I use it on hibiscus, Bouganvillas, geraniums, and others and it seems to work fine. Like any other "green" compost, it takes time to break down.

Hey, Judo.

Just curious is you ever got the water tested when you lived on the East Coast. I am wondering what the deal is with my City of Cocoa water. I never had it tested.

I think that adding coffee grounds would be a fine way of introducing a mild, slow release form of nitrogen. Coffee grounds don't seem to compact much either, but i don't know if it'll clog up your 5-1-1 mix after it starts breaking down. I used to use it more, but found the whole collection thing to be messy and distracting so nowadays i just throw some in my containers.

Truth be told, even with modest amounts of sapwood, i think the MG 24-8-16 would be more than fine.

Steve

A word of caution. I used to use coffee grounds like crazy. But I had a jalapeno that the coffee took it over. It actually climbed up the plant- starting to rot it. So I would say once in a while or a little bit but not the daily cup or carafe of grinds.

Don't expect to use grounds in place of fertilizer. Like any compost they take quite a while to decompose. I suppose you could put them in a coarse mix provided that there is enough perlite, but I wouldn't make them a major component.

Dennis

Just before coming here, I did some potting(separating and re potting). To the potting mix I added some Oil Dri (DE) and some coffee ground (Not too much) . I don't think that the "N" in coffee ground is readily available, meaning it needs to be broken down . So the reason I added was not so much for the "N" effect but to provide some texture. I could be wrong ! I Normally I dump my coffee ground in the compost pile. And now I am saving some for slug control.

BTW: Coffee is naturally acidic. But after brewing it, most of the acid ends up in your cup. lol

Coffee grounds are not a significant source of nutrients or acidity, and are really best used in the garden, raised beds, et cetera, as others have mentioned. In a container, they will most certainly clog the mix and impede drainage over time. Coffee grounds will also form a thick anaerobic matting (if applied too deep) and cause many problems.

I'd stick with the known fertilizer.

Josh

ok, so even though it's a decent source of nitrogen, it's slow to break down, and will clog up the drainage in 5-1-1. ok then, I guess I'll stick to normal fert. thanks for the info guys.

and now, there's a thread about coffee grounds in the pepper forum. in case someone else wonders the same thing.

I compost coffee grinds.

Worms love coffee grounds, put the grounds in the garden or in the compost pile, not in pots.