal plant growth. Also, as plants grow, they absorb nutrients from the soil, ultimately leaving it depleted.

Coffee ground not only make the gardens more fertile and provide nourishment to the plants, they also attract worms and decrease the concentrations of heavy metals that contaminates the soil.

To use coffee grounds as fertilizer, simply sprinkle them onto the soil surrounding your plants

All you have to do is mix one part of coffee grounds to five parts of soil for your plants. When you dilute the coffee grounds this way, you can use them as mulch.Ā 

Other than adding diluted coffee grounds to the soil, make sure to water it right, and ultimately balance the soilā€™s chemistry.


Using coffee grounds as mulch is a much cheaper and eco-friendly alternative to wood chips.Ā 

Despite fresh coffee grounds being quite acidic, coffee remnants have a nearly neutral pH and therefore will not negatively affect the soil, but itā€™s still advised to use them carefully in your soil and not overdo the ratio.

If you have excess coffee grounds, you can store them temporarily in containers. Or if you would prefer to store them long-term, you can dry them out in the sun first and then store them away.

You can also make coffee ground "tea." Add 2Ā cups of used coffee grounds to a 5-gallon bucket of water.Ā 

Let the "tea" steep for a few hours or overnight. You can use this concoction as a liquid fertilizer for garden and container plants.Ā 

It also makes a great foliar feed you can spray directly on the leaves and stems of your plants.

One word of warning thoughĀ :Ā coffee grounds can be harmful to pets in large enough doses.Ā 

Itā€™s hard to say what would be a large enough dose to cause poisoning because the amount of caffeine in used coffee grounds varies.Ā 

But if you have a dog that insists on sampling anything that smells halfway agreeable, it would be wise to avoid laying coffee grounds directly onto the garden. Bury them in your compost heap instead.

Conclusion

Coffee grounds contain several key minerals for plant growth and is a great idea to be used as a fertilizer.Ā 

They can make your garden happier in several ways, and not just that coffee gives you more energy for weeding and pruning.Ā 

Don't toss the grounds! You can put them to work.Ā 

Remember to not overdo the ratio of the coffee grounds.Ā 

Maintain a 1:5 ratio of coffee ground and soil.Ā 

Water it right after sprinkling the coffee grounds in to the soil to balance the soilā€™s chemistry.Ā 

Use it carefully if you have a pet or avoid using it completely.Ā 

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