But are coffee grounds good for succulents? Do succulents like coffee grounds? Well, yes, succulents like coffee grounds. It is entirely safe to add coffee grounds to your garden if you cultivated succulents and other acid-loving plants.
Arguably, you may have heard of acid-loving plants; these are plants that thrive on highly acidic soils. However, this does not imply that such plants won't grow when cultivated on soils with normal pH.
Instead, it implies that such plants grow well (and yield better) when the soil has high acidity (high pH).
Succulents are acid-loving plants; they tend to grow better on acidic soils. One of the ways to increase soil pH (acidity) is by adding coffee grounds to the soil.
What Makes Coffee Grounds Good For Acid-Loving Plants?
Coffee grounds are not just waste as many people thought; they are rich in several nutrients required by plants to grow well.
Actually, coffee grounds have up to 2 percent nitrogen, and 0.1 - 0.6 percent of many other nutrients, which include potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, and others.
Nitrogen happens to be the highest nutrient available in coffee grounds; due to the high nitrogen content in coffee grounds, adding them to your rose garden makes your roses look healthier and stronger - even throughout the winter period.
The various nutrients in coffee grounds are needed by plants like succulents, Rhodos, strawberries, and roses.
Furthermore, asides from these nutrients in coffee grounds, they help to improve soil fertility and acidity.
If the soil where you planted your acid-loving flowers has a low pH, adding coffee grounds is a proven way to increase the soil's pH, which would make your flowers grow better.
However, it is important to say that while acid grounds are beneficial to certain plants, they can kill the roots of those if added in excess quantity.
That said, while adding grounds to your garden, it is important that you do it in moderation.
There is no perfect quantity of coffee grounds to be added to the soil to make it more fertile or acidic; you just have to think out what's the suitable quantity to apply.
At this point, it is important to say that - as a farmer/gardener - you need to have a home kit that helps you to detect soil pH.
With such a kit, you will able to know the current acidity level of your garden's soil, which would help you to decide on the quantity of coffee grounds to add.
Do Succulents Like Coffee Grounds?
Yes, succulents like coffee grounds because they increase soil acidity. Coffee grounds can increase soil pH from 5.0 to 8.0. Some people say that coffee grounds can also kill pests, but this thesis is yet unproven.
The effect of coffee grounds on succulents is to make the flowers bloom more frequently and look healthier.
It is also important to note that coffee grounds improve soil fertility by depositing all the nutrients they possess into the soil.
An increase in soil fertility and acid is definitely what most flowers need to yield their best.
What You Should Know:
- Coffee grounds are not fertilizers; adding them to your garden does not replace the need for adding fertilizers (if need be).
- Coffee grounds attract worms and several microbes, which aids metabolism.
- There are many ways to get coffee grounds and there are also many ways to add them to the soil
How To Add Coffee Grounds To Succulents
Basically, there are three ways to achieve this; however, it is advisable to ensure that all the plants in your garden are acid-loving plants before adding coffee grounds.
This is because the grounds would mix with the soil and the nutrients would be dispersed all over.
Another important thing to note here is this, before adding coffee grounds to any soil, do well to check the soil's current pH.
This will go a long way to help you determine the amount of grounds you need to add to the soil. Below are the possible ways of adding coffee grounds to your farm.
1. Mix the Grounds With your Compost
This is almost the safest way to add grounds to your garden. Coffee grounds can be very acidic (especially the fresh ones) and adding them to your compost helps to reduce the acidity.
Yes, you're looking to increase your farm soil pH, but it should get to a tremendous high pH.
Whether you're using fresh grounds or used ones, it is yet important to mix them with your compost if the soil pH is already (slightly) high. Asides from reducing the acidity, there is no other effect of adding coffee grounds to compost.
2. Make Coffee Grounds Tea
It sounds a little been funny, but you can make coffee grounds tea and pour it out on your garden or farmland where you cultivated acid-loving plants.
It's quite simple making coffee grounds tea; simply add a few cups of the grounds into a bucket/gallon of water, let it soak for at least 36 hours, and you can sprinkle the tea on your land.
Well, the number of cups of coffee grounds you have to soak would determine the amount of water needed.
However, it is recommended to go with this serving, 2 cups of coffee grounds to a 5-galloon bucket of water.
3. Spread the Grounds All Over
There is nothing wrong is taking the grounds up and pouring them directly on the soil surface.
This method applies when you do not have time to wait for many hours (to prepare a coffee grounds tea) or wait until you want to add compost to your garden.
After spreading the grounds, you need to water them down; this would help the grounds to mix properly with the soil.
What More?
Do succulents like coffee grounds? Yes, they do, and you can add the grounds at any season. Succulents bloom more on acidic soils than soils with normal pH.
There are many ways to get coffee grounds; you can buy from a garden store or use the ones from the coffee beans you just brewed.
Related Posts:
- Do Succulents Like Humidity?
- Do Succulents Need Sun?
- Overwatered Vs Underwatered Succulents
- Do Hydrangeas Like Coffee Grounds?
- Signs Your Succulents are Overwatered
