Coffee grounds as a means to fertilize indoor plants. Coffee grounds as fertilizer: for which plants? What plants can I use coffee grounds for?

The use of natural fertilizers when growing vegetables is a guarantee of their environmental safety. One of the simplest types of natural fertilizers, combining efficiency and availability, is the cake remaining after brewing coffee. This article is devoted to how to use dormant coffee in the country, as well as how its grounds are useful for the soil and plants grown in the garden, garden or greenhouse.

What are the benefits of coffee pulp?

Thanks to the bioactive substances contained in coffee cake, dormant coffee can partially replace chemical mineral fertilizers. To do this, as you consume natural coffee, the cake remaining after brewing should be dried and collected in a bag or box during the autumn-winter period, and used when planting begins.

Coffee grounds must be dried and then used as fertilizer.

The grounds remaining after brewing contain the following beneficial plant substances:

nitrogen;
potassium;
magnesium.

Coffee grounds are known as an effective way to make the soil loose and saturate it with oxygen. It is not for nothing that a project on the use of coffee grounds in organic gardening has been operating in the USA for several years.

Attention! The use of coffee grounds is not inferior in effectiveness to mowed grass. It should be taken into account that coffee cake contains an insufficient amount of phosphorus and cannot be used as a complete substitute for complex fertilizers. It is better to use it as a useful additive when applying mineral fertilizers.

How to Use Coffee Grounds to Improve Soil and Control Pests

Spent coffee grounds are widely used in the country: in the garden, vegetable garden and greenhouse. Experienced gardeners use it:

1. For mulching plantings.

Coffee grounds are used as an additive when applying mineral fertilizers

2. For light acidification of the soil.

3. To improve the mail structure. Adding dried coffee to the soil mixture makes it more airy and lighter. At the same time, it is important not to pile coffee grounds in a thick layer around the plants, otherwise they can cause the appearance of a dense soil crust that prevents free access of air and moisture to the root system of the plants.

Advice! Coffee grounds can be used as an effective soil loosener, improving soil drainage properties, when growing potted plants. To do this, you should lay the following layers at the bottom of the pot: expanded clay, dried coffee, soil, and then plant the plant.

4. In addition, coffee grounds can be used to make compost, which can later be used to grow flowers, vegetable seedlings and mushrooms. To prepare it, you need to put the following in a compost pit specially designated for this purpose:

sleeping coffee cake – 50%;
straw or mowed and dried grass – 30%;
vermicompost () – 20%.

Using coffee you can remove ants and snails from garden beds

Attention! If desired, you can also add some leaves, pine needles, bone meal, and even cardboard or paper to the mixture.

All components must be mixed well, sprinkled with soil and water on top, and then use a stick to make several holes in the pile. Useful compost will be ready for use in just 4-6 weeks. During this period, you should ensure that the pile is always wet.

5. To get rid of snails too. Ants cannot stand the coffee aroma and will disappear from the greenhouse if you sprinkle coffee on their nests. The same applies to snails - they will stop annoying plants if you sprinkle coffee grounds on the soil around them.

6. To wean your cat from digging holes in the garden, you should use a mixture of crushed orange peels and drunk coffee. By scattering the fragrant mixture around the plants, you can be sure that the cat will not make a toilet in the beds.

Coffee grounds make the soil airy and light

Using coffee grounds as fertilizer

Since dried coffee is a source of nitrogen, it can be used as a fertilizer to feed garden, vegetable, greenhouse and indoor plants. The main advantage of coffee as an organic supplement is its environmental friendliness.

Fertilizer made from coffee grounds will appeal to a number of indoor and garden plants:

roses;
camellias;
asparagus;
rhododendrons;
hydrangeas;
evergreen shrubs;
ferns.

Coffee grounds are an excellent fertilizer for indoor plants.

When arranging a flower bed or replanting potted plants, you should add a little dry coffee grounds to the soil and use the resulting mixture when planting plants. Additionally, it is recommended to mulch the tree trunk circles of planted plants to avoid “baking” the soil.

Among vegetable crops, carrots and vegetables respond responsively to coffee additives. Experienced vegetable growers recommend mixing a little coffee with radish seeds before sowing. Coffee will not only gently stimulate the growth of the vegetable, but will also repel pests living in the soil.

Advice! If, when planting carrots, dry coffee cake is sprinkled into the grooves with seeds, this will save the root crop from damage by the carrot fly.

Applying coffee fertilizer will also be useful when transplanting seedlings of tomatoes, cabbage and cucumbers. To do this, you need to add a handful of coffee-soil mixture to the dug holes, and then plant the seedlings.

Coffee cake is simply added to the beds and sprinkled with soil.

To feed garden or greenhouse plants with fertilizer from sleeping coffee, simply dig the cake into the soil and water the plants generously. Gradually decomposing in the soil, coffee will release nitrogen, which is so necessary for plants for their growth and development. In addition, it will become a bait for earthworms, which will help loosen the soil.

Advice! A convenient way to feed plants with coffee grounds is to mix it with water and use it for watering.

As reviews show, the cake left after brewing coffee is a fairly effective and absolutely safe way to saturate the soil with nutrients, improve its condition, feed plants and repel pests in the garden and greenhouse.

Coffee grounds for indoor plants - video

Fertilizing coffee grounds - photo

Soil, sun and water. It seems that this is all that is needed to grow a flower at home. But experienced gardeners will definitely add: if you want your plant to really always please you and those around you, then you simply cannot do without fertilizing. Traditional fertilizers have been used for this purpose for a long time. This expression usually means everything that is at hand. Coffee grounds are on everyone's lips these days. Nowadays there is plenty of it, because the instant drink has long replaced the natural one in grains, and it is no longer in short supply. So what are coffee grounds: fertilizer or just cake - waste from drinking an invigorating drink? Let's analyze in detail why coffee grounds are useful for indoor plants.

What is valuable in coffee residues for plants?

Coffee is very valuable as a fertilizer for indoor plants. It contains many useful vitamins. These include calcium, magnesium, copper and carbohydrates. The grounds also contain: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium.

Therefore, it can successfully replace mineral fertilizers. Nitrogen is very important for normal growth, the presence of phosphorus improves plant nutrition, potassium helps retain moisture, which is necessary for photosynthesis.

How to collect coffee grounds to feed plants

There are several ways to store and use coffee grounds for indoor plants as fertilizer. As you know, plants do not need to be fed in the autumn-winter period. If you collect leftover coffee throughout the winter, then by spring a fairly large amount of this valuable fertilizer will accumulate.

To prevent the grounds from becoming moldy, they are dried in the oven and placed in plastic bags. The grounds should be stored in a dry place. If you live in a private house, you can send the leftover coffee directly to the compost heap. If you brew an aromatic drink in a coffee maker, you can put the remains along with paper filters in a compost heap. You can have a separate container and collect the grounds in it.

How to apply fertilizer from coffee grounds to indoor flowers

Some inexperienced flower growers simply add coffee grounds to the flower. But this way you can harm the plant; mold and small pests - midges - may appear in the flower pot. The coffee grounds must first be dried. Then the coffee grounds are mixed with the soil. You can make compost from coffee grounds. The acidic environment of coffee grounds promotes better rotting. You won't believe it, but coffee grounds are even used to spray plants. To do this, the grounds are stirred in water. Coffee grounds also serve as a repeller for some pests.

Making compost from coffee grounds

All the methods that we listed above are great for a summer cottage, but are practically not justified for home flowers. The tasks here are somewhat different; home conditions do not contribute to the formation of a dense crust on the surface of the earth, but they place high demands on the introduction of nutrients. Coffee grounds are certainly useful as a fertilizer for indoor plants, but they contain too little nitrogen, magnesium and potassium. Therefore, flower growers prepare compost, which is then used for feeding. The composition can be varied, but the optimal combination is 50% coffee grounds, 30% straw and 20% leaves. You can also use cardboard and grass. The main difficulty is that the compost must mature in a special pit.

You can simply use a large tank, but you just need to place it in the most protected place from rain and wind. The rest is a matter of technique. We put coffee grounds, straw and leaves, and dried grass in one pile. After this, add a little bone meal, mix well and cover with a layer of fertile soil. After that, the compost should be watered (it should be slightly damp) and holes should be made with a stick. Air access is needed to create a microclimate. In just 3-4 weeks the compost will be ready. Now you can use it in the form of nutritional supplements, adding it to pots, or mulch the surface when planting.

Coffee grounds from pests in the garden

Summer residents have experimentally found that the smell of coffee grounds added to the soil repels many types of insect pests from plantings, in particular:

carrot fly;
slugs;
ants;
different types of aphids;
fruit flies;
larvae of various insects, etc.

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When you apply it, for example, when sowing carrots or radishes, you can repel larvae and insects living underground and feeding on root crops from root crops, and prevent the appearance of carrot flies on carrots. Ants and slugs try to stay away from beds sprinkled with sleeping coffee because of its pungent odor. Thus, dormant coffee is effective against pests using any method of application to the soil.

For which plants are coffee grounds suitable as fertilizer?

For flowers. The benefits of coffee waste in flower beds are twofold: improving soil composition and controlling pests.
Use in rosaries. A water solution with grounds will protect roses from snails and ants, and the specific smell of coffee will distract flying pests from the buds.
For variegated plants. Tulips, peonies, hostas and lilies will bloom faster and last longer if coffee fertilizers are applied to the soil.

What mistakes are made when using dormant coffee for indoor plants?

A florist always wants the methods he uses to be beneficial to the plants, so you need to listen to the recommendations of experts:

coffee grounds are not a substitute for organic or mineral fertilizers; their use is mandatory for plants;
an excessive amount of cake is unacceptable, since the caffeine it contains can inhibit plants;
if milk was added to coffee, such cake should not be used so as not to create an environment for the development of pathogenic organisms;
waste must also not contain sugar or fruit additives;
Ground coffee as a fertilizer for flowers is not suitable for all plants; before using it, you need to clarify which green pets will benefit from such fertilizing.

Coffee waste is used to fertilize domestic palm trees, ferns, indoor roses, poinsettias, azaleas, some types of rhododendrons, hydrangeas, violets, asparagus, and other plants. So gardeners have the opportunity to use an easy and affordable way to care for indoor plants - use coffee cake as fertilizer.

In conclusion: use the grounds however you want and see the results. With so many myths floating around, the only way to really know what's good for your garden, plants and situation is to try it and see the results. Coffee grounds are a very healthy composition rich in microelements. But this does not mean that you should only use it. Coffee is a good support mixture. But it cannot replace traditional organic and mineral fertilizers.

The use of coffee grounds as fertilizer is justified by several factors. One of them is the love of some gardeners and summer residents for natural organic fertilizers. The second argument is the availability and effectiveness of organic matter for the growth of both indoor and garden crops.

Despite its apparent exoticism, the dried mass is actively used by domestic gardeners and gardeners when growing many plants. This product has proven itself as a natural source of nitrogen, magnesium and potassium. Other properties that can be considered priority include:

Cats cannot stand the smell of coffee and citrus fruits. To discourage a pet from indoor plants, owners mix the dried grounds with grated lemon zest in equal parts and pour the mixture into flower pots.

What plants is coffee suitable for?

Dried coffee is used as a fertilizer for indoor plants, vegetable crops, and root crops. They respond favorably to him:

tomatoes, physalis;
Bell pepper;
legumes;
carrot;
radish;
black radish and turnip.

Among the flowers, the preferred coffee drink is:

Before feeding flowers with coffee grounds, you need to find out whether they increase the acidity of the soil. Despite the fact that coffee beans have a slight acidity, after cooking it is neutralized, so there is no need to worry about increasing the acidity level of the soil. As a precaution, the organic residue can be washed with water.

Since the composition contains no more than 2% nitrogen, it is not worth using raw materials as the main fertilizer. Gardeners prefer to use it as an additive to mulch in flower beds to repel ants, snails and other pests.

Ways to use sleeping coffee

Budget fertilizer is used in several variations:

mixing with seeds;
mixing with soil;
mulching the soil;
digging;
watering;
making compost.

Let's consider each of the options in more detail.

Mixing with seeds is a current method of application when planting seeds in open ground in furrows. Small planting material of carrots, radishes, parsley, fennel, cilantro is mixed with dried coffee mass in a ratio of 1:3 and sown in the prepared hole. In this case, ground boiled grains will ensure not only optimal drainage, but also uniform distribution of seeds. At the initial stage of growth and development of root crops, bait will provide them with the necessary amount of phosphorus and nitrogen.

Video about options for using home organics.

Mixing with soil and mulching

Mixing with soil is a technique used when picking tomatoes. Coffee cake is mixed with soil in a ratio of 1:10 and poured into containers where the seedlings will be buried. The bait begins to act immediately after the first watering. By absorbing moisture, coffee grains release nitrogen into the soil, which is necessary for the growth and rooting of young tomatoes.

When transplanting berries into open ground, add 1-2 tbsp to the bottom of the planting hole. spoons of boiled ground coffee.

Mulching the soil is applicable for both indoor plants and those growing in open ground. The ground around the trunk is sprinkled with dried raw materials and spilled with plenty of water. Each time you irrigate the soil under the bush, the nitrogen released from the grains will penetrate into the soil along with moisture and nourish the root system of the plant.

Digging, powdering and watering

Digging is a method that requires special care. The soil next to the tillering node (main stem) is dug in several places to a depth of 3 to 6 cm, depending on the size of the hole. Add 1 tbsp to each hole. spoon of grounds, cover with earth on top. Digging allows you to avoid the formation of a crust on the soil surface, which will require constant loosening and moistening.

An alternative to digging in is powder. The soil in the hole or pot is mulched with dried grounds. Sprinkle soil on top of the fertilizer; as a crust forms, the surface is loosened and irrigated with warm water.

The most effective way to feed is to moisten the soil under the bush with a weak solution of coffee. To do this, ground coffee is boiled until fully cooked (1 glass) and diluted with cool water in a 1:1 ratio. The prepared mixture is watered over seedlings, bushes, root crops and flower stalks.

Making compost

Compost is an excellent fertilizer for flowers. To prepare it, sleep organic matter, rotted straw, fallen leaves, and bone meal are used in proportions of 2:1:1:1. The volume of the workpiece should not exceed 400 g. The mixture is poured into a compost container, 400 g of chernozem is added and water is poured until it becomes a thick porridge.

Using a wooden stick, holes are made in the compost to saturate the raw material with moisture and accelerate the decomposition process.

Over the next week, the mixture is watered generously and the recesses are renewed daily. A month later, earthworms are added to the compost and the soil in the holes is fertilized with them. Before using the infusion as a fertilizer, you need to make sure it has cooled down. Hot compost can scald and destroy plants.

The subtleties of preparing fertilizer: what is possible and what is not?

It is worth noting that not every coffee is suitable as a fertilizer. To enrich the soil it is prohibited to use:

instant and granulated coffee;
packaged mixture of the “3 in 1” type, consisting of sugar, milk powder and instant coffee;
coffee capsules;
ground, uncooked grains;
coffee drink based on soluble, granulated, freeze-dried and packaged raw materials.

Only the grounds of dried ground coffee or brewed coffee based on crushed beans are suitable for feeding.

The raw mass is dangerous for plants, as it has a high concentration of acids. Once in the soil, these components inhibit the development and vegetation of most plants. During the digestion process, these acids are released from the grains and break down into less complex compounds.

Raw grains added to the ground can provoke the formation of mold on the surface of the soil and the root part of the stems. Therefore, before use, the residue obtained after the drink is thoroughly dried in a well-ventilated place or in the oven. Dried organic matter is packaged in plastic bags, glass jars and stored in a cool place. Undried raw materials can be added to the compost pit.

Coffee is applied as a fertilizer for plants from March to September. In autumn-winter, house flowers need rest. Additional bait can cause premature flowering and cycle failure.

Coffee groundbait is an alternative to traditional chemical and organic fertilizers. But most gardeners and summer residents prefer to combine it with other nutritious fertilizers.

All this is possible thanks to the beneficial substances contained in the coffee grounds. We can talk a lot about the beneficial properties of sleeping coffee and its use as a fertilizer for indoor flowers and garden plants, but this issue should be understood in more detail.

Useful properties of coffee grounds

Ground coffee contains a lot of valuable substances. This:

potassium;
calcium;
magnesium;
nitrogen;
phosphorus;
a number of other useful minerals.

There is no doubt that during the brewing process some of these substances are washed out of the coffee grounds. The content of useful mineral components in sleeping coffee is approximately 2-3% (it varies for different substances). But this amount is enough to use coffee grounds as a mineral fertilizer for home and garden flowers, vegetables, and ornamental plants. The substances contained in coffee waste are essential for their growth and development.

For example, nitrogen plays a key role in the process of photosynthesis, without which plant growth and oxygen production are impossible. Phosphorus and potassium are also involved in this important process and contribute to the development of the plant, the formation of flowers and fruits.

Using dried coffee as a fertilizer is an almost free way to provide plants with useful mineral nutrition.

At the same time, the probability of harming them from an overdose of one or another component is zero. The concentration of minerals in the thicket is optimal for many indoor flowers, garden and vegetable plants.

Indoor flowers are especially susceptible to coffee grounds fertilizer:

ferns;

A good result is obtained by using the coffee to feed vegetables, including:

tomatoes;
radish;
peas and beans.

This fertilizer is suitable for garden roses, lilies, ornamental shrubs, and herbs.

Dried coffee is an excellent means of feeding fruit and berry bushes and trees. After its use, the yield of these crops increases.

It is believed that coffee residues are highly acidic and therefore unsuitable for many types of plants. This is not entirely true. The grains do have high acidity. However, excess acid is washed out during the brewing process. Coffee grounds have a neutral acidity level and are suitable as a fertilizer for feeding any plants.

Using coffee grounds as fertilizer

Coffee grounds are used to fertilize plants in two ways:

Liquid feeding. This method is very simple. It consists of collecting the remaining coffee (grounds and part of the liquid) into one container. Then this mixture is used to water the soil in flower pots or under garden plants. This method has one significant drawback: the wet substance is susceptible to infection by mold or fungi. Therefore, it is recommended to use dry fertilizer to fertilize potted plants.
Helpful advice: to fertilize beds or garden shrubs, dilute the grounds until they are convenient for watering. Use a watering can to water the plants from above, then water with plain water. This will allow the minerals to slowly release into the soil, nourishing your plants.
Dry feeding. The coffee grounds should be thoroughly dried before use. To do this, strain out a small amount of grounds and spread them in an even layer on a sheet of thick cardboard or waterproof paper. You can use plastic trays or oven trays. Place the prepared grounds in a warm place and keep there until completely dry. When the substance dries, do not forget to break up the caked lumps. The fertilizer can be used immediately or stored in dry glass, plastic or tin jars with tight-fitting lids. Thick paper bags are also suitable for this purpose.

Using coffee grounds in the garden

Spent dry coffee is poured under the plant, then the soil is lightly loosened. When watering, beneficial substances will be released and enter the soil, gradually enriching it.

When using this fertilizer in the garden, it is dug into the ground under the plants. Using a shovel, dig up the ground to a depth of about 5 cm. Dry grounds are added to the loose soil. For one tree - 1-2 cups, depending on the size. Then the grounds are sprinkled with earth and lightly compacted.

Helpful advice: do not pour a lot of grounds (so that it covers the entire ground under the plant). In this case, when watering, a crust may form, which will interfere with the access of oxygen to the roots. You should not add grounds to. It will make the soil heavier and slow down germination.

Spilled coffee for flowers

The sediment of coffee as well as garden flowers is especially popular. To fertilize indoor flowers, it is recommended to prepare the following composition:

50% coffee grounds;
20% chopped dry straw;
30% foliage.

Mix all the ingredients and let them boil. You can use a large tank or an old saucepan for this. The mixture should be covered with fertile soil on top, a few holes should be made with a stick and it should be allowed to mature for about a month. The resulting composition can be used as nutritional supplements by adding them to flower pots.

When planting flower beds and flower beds, coffee residues can also be used. When forming a flower garden, add them to the soil. Take one glass of dry grounds per bucket of earthen mixture, mix everything thoroughly, after which you can plant flowers. After planting the plants, the soil must be watered abundantly.

Coffee grounds as compost

Minerals, primarily nitrogen, contained in coffee residues tend to be released gradually under the influence of microorganisms. This makes coffee grounds a valuable component of garden compost. To do this, it is collected and placed in a compost pit. The thicket promotes rapid rotting of the contents of the pit and improves its mineral composition.

Coffee cake can be added directly to planting holes for garden ornamental and fruit-bearing plants. To do this, dry cake is mixed with prepared soil. The plant is planted in the prepared soil and watered abundantly.

Helpful tip: Try using compost containing coffee residue to grow mushrooms. According to reviews from those who used this method, productivity increases by 2-3 times.

How else to use grounds

Coffee grounds can not only enrich plants with useful minerals, but also protect them from a wide variety of pests. Insects such as ants, slugs, snails, aphids and others do not like it. Using grounds allows you to protect your plantings safely and inexpensively. This product can also be used to prevent the appearance of insect pests.

Coffee grounds can be simply indispensable in your garden. This is an excellent tool for changing the structure of the soil. Adding grounds will make heavy and clayey garden soil looser and lighter. To do this, the cake is added to the soil and loosened regularly.

Spilled coffee and leftovers can also attract beneficial insects. Including earthworms. This property is especially important for making compost. Worms, processing the contents of the compost pit, loosening it, contribute to the rapid ripening of the compost.

Cats do not like the coffee aroma. With the help of grounds, you can wean your pet from shitting under your favorite bush. You just need to spread the dry product in a thin layer and do not water it for a while.

Where can I get enough grounds?

First of all, do not throw it away after drinking the drink itself. So, in a few days you can collect a sufficient amount of grounds. Coffee machine cake is good for use as fertilizer or compost.

In some cafes and restaurants abroad, and even in our country, a special table has recently appeared with bags on which are written “Coffee grounds for your plants” or “Coffee scrub for you.” They are a useful and pleasant gift for visitors to the establishment. Feel free to grab a few bags. They will only benefit your plants.

Therefore, you should not throw away such a useful product as coffee cake. By following the tips given here, you will definitely find a use for it in your garden or when growing indoor flowers.

A morning cup of coffee is not only a tasty drink that gives our body a boost of energy for the whole day. If you are into gardening, you can use coffee grounds as a mulching agent in your garden. To achieve the best results, it is more advisable to use natural coffee, free of pesticides, especially if you fertilize fruits and vegetables. Coffee can increase populations of beneficial soil bacteria and lower the pH of acidic soils. To find out whether coffee grounds are useful as a fertilizer for plants and what are the ways to use them, read the article.

What are the benefits of coffee grounds?

As a drink, real coffee tastes divine, but has no nutritional value for humans. But the organic substances contained in it are an important source of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and copper for plants. Therefore, coffee grounds can be used as a fertilizer to improve the health of fruit and vegetable crops.

Placing coffee grounds in compost immediately before adding them to the soil will help normalize the alkaline balance, thereby stimulating plant growth.is a rich source of fatty acids, essential oils and other nutrients that enrich the soil. But a lot also depends on the type of soil. Therefore, this fertilization of nitrogen soils will be best for leafy vegetables, such as spinach, as well as for corn, tomatoes, sweet peppers, carrots and radishes. Coffee grounds will also benefit flowers: azaleas, roses, camellias, ferns, lilies and rhododendrons. It should be placed at the bottom of the pot.

The caffeine contained in the beans is toxic to slugs and snails, but is beneficial to earthworms, which play a huge role in soil aeration and improved drainage. Coffee grounds are an indispensable tool in the fight against red ants. This is an excellent protection against rabbits, which are pests for broccoli, peas, beets and legumes. And if you sprinkle a flowerbed or beds with a mixture of orange peel and coffee grounds, then cats will stop trampling the garden plantings. This can also protect the animals themselves from potentially dangerous poisonous plants that they may consume.

How to prepare coffee grounds

To ensure that the fertilizer is ready for the planting season, the grounds begin to be collected in winter. To do this, the remains of drunk coffee are dried on paper. When all the moisture has evaporated, the dry product is placed in a jar and stored in a place protected from light. Instant coffee is not used to prepare coffee grounds.

Coffee grounds compost

Because of their rich nitrogen content, coffee grounds are suitable for adding to your compost pile. To create ideal compost, you need to use equal parts of coffee grounds, dry leaves and grass clippings, no more than 400 g of bone meal and a little black soil. This mixture with coffee beans may have antimicrobial activity that inhibits certain fungal diseases on vegetable crops such as cucumbers, beans and tomatoes.

To achieve a quick effect, compost should be diluted in purified water and sprayed directly at the plant’s base. Experts recommend diluting ready-made compost at the rate of half a part per 5 liters of water. The solution can be used to water the soil of indoor plants and vegetables.

It is advisable to use a metal container or other fence no more than 1 m in height and width to make compost based on coffee grounds. To help the decomposition process begin faster, holes are made in the compost. This activates the work of microorganisms. In the first week, it is necessary to moisten the compost, since the temperature of the heap will be at least 65 o C, and to loosen it for better air circulation. After a month, the compost will have cooled down, which means it’s time to add earthworms.

Fertilizer can be prepared in advance in the fall by covering the pile with dry spruce branches until spring. Remember not to use coffee grounds as mulch on their own because when they dry in the sun, they form a water-repellent crust that prevents moisture, air, and other nutrients from reaching the plant's roots.

How to Improve Soil Texture Using Coffee Grounds?

Many people ask the question of how to use coffee grounds as fertilizer to improve soil properties. When added to soil, it improves soil texture due to the organic matter it contains. Coffee grounds have normal acidity, so spent coffee grounds are beneficial for clay soils, which are usually alkaline and heavy.

A weak acidic reaction is possible, since the pH level also depends on the quality of the water, specifically on its alkaline composition. The question arises again: can coffee grounds be used as fertilizer for garden and indoor plants? Many potted flower plants grow well in acidic soil. This fertilizer will be useful for indoor and decorative foliage plants such as gladioli, azaleas, rhododendrons and lilies. As a fertilizer, coffee grounds can reduce the acidity of sandy soil and rid your garden of weeds.

You can always change the acidity by adding wood ash or dolomite to the soil. Remember, if you use coffee mulch on your own, the layers will thicken over time. And this, as we know, can become an obstacle to drainage and air circulation. To keep the soil loose longer, it is best to mix the coffee grounds base with other organic or inorganic substances that have a larger particle size.

Coffee grounds for indoor plants

Like seedlings, any indoor flowers need high-quality soil. It acquires its best properties thanks to properly selected fertilizer. A unique fertilizer is coffee grounds. It is more used as a fertilizer for indoor plants due to the content of useful substances in large quantities. It has a beneficial effect on their growth and promotes the rapid formation of inflorescences. Its use at home is acceptable for plants such as roses, azaleas, begonias and others.

Houseplants are known to need nutrient-rich soil to grow, but making or purchasing the necessary compost can be expensive and labor-intensive. However, processed coffee grounds additionally aerate the soil, fill it with nitrogen, and increase the population of earthworms in the compost, which remarkably loosen the soil, which is so necessary for better growth and aroma of plants.

Coffee grounds for tomatoes

Coffee grounds have a positive effect on vegetable crops. It is used as a fertilizer for tomatoes throughout the entire period of fruit ripening. To tone up tomatoes, fertilizing begins in the spring. Its regular use increases their fertility. Nitrogen-rich fertilizer helps the soil create natural strains of bacteria that are beneficial to plants.

With its weed-suppressing properties, coffee grounds should be used with caution by gardeners. Since along with them the roots of the plant can be damaged. Coffee grounds are a natural option for adding nutrient-rich organic matter to the soil, which is worth considering when growing vegetables for human consumption.

How to properly add coffee grounds to the soil?

We found out that coffee grounds as a fertilizer for plants are a storehouse of useful organic substances and minerals. But how to properly apply it to the soil? There are several ways, let's look at some of them.

If radish or carrot seeds are mixed with coffee cake before planting, this will increase germination and give the vegetables a sweeter taste.
To enrich the root system with minerals, dry cake is scattered in small quantities around the seedling. With each watering, the nitrogen content in the soil will increase.

If coffee grounds are carefully dug into the soil no more than 4 cm deep, then when mixed with the top layer of soil, this will prevent it from drying out and forming a crust, and therefore provide the plant’s roots with a good flow of oxygen.
Coffee grounds can be used as compost, which we talked about making earlier. This is a universal fertilizer for vegetable, fruit and berry plants. The compost is first mixed with the soil, and only then added to the hole.

Coffee grounds: application

Flowers that bloom from bulbs in the spring, such as tulips and daffodils, can get an extra dose of nitrogen and other nutrients from the coffee grounds. Rhododendrons, tomatoes and calendula like acidic soil and can benefit from sprinkling coffee grounds, which can increase the acid content, making the soil more suitable for plant growth. Fertilizer helps protect rhododendron bushes from root weevils.

Can coffee grounds as fertilizer change the color of a flower? For which plants is this possible? It is better to experiment with hydrangeas. Rose bushes grow in alkaline soil, and a little extra acidity from coffee grounds will produce blue flowers. Remember that it is not only the pH of the soil that controls the color of flowers, but also the ability of the plant to absorb aluminum salts from the soil, which is enhanced by the acidity of the soil.

Using coffee bean mulch improves the germination of sugar beet seeds and improves the growth of cabbage and soybeans. Vegetables such as spinach, cucumbers, and beans are susceptible to many rust and mold diseases, especially when they are at the seedling stage. Compost containing only 5% coffee grounds may provide a protective effect against these diseases.

What plants don't like coffee grounds?

Not all crops benefit from coffee grounds as fertilizer. For which plants is its use unacceptable? Do not use coffee compost on soils where alfalfa and clover grow. Plants such as Japanese mustard (komatsuna) and asparagus are extremely susceptible to fertilizer. Coffee grounds have a negative effect on the germination of many seeds and slow down the growth of plants. Therefore, you should not use it as a fertilizer for a houseplant - geranium.