Coffee grounds as a fertilizer: which plants are cake suitable for and how to use it

Coffee lovers accumulate a lot of thick left after drinking the drink. Many people throw it away, but it can be useful. Consider the advantages of coffee grounds as a fertilizer, what garden and houseplants it can be used for, various ways to use when grounds cannot be used, and the shelf life of natural fertilizer.

What is the benefit of coffee grounds?

In the sleeping coffee, despite the fact that most of the useful substances have passed into the drink, there are still vitamins and mineral elements, other useful substances (on average, in the amount of 3%).They can be an excellent top dressing for indoor and garden flowers, garden crops. It can be used in soil preparation, planting and in small quantities as a regular top dressing.

You can also use cake for the garden, apply it to the soil as a baking powder, especially in heavy and clay. After making the soil becomes softer, more airy, its structure improves, the coffee mass attracts earthworms, loosening the soil. Coffee repels harmful insects, as a prophylactic against pests, it can be used for flowers, garden crops.

Which plants are suitable for coffee dressing

The use of grounds is recommended for plants that like to grow in acidic soil as it has the same reaction. These are, for example, heather, azaleas, rhododendrons, hydrangeas.

Due to the high content of potassium, coffee mass can be sprinkled under tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, cucumbers, fruit and berry trees, greens, but in a small amount so as not to make the soil acidic. Of indoor flowers, roses, violets, asparagus, ficuses, palm trees, and ferns respond well to feeding.

For feeding plants, only leftovers from natural coffee, ground and brewed in a coffee machine or coffee maker, are suitable. The resulting mass must be dried, so it will be stored longer. It is impossible to fertilize plants with fresh and wet thickets - it can become moldy and do more harm than good.

Uses

Coffee grounds can be used in a variety of ways. Pour into the soil, mix with it, pour on top as mulch, make compost. Consider these methods in more detail.

Irrigation

You can also use spent coffee as a watering agent.To water the plant with a solution, it must be prepared from 1 cup of coffee mass and 10 liters of water. Preparation procedure: pour coffee for 1 day with water so that it swells, then stir in the remaining water. You can water newly planted berry bushes with this infusion at the rate of 1 liter per bush.

Mulching

Dry coffee grounds can be sprinkled on the soil like mulch. It will protect it from drying out, improve the structure. It is important to use only dried leftovers, as damp ones can cause mold.

Soil Supplement

Thickness can also be simply poured into a hole or hole when planting seedlings or seedlings. At the same time, it must be evenly mixed with the soil. This technique allows you to fertilize plants and improve the structure of the soil, making it loose and drained. On light soils, coffee works as a binder. It is introduced into the top layer of soil at a rate of 200 ml per 1 sq.m.

Compost

Compost with coffee is prepared, like regular compost, from vegetable and kitchen leftovers. Thickness works as a nitrogen component, which activates thermal processes inside the mass, that is, accelerates its heating.

If the compost begins to dry out, it must be moistened with water and the layers turned over to allow air to access them. The pile size must be at least 1 sq. m. In about a month, the compost will already be usable. It can be prepared in the fall, and not just during the season; so that it lasts until spring, the pile needs to be covered with leaves, spruce branches.

For seedlings

When preparing the substrate for seedlings, you can add a little coffee residue to the mixture. Mix with soil. In the future, you can water the plants with infusion in the thick. It will act in the same way as on adult plants.

The waste powder can also be used to prepare soil for seed germination.You need to mix it with the ground and sow seeds in it. They should germinate faster and more amicably. This is due to the action of the useful composition of coffee and the improved qualities of the substrate - friability and moisture capacity. As a result, seed germination increases, seedlings become strong and powerful.

Pest Protection

Coffee helps protect crops from insects: aphids, ants, slugs, snails. It usually works against insect larvae, but there is evidence that this remedy is also effective against adults. The thick can not be compared with insecticides in terms of the degree of action, but its advantage is that it is completely safe and non-toxic to plants and soil.

When not to use coffee top dressing

Coffee has a lot of nitrogen, which is why you need to use it in doses. At an increased content, the powder can burn the roots. Wet, not dried mass often becomes moldy, fungi develop on it.

It is not advisable to use this kind of top dressing or coffee mulch for plants that grow in alkaline soil. It is believed that coffee can change the color of rose petals.

If the color of the foliage changes, top dressing must be canceled. Or filter the infusion, use only liquid for irrigation, and apply the cake under the conifers.

You can use only natural coffee beans, without the addition of milk and sugar. Milk contributes to the rotting of the mass, and sugar attracts ants to plants. Unbrewed powder also cannot be used, it gives an acidic reaction and contains too many substances that in large quantities will be harmful to plants.

Expiration date

Wet thick is not stored for long, so it must be dried to a completely dry state. Store the powder in jars with closed lids in a dry, dark place.Use as needed. If an unpleasant odor or mold has appeared in the jar, you need to throw away the contents and prepare a new composition. A spoiled mixture cannot be used - it will become a source of diseases and pests.

Coffee grounds can be useful for gardeners and indoor flower lovers as a natural and environmentally friendly fertilizer. It contains enough nutrients to feed crops, but by itself it cannot replace full-fledged fertilizers, so you should not rely on such top dressing alone. Coffee can be used as an additional nutrient and raw material for mulching and composting.

When applying, you need to ensure that you do not exceed the allowable dosage of thick, apply the powder correctly. Usually it is used for indoor flowers, but if there is enough thick, then for garden crops. Top dressing affects all plants equally.

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