Coffee Grounds in the Garden?

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by mresseguie

dcarch,

It is my opinion you have a seriously twisted mind. --------------
Compost till ya drop!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A twisted mind is a terrible thing to waste

dcarch

[Ruth_10]

2. Activated charcoal is the most porous material known. Although this is not the way activated charcoals are made, you may still end up with some very porous charcoal, may be much better then Perlite to help retain moisture.

The charcoal might be porous, but it will also adsorb a whole lotta stuff and this stuff won't be available to the plant roots.

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by Ruth_10

The charcoal might be porous, but it will also adsorb a whole lotta stuff and this stuff won't be available to the plant roots.

Interesting.

I don't know if the charcoal holds the stuff temporarily, or locks up the stuff perminenetly.

I will go make some coffee and think about this.

dcarch

[johno]

About a year ago, I was doing a little research into high-carbon soils. I have a terrible memory when it comes to details, but what I did retain is that some areas of tropical central America have a high carbon contentin the soil. In such soils, more nutrients are held due to the carbon. It was suggested that natural charcoals - that is, charcoal produced from real wood in a low-oxygen environment, NOT briquettes - could be ground fine and added to the soil to replicate this ability. I got a bag of this kind of charcoal, but was never able to efficiently powder it...

It was also mentioned somewhere that powdered natural charcoal could be saturated with fertilizer prior to being added to the soil, and that these nutrients would be available to plants over time.

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by johno

------ In such soils, more nutrients are held due to the carbon. It was suggested that natural charcoals - that is, charcoal produced from real wood in a low-oxygen environment, NOT briquettes - could be ground fine and added to the soil to replicate this ability. ----
It was also mentioned somewhere that powdered natural charcoal could be saturated with fertilizer prior to being added to the soil, and that these nutrients would be available to plants over time.

Exactly what I was thinking. Nice thing is that coffee grounds are already in powder form, so there is no need to crumble them.

If you are going to try this, I would suggest baking the grounds in a covered metal container to cut out the oxygen and only do this with all the windows open, because it can have lots of fume.

I am growing Carbon this year. I wonder if I would get better tasting fruits doing it in carbon enriched soil?

dcarch