In article ,
Kay Lancaster wrote:
On Sat, 07 Jul 2012 09:47:46 -0700, Billy wrote:
In article ,
Kay Lancaster wrote:
On Thu, 5 Jul 2012 22:46:45 -0700 (PDT), Higgs Boson
wrote:
I save coffee grounds from OP (along with my tea leaves) for roses and
other decorative plants. He says banana peels are also good for
roses.
Trying to save myself misdirected effort, what is NG opinion:
Need to scratch in and water coffee grounds? Or bury? Or just leave
on surface?
Toss 'em in the compost heap; add compost whenever you've got some and
it's the growing season.
Coffee grounds are fairly acidic... if you've got an acid soil, and are
heavy
with the coffee grounds, you may actually push the pH too low for your
plants.
Moderation in all things, except maybe compost. g
Roses are happiest with a pH of about 6.0 to 6.5.
Kay
Sensei,
I have lost young annual plants (squash) after mulching them with coffee
grounds, but I have a web site that says that coffee grounds aren't
acidic, at least not significantly (6.5 and 6.8).
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/080707171641.htm
Caveat:
http://groundtoground.org/tag/coffee-grounds-ph/
Most likely caffeine, which is a germination and growth inhibitor.
This site says that coffee grounds are about 2% nitrogen, but that seems
too low to burn plants.
That's pretty light, especially when it's not in free form.
In any event, don't perennial plants (such as roses) prefer soil on the
(fungal) acidic side, and vegetables (annuals) prefer basic (bacterial)
soils?
Nope.
http://www.garden-planting-tips.com/pH-soil-test.html
Have never heard of referring to soils as "fungal" or "bacterial" either.
But I don't read much of the popular garden literature.
http://www.extension.org/pages/13064...h-modification shows you some of
the effects of pH on soil nutrient "availability".
Kay
That said, wouldn't it be as beneficial to mulch perennials with the
grounds and bananas, and to top with straw to avoid decorative, esthetic
problems?
Thanks for the feed back.
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