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  • From: "philcorbett" <philcorbett@ntlworld.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: UK member or Coffee Grounds
  • Date: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 15:28:36 -0000


Hi - I have heard claims for the very effective powers of coffee grounds as
a soil coditioner but have never had enough to test it for myself.
One word of caution however, caffeine has germination inhibiting powers on
some seeds. While spent grounds may not contain much caffeine its worth
remembering this where grounds and seeds may come together.
Any caffeine remaining in the grounds will break down naturally in time of
course.

Cheers, Phil


----- Original Message -----
From: "Kevin Topek" <ktopek@houston.rr.com>
To: "permaculture" <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 2:52 PM
Subject: Re: UK member or Coffee Grounds


> Andrew and Michelle,
>
> Coffee grounds have about the same amount of available nitrogen as other
> kitchen scraps. There is also a substantial portion of available bean oil
> which breaks down slowly over time. Coffee grounds do acidify the soil,
but
> usually not to the detriment of most plants, unless they are acid
intolerant
> or the application of coffee grounds is too thick, over 2 inches in depth.
> In my experience doing bioremediation experiments, coffee grounds are
> miraculous. I half-heartedly included them in an experiment of breaking
down
> used automobile crankcase oil contaminated soil. The spent grounds were
the
> only sample to produce healthy bush bean growth at the end of the
experiment
> and had earthworms thriving in the formerly contaminated soil. Other
compost
> applications did not have as remarkable an effect. Do not extrapolate too
> much from this, but I am a firm believer that coffee grounds are one of
the
> most fertile soil amendments available!
>
> Kevin Topek
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <Tarliman2@aol.com>
> To: permaculture <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 8:18 AM
> Subject: Re: UK member
>
>
> > In a message dated Fri, 14 Dec 2001 5:23:22 AM Eastern Standard Time,
> "Michelle Bourke" <michelle@thequality.com> writes:
> >
> > > I am interested in hearing an answer to Andrew's question about coffee
> > > grounds.
> >
> > To repeat, I was wondering about their effect on nitrogen in the soil.
I'm
> also concerned, which I hadn't previously mentioned, about whether I'm
> acidifying my soil beyond survivability, and if I need to correct my Ph
> somehow.
> >
> > Andrew Ragland
> > tarliman2@aol.com
> >
> >
> > ---
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