Topic: Stuff at Starbucks

[davee52uk]

I know they're expensiven but Starbucks give away free coffee grinds for compost heaps. Not sure if this is any good; even Gardeners Question Time seemed undecided.

Also their coffee stirrers - long wooden sticks make good seed labels and their drinks cups for taking coffee out are good as plant pots for larger seeds - marrows etc.

[Blue Bird]

Yes I have been using these for a while.  but all the main coffee shops will give them away.

sticks a bit thin for me as need my glasses more and more :(

slugs hate coffee big time

[manicscousers]

yep, one of our mates got 2 big bags of coffee grounds from starbucks, for nothing, including printed instructions for how to use them  ;D

[calendula]

I tried coffee grounds a couple of years back but found them really to be too caustic and drastic for anything useful and they actually damaged crops - eggshells seem a better bet - would be interested in other's experiences

[Kea]

I got some recently but put them in my compost. They are also quite good for acid loving plants growing in pots.

[cambourne7]

i added some to water to make a feed for cabbages earlier in the year and it seamed to work.

I also add to compost as an accelarator.

[Barnowl]

I've been thinking of scraping a bit of a channel around the outside of my raised beds and pouring the grounds into that instead of spreading them directly round the plants. Has anyone tried this?  Would it affect the marigolds I usually plant round the beds?

[seanhawkey]

slugs hate caffeine apparently, I've seen coffee dregs and grounds recommended as a repellent around young plants

[delboy]

I always had my doubting hat on about coffee and slugs, and this link seems to bolster my doubts:

www.paghat.com/coffeeslugs.html

[seanhawkey]

Ahh. well, that would seem to put that last desperate hope to rest. Back to the scissors then.
Good to be well-informed, thanks.

[Andy H]

http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/Business/coffeefert.htm

Just bought a compost bin and in the instructions was add tea bags and coffee grounds so I investigated a bit more and ended up on this site(above link) and I am convinced that coffee grounds and straw or leaves etc make perfect compost so I thought I would post it on here, I have a tasimo and it seems very un envoironmetally friendly so I decided to open all the coffee  inserts and use the coffe on the compost and the plastic bits to make bird scarers and also as bacteria collecters in the pond filter. I wonder what anyone else thinks......

[Ishard]

Personally I would make holes in the empty pots before you add them to make a filter because they will act as 'catchers' for the 'fines' in the water and this will cause the bad bacteria to grow and polute the water. In other words you will have a permanently dirty filter.

OR add an powerful airline to keep the pots bubbling up and down.

Anaerobic bacteria will grow on almost any surface in the pond or filters lol I know someone who made a trickle filter from plastic knives and forks.

For me these pots wouldnt provide enough surface area and would restrict the amount of bio filtration I like.

[Andy H]

An air line would disturb the water and dislodge the bacteria. Originally the fourth section had 3 levels of foam with corageted tubes under them and these allowed bacteria to grow on them but the compartment is empty at moment. I reckon it would hold about 300-400 tasimo plastic bits, what do you reckon????

[cacran]

Do you actually have to buy something from Starbucks to get the Coffee grounds? If so, it would be cheaper to use another method of repelling slugs or buying compost. I had some coffee there once and was not impressed at either the taste of the price.

[Andy H]

Not sure if you have to buy a coffee, dont think so from what I have read.

Ish...Would any coffee harm the fish? Should I rinse a few hundred in the washing machine first?

[SMP1704]

Don't have to buy anything from the shop - just help yourself to the grounds

[norfolklass]

I've used three bags around my beans, peas and sweetcorn and it seems to be working – but who can really tell?!? when I first transplanted them they were unprotected for three nights and I lost about half a dozen in total, then I sprinkled a ring of coffee grounds around each plant and I haven't lost any since. it might just be coincidence ::) or the beer traps I'm also using ;D