Experienced gardeners and gardeners often use coffee grounds as fertilizer. It is cheap and convenient, especially if you are a lover of a delicious strong drink. A certain amount of used powder is collected daily, which can be used to improve the growth of your domestic plants. This is a waste material that saves money and gives good nutrition to green pets, and also helps to maintain water and air permeability of the soil.
Interestingly, coffee grounds are used as a fertilizer not only for home plants; many summer residents collect coffee and tea leftovers throughout the autumn-winter season in order to apply them in their summer cottage in spring. To do this, the product remaining after the siesta is carefully dried and put into plastic bags, where it is waiting in the wings. With the onset of spring, the collected material is used to mulch the soil and fertilize.
What is coffee good for?
For a long time it was believed that coffee grounds are used as fertilizer only on alkaline soils or for plants that need increased acidity of the earth. This is due to the increased acidity of the coffee itself. However, researchers later found that coffee grounds had a neutral Ph. Despite the fact that even the taste you can determine some of the acidity inherent in coffee beans, this acid is completely washed out during the preparation of the drink. Therefore, the residue that is used to fertilize the beds is completely neutral.
Coffee grounds as fertilizer
Gardeners' reviews indicate that earth so fertilized in this way attracts earthworms. It is this property that makes coffee residues a universal fertilizer, since worms help loosen the earth and improve its properties. So in any garden, it will come in handy. In addition to the listed properties, coffee grounds as a fertilizer for plants are valuable in the content of nitrogen and trace elements. Therefore, it becomes an excellent top dressing for garden plants. True, the nitrogen content in it is low. Nevertheless, this is what allows you to use coffee residue for composting and feeding. Additionally, plants receive magnesium and potassium, which are very useful for them. But the amount of minerals is such that without additional fertilizer it is impossible to talk about good nutrition.
Ways to use coffee grounds
Many summer residents who have already heard about such an application of the product that they are used to throw away are interested in how to use coffee grounds as fertilizer. There are a lot of ways, and each gardener can choose the one that he likes best. You can add coffee grounds just by scattering them around the plants or in the garden. Most often this is done in the spring, although it does not hurt to pour out the coffee residue throughout the summer season. Reviews note that after spreading the thick leaves around the plants, you need to abundantly water the soil with water, while you should not lay it directly under the stem. Sintering, it forms a crust through which water does not penetrate the roots.
Coffee grounds are used as fertilizer for tomatoes. To do this, they dig it into a shallow depth around the plants. It is very good to add grass mulch at the same time, so coffee grounds will not bake. According to the recalls, it is best to introduce this simple fertilizer when preparing the holes for planting flowers. It does not make much sense to bring it under the roots. It is much better to make fertilizer from the earth, grass mulch and prepared, dried grounds. This allows you to fertilize the soil well at the same time and prevent the formation of a crust on its surface, which means you will have to loosen it less often.
Cooking compost
All the methods that we have listed above are excellent 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 make high demands on the introduction of nutrients. Coffee grounds as a fertilizer for indoor plants, of course, is useful, but contains too little nitrogen, magnesium and potassium. Therefore, flower growers prepare compost, which then goes to feed. The composition can be varied, but the combination of 50% coffee grounds, 30% straw and 20% leaves is considered optimal. Cardboard and grass can also be used.
The main difficulty is that the compost must mature in a special pit. You can use just a large tank, you just need to place it in the most protected place from rain and wind. The rest is a matter of technology. In one pile we add coffee grounds, straw and leaves, dried grass. After this, add a little bone meal, mix well and fill it with a layer of fertile soil. After that, the compost should be watered (it should be slightly moist) and the holes made with a stick. Air access is necessary for the formation of a microclimate. In just 3-4 weeks, the compost will be ready. Now you can use it in the form of nutritional supplements, adding to the pots, or mulch the surface when planting.
Quick drainage
Coffee grounds as a fertilizer for flowers are also used directly during planting. If you don’t have at hand shards and expanded clay, which is usually laid out the bottom of the pot for better water and air permeability, then try to get by with proven means. To do this, take a few bags of the most ordinary tea and lay out the bottom of the pot. Top with a layer of coffee grounds, and then a suitable soil mixture for the plant. Tea along with thickening will gradually decay and give additional fertilizer, as well as provide good drainage.
There is one more option. Pour expanded clay onto the bottom of the pot, and a layer of second-hand coffee grounds on top. Then everything is as usual: a layer of soil - and plant the plant in the usual way.
Organic Pest Control
Coffee grounds have long been used as fertilizer for flowers. This is very convenient, because it does not require any expenses, after breakfast it is enough to collect the coffee residue, put it in a pot and sprinkle it lightly with fresh soil. But in fact, this tool is more functional than just natural fertilizer. Ants, snails, slugs and many other insects really do not like coffee grounds, which means they will bypass your plantings. If you decide to plant valuable plants in the garden for the summer, then this will be a good protection for them, besides absolutely safe.
How else can coffee grounds be used?
Not everyone knows, but the seeds of many root vegetables before sowing are recommended to be mixed with boiled coffee. This provides excellent germination, and the fruits are sweeter and more nutritious. But coffee grounds are especially good as fertilizer for indoor plants. Reviews suggest that flowers such as roses and azaleas, hydrangeas and camellias love her most. In this case, one interesting property must be taken into account: when applying coffee grounds to the soil, flowers tend to change their shade. For example, pink flowers become turquoise. To prevent this from happening, they are watered with water, which must be infused with coffee grounds. Then you get a good effect without damaging the decorative properties of the plant. House plants are also often attacked by pests. Such watering will be an excellent prevention.
Reviews
Gardeners and gardeners advise using coffee grounds as fertilizer. They say that it loosens the soil well. Plants become strong, grow faster. Carrots and radishes are especially fond of such top dressing. This remedy very well helps plants that have tortured slugs or ants. But the reviews note that after all, coffee grounds can not be called a full-fledged fertilizer, other feedings must also be used.
To summarize
As you can see, coffee grounds are a rather valuable product that cannot be thrown away. Whether you are fond of indoor floriculture, or living in a private house with a garden, it is sure to find its application. This is a good fertilizer, a tool to give the soil lightness, as well as effective protection against various pests. But the most important thing is that it is always at hand and does not require additional investments.