Coffee is drunk every day in many households. The coffee grounds end up in the garbage and with it valuable ingredients such as nitrogen, which is also an important component of the potting soil. Can coffee grounds therefore be used in potting soil?
A little coffee powder is good for many indoor plants
Coffee grounds as a fancy fertilizer
After the coffee has been brewed, the softened ground coffee remains in the filter as what appears to be waste. Very few coffee drinkers know that coffee grounds contain valuable nutrients such as
- potassium
- nitrogen
- phosphorus
- tannic acid
- antioxidants
are included. If you mix a small amount of coffee grounds into the potting soil, the pH value changes. The soil becomes slightly acidic, ideal for hydrangeas. Only a small amount should really be mixed in, because coffee grounds mold quickly.
Potassium stabilizes the plants, nitrogen generally stimulates growth, phosphorus ensures beautiful flowering and optimal fruit ripening. Heavy consumers such as cucumber, tomato and zucchini tolerate caffeine.
All of these ingredients can also be found in conventional plant fertilizers, which means that if you mix coffee grounds in your potting soil, you are doing something good for the plants and saving money in the process.
However, the coffee grounds must always be well cooled and dried. Damp ground coffee molds easily.
Other good properties of coffee grounds
Caffeine is tolerated by many plants, but not by snails. Therefore, coffee grounds are a good way to keep snails away from vegetables. The dry flour is simply spread around the plants.
What applies to snails also applies to cats. The four-legged friends like to bury their legacies in the vegetable patch or
in flower boxes.(16.99€) If coffee grounds are scattered on the garden or potting soil, the cats stay away.
If coffee grounds (about two tablespoons) are added to the irrigation water, they neutralize the lime contained in the water and at the same time fertilize the soil.
Coffee grounds on the compost will speed up the decomposition process of the plant matter.
Anyone who fertilizes with coffee grounds always offers their plants exactly the right amount of fertilizer. Over-fertilization with coffee grounds is not possible.
Coffee grounds on garden beds or in planters attract earthworms. The worms naturally loosen the soil, and their excretions are valuable fertilizer.