Comments on: Coffee Grounds & Blueberries

By: talia

talia — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 22:57:01 +0000

i don’t grow blueberries (yet) but i always feel good about putting the coffee grounds in the compost — maybe because, as you say, they look like good rich compost already! we even got our office collecting the coffee grounds and tea bags and once a week we schlepp those off for composting too!

By: Suzon

Suzon — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 11:58:32 +0000

Does anyone know whether fresh or well-rotted chicken manure would be too acidic for blueberries? I have had no success with blueberries in my allotment but that may be because my allotment neighbour thinks that whatever she can pinch from mine is hers.

By: dad

dad — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:46:25 +0000

Hi Gill, you could make a crinoline from an old upturned hanging basket, should do the trick.

By: don

don — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:58:05 +0000

Gill – can I completely change the subject (although technically fruit related…) and ask if your blight resistant tomatoes were any good? did they taste nice? do you have any recommendations? I had 5 varieties in various places around the garden and greenhouse and they all succumbed to the dreaded blight. (and I know its early, but this year I am planning properly!!!)

By: Luke

Luke — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:39:30 +0000

My wife runs a coffee shop, and we’ve been putting grinds around our blueberries since I got them last spring. I’ve heard that you have to be careful not to use too much coffee grinds in other parts of the garden because of the acidity -so i figured the blueberry patch was the perfect place for the excess. Glad I’m not the only one to try this out. I hope it works, as I much prefer using what would be waste to expensive high acid fertilizers.

I also agree that it makes sense that all the acidity wouldn’t be gone from the making of drip coffee. But it would also seem probable that boiling water on grinds isn’t entirely analogous to rainwater on soil.

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:36:46 +0000

I put pine needles on my berry patch, they’re acidic, so I just strip and bag the pine needles from a christmas tree or two put out for collection after christmas. And coffee grounds I use as slug deterrent – apparently it dehydrates them so much that they die of it eventually. You just sprinkle it around a sluggy/snaily patch.

By: Amanda Hewitt

Amanda Hewitt — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:26:35 +0000

I live in the South-west of France and they use coffee granules to get rid of ants. Apparently they (the ants) love them but they’re toxic for them. I have a soft spot for ants so haven’t tried it!

By: Kath in Oregon

Kath in Oregon — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:03:53 +0000

rhodendron or azalea food is for acid-loving plants. I read they like pH between 4 and 7.

Well tea’s acid heh heh! Don’t you still drink tea in England? Litmus paper is an easy test for acidity and cheap.

By: Kitaye

Kitaye — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:21:39 +0000

Several frugal people use the same coffee grounds for more than one pot of coffee. The coffee gets progressively weaker with each brewing. By that logic I think coffee grounds are still acidic until you have brewed them several times. Maybe not enough to make a pot of soil acidic but in conjunction with everything else it makes sense to add them to acid loving plant’s mulch.

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 21:01:16 +0000

I have been mulching blueberries planted in the ground in a small amount of ericaceous compost with coffee grounds for about 2 years now. The blueberries are doing wonderfully, the worms love it, and it keeps the weeds down.