# Reusing Coffee Grinds

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 31, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294 "2001-03-31T21:54:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Delila](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Delila](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delila)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294/1 "2001-03-31T21:54:44Z")

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Are coffee grinds good for your garden? (Please site source)

Thanks

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**Author:** ![FormerlyKnownAsBlank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/4491bb/32.png) [@FormerlyKnownAsBlank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerlyKnownAsBlank)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294/2 "2001-03-31T22:08:38Z")

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I don’t have a source, but hard experience.  
They are too acid for nearly all plants but strawberries.

However, they make an excellent addition to any mulch pile that will sit, for the same reason. They will disolve minerals from things like egg shells, improving the whole mixture.

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2001, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294/3 "2001-03-31T22:27:00Z")

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A Google search for “coffee grounds garden” brought up 59,500 hits. Here’s one.

[http://www.hgtv.com/HGTV/project/0,1158,GALA\_project\_12097,00.html](http://www.hgtv.com/HGTV/project/0,1158,GALA_project_12097,00.html)

> **[Google](https://www.google.com)**
>
> Celebrating the late We:wa! #GoogleDoodle

Enjoy! 😉

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**Author:** ![50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/b9e5f3/32.png) [@50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/50)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294/4 "2001-04-01T05:40:05Z")

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Ive always thrown them into the compost, filter thingy and all, no problems here.

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**Author:** ![Ezstrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ea924/32.png) [@Ezstrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ezstrete)\
**Post date:** [April 1, 2001, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294/5 "2001-04-01T18:45:48Z")

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Use on Rhododendrons,azaleas and other acid loving plants.

About one cup of used grounds at each adult plant once per year----------in Spring

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**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2001, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/reusing-coffee-grinds/60294/6 "2001-04-03T17:54:52Z")

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My wife likes [GardenWeb](http://www.gardenweb.com). She’s read there that worms like coffee grounds (something about “they get amorous” :eek: ). As for the acidity, if your soil is alkaline to begin with, the acidity can help. We’ve got about 1 - 2 gallons of used coffee grounds saved up we’re going to add soon, but my wife measured the pH at 8.5, so we should be OK.