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Planting Fruit Trees in Coffee Grounds

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I drink Starbucks Coffee and the stores package up their used coffee grounds and give them to gardeners to use as mulch, mix into compost, etc. The grounds are supposed to be roughly PH neutral. Supposedly they also provide some nutrients to the soil. I do know that they lighten clay soil very nicely when mixed with the clay.

So over the past several months I've been gathering coffee grounds from the 2 Starbucks stores that I frequent. Probably been averaging 20# of grounds a week, sometimes a lot more. Sometimes none :sad: All my efforts have paid off with enough grounds to fill my front end loader bucket TWICE with nice smelling coffee grounds :flowers:

Now I'm not sure if their claims about making a great mulch or about working well in compost, but I've just finished planting 4 fruit trees, 6 blueberry bushes, and 1 ornamental tree. I've got more to plant but I need to reload the bucket with more coffee grounds and mix it with some more of my clay soil.

Has anyone else tried coffee grounds as a mulch mix, compost mix, soil lightener for planting? If not, do you use anything special when planting new trees?
 

XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Master of Distraction
Staff member
SUPER Site Supporter
Whenever I see the bags I pick them up and throw them in my compost. I think they would make the soil acidic if added in too much quantity. Probably worth testing with a Ph test kit.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Whenever I see the bags I pick them up and throw them in my compost. I think they would make the soil acidic if added in too much quantity. Probably worth testing with a Ph test kit.

They claim that after the brewing cycle the PH is nearly neutral. I do know that blueberries LOVE acidic soil so I planted those with lots of coffee grounds. The trees got a more even mix of coffee, compost and clay.
 

pirate_girl

legendary ⚓
GOLD Site Supporter
I don't know about fruit trees, but when I used to grow roses, I used coffee grounds AND egg shells, with nice results.
 

thcri

Gone But Not Forgotten
Fruited Coffee, never heard of it. But we use to raise worms in coffee grounds.
 

Ice Queen

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
I have some tiny lemon, apple and grapefruit trees in pots, grown from seeds from fruit I have eaten, but they are in ordinary compost or some I have added sand to. An experiment to see what happens! Incidentally the Christmas before last I planted the last date stone to see if anything happened and I now have three leaves and a fourth appearing - wonder if I will have a date tree in my garden when I am an old, old lady?!
 

working woman

New member
Site Supporter
Bob,
if you can get you some pine needles or pine mulch and spread them around the blueberry bushes. About 2 inches thick. The pine is high in acid.
Also, dont forget you can use tea grounds as well

I myself planted a blurberry bushes a couple of weed ago. Raked up two 55 gallon trash bags of pine needles and spread them out thick. unfourtnley my dogs seem to enjoy the needles as well
 
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