2024 Fall Planting:

* Ginseng Seed: Currently shipping until sold out
* Ginseng Rootlets: Pre-orders accepted for fall shipment in October
Welcome, Guest
Username: Password: Remember me
Post your experiences, questions and answers about growing wild-simulated ginseng
  • Page:
  • 1

TOPIC: Coffee Grounds and Ginseng

Coffee Grounds and Ginseng 13 years 8 months ago #8336

OK I know I posted a topic called \"Worm Castings and Ginseng\" recently and now I am posting this one called \"Coffee Grounds and Ginseng\" which may seem a bit much. However it may be feasible to lower ones soil PH while adding other nutrients to the soil as well. I have added a link below that tells about some of the benefits of using coffee grounds as a soil amendment. I am interested in the part that says it lowers the soil PH as well as warding off insects and pest. This article also talks about going to lets say a Starbucks to pick up their discarded Coffee Grounds. So I am not saying one could get enough to add to a big planting site as that might take a lot of work and time but maybe it is something that could be done in a small patch around the house or in a small ginseng seed garden. Anyway I might tinker with it to see if it has any benefits. I think I will have the local coffee shop save me some coffee grounds. Anybody that wants to check this out, the link is below.
Thanks,
Latt


www.greenyour.com/lifestyle/food-drink/c...-your-coffee-grounds

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re:Coffee Grounds and Ginseng 13 years 8 months ago #8337

OK well that link was tricky. Hate to do this but I cut and pasted it below. It will take 5 min or less to read but it is interesting to me and I hope it is worth posting.



\"Recycling your coffee grounds gives you the opportunity to diminish landfill waste and lavish your plants and vegetables with an effective, nutrient-filled compost for your garden.
How to recycle your coffee grounds

Coffee grounds are rich with minerals and vitamins, containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and a desirable, slightly acidic pH level between 3.0 and 5.0. Consult a gardening specialist if you are unsure how the grounds will react with certain plants. Otherwise, consider these tips to turn your spent grounds into a powerful homemade fertilizer:

* Collect the grounds: Keep an old coffee can or other container beside your kitchen sink to avoid the temptation of dumping coffee grounds down the drain or in the trash. Spent grounds should be used in a relatively short time and kept dry, as they tend to mold.
* Apply coffee grounds directly to your plants: Before watering your outdoor plants, layer your soil or target garden areas with coffee grounds. Plants such as azaleas, rhododendrons, ferns, roses, gardenias, blueberries, cranberries, oaks, and spruces respond well to coffee-ground mulch. You can also sprinkle the grounds directly on the soil of potted houseplants.
* Make a garden compost: Add coffee grounds (along with used, non-chlorine bleached coffee filters to your compost bin to neutralize pH levels and quicken the decompositioning process. The grounds should account for no more than 25 percent of the composting matter and a teaspoon of lime or wood for each 5 pounds of grounds can be added to balance out acidity levels.[1]
* Make a liquid fertilizer: Diluting coffee grounds with water creates an excellent liquid fertilizer. Mixing one half pound can of coffee grounds into a 5-gallon container of water is recommended.
* Use coffee grounds as a natural pest deterrent: Surround plants sensitive to pests, especially worms, with a mixture of coffee grounds and eggshells. This acts as a natural repellent and keeps worms well fed and happy without having to resort to chemical pesticides.
* Seek outside help: If you don't brew coffee at home, visit a local coffee house and ask for their spent coffee grounds. Starbucks is active in contributing grounds to customers for gardening use through its Grounds For Your Garden program.

Find it! Recycled coffee ground products

Although coffee grounds are most often recycled for gardening purposes, your fireplace can benefit as well. Fireplace logs made from used coffee grounds emit less carbon dioxide than manufactured logs while reducing landfill waste.


Java-Log is an eco-friendly fire log made from coffee grounds. Not only is it made from recycled materials rather than timber, it burns cleaner than traditional logs as well.

Recycling your coffee grounds helps you go green because...

* It reduces waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill.
* It gives back to the earth while lessening your reliance on chemical pesticides and fertilizers.

Given that millions of people drink coffee on a daily basis?approximately 56 percent of the American adult population?millions of pounds of coffee grounds are discarded.[2] At a typical Starbucks store, coffee grounds account for 40 percent of trash by weight.[3] In 2005, 28.5 million tons of food waste, including coffee grounds, were discarded in the United States alone.[4]

Used coffee grounds, however, don't have to end up in the landfill. They can be used as a natural, chemical-free fertilizer and pest control agent for your garden or houseplants. Commonly used chemical gardening products, such as fertilizers and pesticides, can reduce soil efficiency and impede a plant's ability to naturally ward off harmful insects and diseases. Groundwater is also at risk of contamination from chemical gardening treatments: studies report that surface water in 100 percent of all large streams and rivers tested positive for pesticides.[5]

As a pest control agent, it has been found that slugs and snails (common garden pests in cooler climates) don't like caffeine. Studies show that using a spray solution with high levels of caffeine, such as 1 or 2 percent, kills off 60 percent and 95 percent of slugs, respectively.[6] Coffee grounds aren't likely to kill garden mollusks because they contain less caffeine (instant coffee contains approximately .05 percent caffeine while drip coffee has about twice that amount). However, applying coffee grounds around plants can act as a mild, but effective deterrent. As such, coffee grounds are considered a safe alternative to metaldehyde.\"

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re:Coffee Grounds and Ginseng 13 years 8 months ago #8344

It seems like I heard that coffee grounds kill slugs!

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re:Coffee Grounds and Ginseng 13 years 8 months ago #8345

I make compost for my garden. I have a big open pile that gets turned occasionally with a long handle fork.

Coffee grounds, egg shells, fruit skin pealings, any kind of veggie waste that needs to be disposed of goes out in the garage in a sealed container until it gets full then out to the compost pile and mixed in.

I also mix in spent garden plants (except old tomato vines) into the mix, chop it, turn it, making black gold.

It gets full of earth worms & worm castings and my garden plants just love it.

The only fertilizer I use on my garden is my own compost, bonemeal, blood meal and epson salt. I am going to add in some gypsum this year to boost the calcium content and loosen the soil some. I read the other day that gypsum is a good add to compost so soon as this snow melts off - going to toss a handfull on my pile.

Anyway - that is where all of my coffee grounds go now days.

TNhunter

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re:Coffee Grounds and Ginseng 13 years 8 months ago #8350

composting is a great way to do things. It's heavy, tho, and carting it up the mountain side to fertilize the 'Sing patches seems difficult, plus I'm thinking that if your patch was a big one, the garden compost like have would not go very far.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Re:Coffee Grounds and Ginseng 13 years 8 months ago #8366

Agree on toting that compost around.

I have my compost pile right at the edge of my garden but still have to put it in a wheel barow and wheel it over to where I can dish it out for my veggies.

I don't make any near enough to use on my seng beds - give my tomatoes first priority on the compost helpings.

You could make compost tea though (like manure tea) and could add some gypsum to make it calcium rich and spray that tea on the ginseng plant tops for a foliar feed.

Still a lot of trouble, but hey if you have the compost, time and don't mind the effort should be a good thing to do.

I would caution on applying compost direct to seng beds - because of the potential for weed seeds. Unless your compost pile is a \"hot one\" many weed seeds will survive the composting process. My pile gets hot, when mixed right, and often melts snow but still in the spring I have hundreds/thousands of weeds, tomatoes, cucumers, etc sprouting out of my pile.

TNhunter

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • Page:
  • 1
Moderators: lattTNhunterjimsanger
Time to create page: 0.103 seconds

Who's Online

We have 275 guests and no members online

Login