Dollar value on coffee grounds?

http://www.lundproduce.com/N-P-K-Value-of-Everything.html

n-p-k

Coffee Grounds: 2.0/0.36/0.67

So, could anyone chance a guess at what 100 lbs of grounds would equate to if you were to buy fertilizer from home depot or something? Can it be equated?

I converted 2.0/0.36/0.67 to 6-1-2 (multiplying by 3) and that roughly matches this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/GreenEdge-40-lb-6-2-0-Slow-Release-Organic-Fertilizer-GE620/204784202?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cBase&gclid=CjwKEAiA7ZajBRCpur2xi47n1zkSJADqV2WlM_oscOY4uO6PbczhhfT5V9I7gNtpHLCcxP-azpGJTBoCVhrw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

40 lbs of 6-2-0 is 12 bucks. 12 x 2.5 = $30/100 lbs. So, converted back to 2.0/0.36/0.67 (divided by 3) grounds are $10/100 lbs - roughly.

I ask because if I'm able to start getting a lot of grounds, I want to know if it's worth my time to pick up.

George : I would take them just for there ability to add moisture holding material into the soil, every thing else is just stacking benefits ! This is a collection job my wife
takes on and I can always tell collection days cause the car smells so good !

For theCrafts! Big AL

I only compare them to other free sources of organic fertilizer. I choose coffee because it is conveniently located and packaged and there are no weed seeds. When compared to free horse manure, coffee wins on all fronts. Those who give away manure, are the same ones that buy hay from Alberta. Every weed that the Prairie has to offer, can be found in horse shit.

The coffee is spread on the surface. Bugs drag it around. Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are given a cover of coffee with no other mulch. The dark color makes the soil warmer.

I've used about 3 tons of coffee so far this year. My average stop produces 300 lb. My van smells like coffee. I have to pick up 20 buckets of grounds later today. An endless supply of plastic buckets is part of being a coffee hound.

I use it on the day it is gathered. It is applied to growing crops, freshly prepared ground and to rot piles. The slow release nutrients haven't caused problems.

When we buy sugar and rice, we're pretty much buying sunshine. With coffee, we're buying soil nutrients. I believe that trade in coffee represents the largest transfer of fertility from the tropics to other regions of the world.

Those N-P-K numbers are a percentage.
Therefore, a 100 pound bag of coffee grounds would have:
2.0 # N
0.36# P
0.67 # K

Coffee grounds are not considered a good fertilizer.
They are more for adding organic matter that the worms and other soil critters will consume and convert to amendments that the growing plants can then consume.

Coffee grounds are one of the free amendments that are available all year long.
They are also a staple for many compost worms.

John Polk wrote:Those N-P-K numbers are a percentage.
Therefore, a 100 pound bag of coffee grounds would have:
2.0 # N
0.36# P
0.67 # K

Coffee grounds are not considered a good fertilizer.

This website gives a run down on various manures. Consider dairy cow manure vs coffee --- http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm

Cow
poo
N .25 --- Coffee has 8 times as much
P .15 --- Coffee has twice as much
K .25 --- Coffee has 2.5 times as much --- I rounded the figures

Coffee has almost twice as much nitrogen as chicken manure, yet it can be spread without risk of burning. I think the woody nature causes nutrients to release slowly. Are these manures also not considered good fertilizers?

The coffee acts more slowly. When I scoop up a hand full of my coffee mulch, there are always sow bugs, worms and other critters in it. It always disappears, so I asume that they eat it. These creatures poop and they eventually die. When this happens, nutrients become available to plants.

Dale Hodgins wrote:
This website gives a run down on various manures. Consider dairy cow manure vs coffee --- http://www.plantea.com/manure.htm

Cow
poo
N .25 --- Coffee has 8 times as much
P .15 --- Coffee has twice as much
K .25 --- Coffee has 2.5 times as much --- I rounded the figures

Coffee has almost twice as much nitrogen as chicken manure, yet it can be spread without risk of burning. I think the woody nature causes nutrients to release slowly. Are these manures also not considered good fertilizers?

The coffee acts more slowly. When I scoop up a hand full of my coffee mulch, there are always sow bugs, worms and other critters in it. It always disappears, so I asume that they eat it. These creatures poop and they eventually die. When this happens, nutrients become available to plants.

At 0.25, the manures are obviously "worse", but neither are "good" fertilizers. They're weak, in other words. Still excellent additions, but weak nonetheless. If you bought a commercial fertilizer with a NPK of 2-30-10, you'd consider it low in nitrogen.

No, I'd consider it high in phosphorus. If it was only $20 a ton for any product containing 2% nitrogen, that would be a bargain. The coffee is free.

The most important quality of the coffee, is that it feeds soil life and improves structure. This causes the soil to hold nutrients that might otherwise leach away. When I add grass clippings and other green manures, the critters mix it with the coffee. Any woody material will tend to absorb stray nutrients.

This garden has absorbed about one ton of coffee this year and half a ton last year. I'm getting great results.

Adding that much coffee you would be the one to ask, Do coffee grounds change the PH?



I would find it hard to purchase grounds as they are free so many places. I would think the best market would be that of indoor growing. it would have to be sterile. At one point i was purchasing "organic worm castings" it was expensive. Now I make my own. Actually a good portion of the input is coffee grounds. Reading more into though, it sounds like coffee has its place in the outdoor garden..

Willy Walker wrote:Adding that much coffee you would be the one to ask, Do coffee grounds change the PH?



I would find it hard to purchase grounds as they are free so many places. I would think the best market would be that of indoor growing. it would have to be sterile. At one point i was purchasing "organic worm castings" it was expensive. Now I make my own. Actually a good portion of the input is coffee grounds. Reading more into though, it sounds like coffee has its place in the outdoor garden..

They're supposed to be pretty neutral. The acid comes out in the drink. I've never tested for PH. I'm told that everything here is horribly acidic, but when I plant stuff, I have to jump back to avoid being hit by the emerging growth.

There are two other gardens where I've used much more coffee. They are bigger, so probably about the same per sq. ft. All together, it must be about 5 tons now.

I'm also growing a lot of worms and other critters. I don't sell worms, but a shovel of dirt can contain 50. One garden is at my farm which has a mountain soil made of mostly rock flour and gravel. The worm count in the garden is high, while they are seldom seen in the surrounding soil. Snakes and lizards bask on the dark surface and eat every slug. They probably eat some worms and sow bugs too, but there's thousands and growing.

On the greenhouse sterility thing --- One garden has a greenhouse which pumped out vast quantities of tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, Thai basil and other heat lovers. No attempt was made to make anything sterile. The beds are part of the surrounding soil. A window and a door were left partially open during the summer heat. Every creature that lives outside could be found inside. No pest or disease problems. I harvested the final peppers this week. They met a frosty end.

Not that he needs any support but I will echo Dale's praise of coffee grounds. I use them in initial beds, top-dressing, compost additions and fling 'em like a monkey all over my lawn.
I use them and worm tea exclusively and haven't watered my lawn in over two years. Chard, peppers, spinach, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and sweet potatoes loved them this year.

They are great for the soil critters - small particle, natural and they come regularly from above.

Mine come with filters so I fling everything, put the filters back in the bucket, rinse them off, remove, water lucky plants/yard areas with weak 'coffee' and add the filters to my worm bins.
Today it's cold and lazy so the whole bucket goes into the compost.

I'm taking Dr Elaine Inghams Soil Food Web course. She just mentioned coffee grounds, as part of your green addition to compost piles because they are picked green.

"Worth" picking up is a relative thing. My kids don't pencil out ss high profit, but I still think they are "worth" the effort.

I take all I can get. Coffee grounds, not kids.

All of the grounds I get come in or with filters, so I compost them all. They work especially well with shredded leaves. This makes a quick, awesome soil building compost.

On weeds, that is part of the attraction of horseshit for the garden. I sm not aware of a weed that "hurts" a garden, and most help in some manner or another. Grass hurts a garden, but not weeds. Chemical wormers are a bigger concern in any outside manure brought in.