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02-06-2004, 05:02 AM

(Chris Garlington) wrote in message om...
I read earlier postings about coffee grounds in the compost and dirt
for tomatoes. Does it change the taste? Coffee is a pretty powerful
thing and it's taste after having been discarded, is rank. It's very
different from horse manure or other compostings. It's acrid and
sharp. Has anyone used a lot of ciffee grounds around tomatoes or
peppers and noticed a taste difference? I'm only asking because I
drink a LOT of coffee and I have a LOT of grounds to discard.

No, the tomatoes will not pick up the coffee taste. What you have to
be careful of though is getting too low of a pH level in the soil.
Coffee grounds generally have a pH of around 4.0 (thats why coffee
sometimes gives you that sour stomach feeling). Tomatoes like a pH of
about 6.0-6.5, so if you use a lot of coffee grounds, you may need to
add a little lime every other year or so.

Bob S.