Coffee and gardening

Every day across America, Asia and Europe, millions of pots of coffee and tea are brewed, and the millions of pounds of wet grounds, filters and bags thrown in the trash.  This is both wasteful and foolish.

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

It is easy to collect coffee grounds from your office.  Just put an empty coffee can next to the coffee maker.  Empty once a week or as needed.  Once people get wind of what you're doing, don't be surprised if others want the grounds, too!

Mike Theuer got tired of throwing away all the coffee grounds from his small cafe.  So he started a fertilizer company of his own.  Grow Joe uses coffee grounds and other ingredients to make a powerful natural fertilizer.  Mike is also experimenting with ways to re-use plastic nursery pots.

Testimonials:

• I take coffee grounds every day from my local Starbucks. I usually get between 50-100 lbs. of grounds per day. Most go in my compost piles, but sometimes I just spread them in the garden. I live in Ventura County, California where the soil is very alkaline and very dense clay. When I moved to my house a year and a half ago, there were very few worms in my soil. Now, after adding several tons of coffee grounds and compost, my soil is full of worms and the pH has improved dramatically with no additional amendments. With the number of worms I have now, I feel guilty I'm killing thousands each time I walk in the garden! I also get woodchips from local tree trimmers for free. They deliver by the truckload and I mix the woodchips with the coffee grounds to make incredible compost. I highly recommend that everyone who reads this establish a relationship with their local Starbucks and take some of those grounds away. Starbucks alone produces enough coffee waste to equal 4 747's per year in weight. That material should all be going back into the earth where it belongs, rather than into landfills. Coffee grounds work wonders in the garden. I've gotten used coffee grounds from the Starbucks in Los Altos, California and put them throughout my garden. The biggest impact was on my lemon tree, the crop is amazing and the fruit is uncommonly large and juicy.
• I have started a small, but vastly popular coffee recycling initiative at my office and in my community. I collect used coffee grounds from work and local businesses, such as the neighborhood gas station/food mart.I have a 3-bin composting system (5x5x12) and I regularly add used coffee grounds with filter to my pile. It heats up the pile VERY quickly, and produces rich compost in a matter of weeks. Of course, in order for you to have workable compost so quickly, one needs to manage the pile. I turn it every day and water it regularly to keep moist.I amend my soil with the compost, and also sprinkle the coffee grounds under my plants, flowers, shrubs and trees. The worms LOVE it. My worm population has grown exponentially. Worms are everywhere. It's wonderful since our soil is essentially clay. The worms do a great job in turn our rocky, clay soil into enriched loam. I have also enlisted my colleagues to give me their green kitchen scraps! I am so lucky to have friends willing to part with their garbage. In return, I share my compost with any who ask. It is my dream that through my concerned efforts in recycling and composting others will be inspired to do the same. Maybe this planet will be saved with a little help from others!
• I add used coffee grounds to the soil around camelias and azaleas (in fact all acid-loving plants). I don't bother to dig it in. The plants are thriving.
• We had a scraggly yellow green poinsetta left over from the holidays in our office. At the end of the day if I had and coffee left over in my cup I would pour it on the plant instead of going to the washroom and dumping it in the drain, sometimes it got plain water. A year later this is the most lush dark green plant in our office. I just told people recently what I had been doing and they think I'm crazy, but you can't dispute the results. I was searching the internet to support my theory and found your web site. I had been using coffee on my house plants since the early '60s.
• I had a science fair project to see if it was effected. and the one growing the biggest is the one that is 1 cup coffee and i cup dirt/soil.
• I toss my coffee grounds in with my vegetable peelings, add water, grind them in my blender, then feed it to some plants that are "slow". It's like a giant vitamin. They start shooting up very soon.
• I don't have a garden my self but my friend uses coffee grounds for her sunflowers and hers are taller then her other neighbors.
• I have been diluting my leftover brewed coffee and watering my indoor and outdoor plants with it for months and they have thrived and had unbelievable new growth. I haven't tried the coffee grounds in the soil yet but the results with the brewed coffee has been so amazing that I think I'll try it.
• I have been mixing coffee grounds and crushed egg shells all winter to get ready for spring! The filters are full of nutrients and hold water well, so I wrap veggie scraps in them and give this little 'packaged delight' to my worms. A note on the espresso theory- In my experience finely ground coffee is not the best for worms as it cakes in the moisture rich environment necessary for worms- worms can not pass through this and the nitrogen content can become toxic. Caking can also be an issue if using coffee grounds for mulch, water and oxygen can be prevented from reaching the soil. Simply mixing this fine waste with something more coarse or broadcasting grounds in a thin layer over the garden works well.
• I had heard about coffee grounds being used in the garden and i tried a small experiment at home, brewing espresso, discarding grounds, then using them around the house in houseplants -- i was AMAZED at the results!! The leaves of the plants all became very shiny, glossy, all the plants responded incredibly well! From now on, I'm saving grounds and will use outside in my garden this summer. Did Starbucks respond to you yet? It's such a good idea!
• I mix it with my potting soil...and the results were fantastic. Every flower I grew turned out AMAZING.
• I maintain 360+ roses at the Historic Olivas Adobe in Ventura, California. The results have been stunning. I pick up used grounds from two Starbucks. I am a Parks Maintenance Lead worker.

• I have old "Berkley Bob" from the local coffee shop save organic coffee grounds for me. I tend to use the espresso "pucks", and the grounds shaken off of filters, and broadcast them on the soil, then use the filters strategically in "dry layers" (i.e. straw) in my compost heap. They disappear with amazing speed.

• I am Barista at Starbucks and am interested in starting a coffee composting program. It is a Starbucks policy to offer spent espresso grinds to anyone who asks for them. I personally think that espresso would be the best choice as they are ground finer than the coffee grinds.
• I add the coffee grounds and the filter and tea bags to the compost and in a very short time they disappear to make beautiful, black, rich compost. Worms in the worm farm love the coffee grounds.
• I use coffee grounds as a mulch for container plants. I notice it repels water and seems to have a beneficial effect on fungus gnats and other nasties that need moist soil. It has also done wonders for a potted hydrangea that suffers from too much dampness at the soil level.
• A natural repellant for root maggots. Spread liberally before planting and dig in slightly.
• I use coffee grounds around my hybrid tea roses, and I also put coffee grounds under my hydrangeas, to make the blooms really bright blue.

Starbucks, please contact us about your coffee grounds!  Together, we can decrease your waste, increase your profit, build your brand and polish your environmental credentials!  Here is some feedback from current and former Starbucks workers:

"Hi, I work for Starbucks and am the environmental specialist for my district. I have had an overwhelming response from people wanting used coffee grounds for composting and fertilizer. You should be able to go to any Starbucks to get them! It's a wonderful way to reduce waste and very effective! So don't be shy...ask for grounds and if a store has not implemented this program, ask who their Green Team representative is and get in touch with them! Every little bit helps! Thank you!" --Annia

"I worked at Starbucks 2 months ago, at that time they did not offer coffee grinds. They were just tossed in the garbage! This made the garbage bags very heavy and there was always a mess. Now Starbucks is catching on. Recently at a Starbucks I saw a bin that offered free coffee grinds."

Or, forget about coffee and drink a healthier alternative made from soy.