As if we needed another reason to love coffee, it’s not just good for people. Some plant-lovers and botanists alike swear by the application of coffee to their plants for nutritional benefits, which means that any leftover grounds or lukewarm pour over coffee maker brew can be recycled. However, there isn’t really a consensus on this. Like a lot of radical plant-growing practices, giving coffee to your plants is pretty controversial, with experts polarized over whether adding coffee to plants provides ample benefits to justify the risks. However, both sides of this debate do bring up some convincing points.
Coffee Solution
If the coffee that’s been sitting for hours in the vessel under your pour over coffee maker is cold, stale, and undrinkable, it can be used for coffee-spraying your plants. Keep in mind, you shouldn’t do this practice if you’ve already added sugar, milk, or creamer to your coffee.
Coffee contains several nutrients that are beneficial to plants, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium, and it contains acid for plants that thrive in more acidic soil.
If you have a plant that thrives in acidic soil such as Azaleas, there is a potential benefit for substituting a coffee solution for simple water. Coffee lowers the pH of the soil, but keep in mind that the pH can go too low, causing the tips of your petals to yellow and leaves to dry out. To keep this from happening, make sure the coffee has been amply diluted by clean water. The ratio should be at least 2:3, meaning that if you have one cup of coffee, it should be diluted with a minimum of one and a half cups of water.
Coffee Grounds
The grounds in your pour over coffee maker needn’t be put to waste either. Like brewed coffee, coffee grounds can also be a source for soil acid, but also as a lasting source of nitrogen. In addition, your outdoor plants get the added benefit of preventing slugs and rabbits from taking up residence in your garden.
Why You Should Do It
Proponents of adding coffee to plants claim that the nutrients in coffee are considerably good for the plant. The nitrogen, for instance, is highly beneficial to any plant, and promotes growth and strength. For plants that are native to acidic soil – hydrangeas, African violets, and impatiens among them – they say that lukewarm pour over coffee maker java can promote health and long life.
Why You Shouldn’t Do It
Of course, among plant-lovers, there are a host of skeptics. The skeptics are often concerned about the hazards presented by coffee, or whether the benefits are worth the drawbacks, and many say they aren’t.
There are a few reasons opponents to coffee-spraying and spreading say you should leave the pour over coffee maker brew where it is. One of their claims is that spent grounds aren’t actually that acidic at all; they’re almost pH neutral since the hot water carries out much of the acidic content. Studies have shown that they’re actually harmful to worms and microbes that help your plant’s processes.
In Summary
You’re both a coffee-lover and a plant-lover, and for the love of coffee, there are many ways to brew it. Percolator, pour over coffee maker, espresso machine, French press, and many others (all of which will leave grounds behind if you want to try it out adding it to your plants and seeing if it makes a difference). So, what do you think? Will your plants be enjoying coffee as much as you anytime soon?
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