Can I use grounds on my t plants? I just planted them today.

I would say yes, but don't put them on too thick or they will get moldy. I
would mix them with sand or dirt and then add them. If you cant do that,
let them dry out and just sprinkle them around.

Dwayne

"Sly boots 9" wrote in message
...
Can I use grounds on my t plants? I just planted them today.

Sly boots 9 wrote:

Can I use grounds on my t plants? I just planted them today.

Yeah, either sprinkle them on top of your other mulch or scratch them into
the soil.

Are we talking 'used' coffee grounds?

"Bill" wrote in message
...
Sly boots 9 wrote:

Can I use grounds on my t plants? I just planted them today.

Yeah, either sprinkle them on top of your other mulch or scratch them into
the soil.

(Sly boots 9) wrote in message ...
Can I use grounds on my t plants? I just planted them today.

Can you: Yes
Should you: Why do you feel the need to?

Bob S.

Walyb wrote:

Are we talking 'used' coffee grounds?

"Bill" wrote in message
...
Sly boots 9 wrote:

Can I use grounds on my t plants? I just planted them today.

Yeah, either sprinkle them on top of your other mulch or scratch them
into the soil.



I usually avoid making assumptions. While I don't think I would invest in
fresh grounds exclusively for this purpose, I doubt if it would cause harm
to apply them as suggested. I usually make one such (heavy) surface
application a year to control grubs and there is no apparent harm to the
plants.

My sense was that the OP had some spent coffee grounds available and wanted
to know if it was okay to use them. This newsgroup gets that question a
dozen or so times each spring. Each time, it is a novice looking to expand
their skills so it's worth answering.


BIll

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 18:27:34 -0400, Bill
wrote:


I usually avoid making assumptions. While I don't think I would invest in
fresh grounds exclusively for this purpose, I doubt if it would cause harm
to apply them as suggested. I usually make one such (heavy) surface
application a year to control grubs and there is no apparent harm to the
plants.

My sense was that the OP had some spent coffee grounds available and wanted
to know if it was okay to use them. This newsgroup gets that question a
dozen or so times each spring. Each time, it is a novice looking to expand
their skills so it's worth answering.


BIll

My plants grow best with Jamaican Blue Mountain grounds. But watch out
the decaf stuff will kill quicker than roundup...

Bad Bob

"Cook him till he's blue,
and smother him in onions."

Bad Bob wrote:


My plants grow best with Jamaican Blue Mountain grounds. But watch out
the decaf stuff will kill quicker than roundup...

Bad Bob

Heh ... the decaf stuff is tough on humans!

Maybe by building the dose up slowly I could get the slugs used to real
coffee and then, when I switched to decaf, they wouldn't actually die but
would leave in disgust. Whaddya think? Is it worth a try?

Bill

"Bill" wrote in message
...
Bad Bob wrote:


My plants grow best with Jamaican Blue Mountain grounds. But watch out
the decaf stuff will kill quicker than roundup...

Bad Bob

Heh ... the decaf stuff is tough on humans!

Maybe by building the dose up slowly I could get the slugs used to real
coffee and then, when I switched to decaf, they wouldn't actually die but
would leave in disgust. Whaddya think? Is it worth a try?

Or the withdrawal headaches would leave them in too much pain to eat the
plants.

On Wed, 02 Jun 2004 19:11:41 -0400, Bill
wrote:

Bad Bob wrote:


My plants grow best with Jamaican Blue Mountain grounds. But watch out
the decaf stuff will kill quicker than roundup...

Bad Bob

Heh ... the decaf stuff is tough on humans!

Maybe by building the dose up slowly I could get the slugs used to real
coffee and then, when I switched to decaf, they wouldn't actually die but
would leave in disgust. Whaddya think? Is it worth a try?

Bill

Sounds like a plan...

Bad Bob

"Cook him till he's blue,
and smother him in onions."

nina wrote:


Or the withdrawal headaches would leave them in too much pain to eat the
plants.

Anything is worth a try. I normally get the tiny brown / grey slugs of about
1/2 inch in length. Yesterday, while putting some aged compost through a
hardware cloth screen I encountered a ferocious two inch long orange
monster with 4 horns and big teeth!

Well, okay ... I didn't actually see the teeth but the rest was definitely
there. Right up until I cut his head off with a pocket knife. Then he was a
more manageable and docile 1 1/2 inches.

Bill

Bill wrote:

nina wrote:

Or the withdrawal headaches would leave them in too much pain to eat the
plants.

Anything is worth a try. I normally get the tiny brown / grey slugs of about
1/2 inch in length. Yesterday, while putting some aged compost through a
hardware cloth screen I encountered a ferocious two inch long orange
monster with 4 horns and big teeth!

Well, okay ... I didn't actually see the teeth but the rest was definitely
there. Right up until I cut his head off with a pocket knife. Then he was a
more manageable and docile 1 1/2 inches.

Bill

Doesn't dusting with diatomaceous earth help discourage your slugs ?
I've found that putting it on the soil around their favorite snack plants really

turns 'em off.

Dorothy
*
*

Blues Ma wrote:

Doesn't dusting with diatomaceous earth help discourage your slugs ?
I've found that putting it on the soil around their favorite snack plants
really

turns 'em off.

Dorothy

Although it may not hold true this year, I've found that fresh coffee
grounds, applied liberally at the first sign of damage / infestation clears
the matter up for a full growing season.

I'm not finding slugs in my garden (which was treated in this fashion) but
only in the paths and compost piles around it (which were not treated with
the coffee grounds). In the paths and compost I have found two distinct
varieties of slugs ... that long orange guy and the shorter gray slugs I am
used to seeing. However, I have not seen any sign of either variety in my
garden since treating it with coffee grounds this spring. And that's the
important point; I don't have a generic hate for slugs ... I just don't
want them damaging my garden.

We've had an extremely wet spring so I am open to the possibility that I may
have to reapply the coffee grounds this year. Normally a single application
lasts the whole year. So I want to know, as I do with coffee grounds, that
what I am applying will decompose into useful compounds and not build up
into a problem somewhere down the road. Diatomaceous earth gets into the
body joints of a lot of different insects, including beneficials such as
ladybugs and lacewings. I am, therefore, reluctant to use it.

I've seen a lot of websites claiming that DE does not hurt earthworms, but I
also ran across this one
http://www.qc.ec.gc.ca/ecotrucs/solu.../disorders.htm that claims
that DE is an effective control for them. Since the sites that claim it's
safe are also selling it I tend to discount their claims of safety. The
site that claims it is a control for them does not sell it. I am leaning
toward the Environment Canada site that claims it is harmful.

I quote this excerpt from another source:
http://www.simplyhydro.com/proper_insecticides.htm

"4. ... Animals, humans and birds however, can digest diatomaceous earth and
are not effected by it. CAUTION: Earthworms, honeybees, caterpillars,
predator mites and ladybugs will die if they ingest diatomaceous earth. "

Yesterday, for the heck of it, I counted the worms in just two forkfulls of
aged (~1 year) compost. I got 18 in the first forkful and 22 in the second
one. Considering that I put about 20 forkfulls of compost through hardware
mesh (picking out the worms as I went) and then onto my garden yesterday,
that's about 400 worms added to my beds in a single day.

I don't want to needlessly kill a single one of them and I don't trust the
vendors of DE to tell me the truth about its safety.

Bill