Don't Forget This Critical Ingredient When Composting With Coffee Grounds

[@GoGreenCompost]

Wood Chips Are Great For The Garden, But Don't Compost THIS Kind! ► kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5nGqYV4YthgfMU

[@EducatedSkeptic]

Agreed! Until our horses both died in 2020, every day got a wheelbarrow of mixed horse manure and pine shavings (including in particular those that were urine-soaked) added to the vegetable garden, first as mulch, and then the following spring, all roro-tilled into the soils. The garden produced like gangbusters, and even in dry times the soil remained moist!

[@BaliFoodTreePlanter]

I like your sincerity. There are better systems for this emergency if you want learn them. I consult. #asiflifeonEarthMatters

[@jstndvs2007]

I run a small independent coffee shop in a rural community. We have people who want coffee grounds bring in a 5 gallon bucket with their name and number on it. We keep them lined up in rotation in the back hallway and call the customer when their bucket in full and ready to go. Also I get lots of produce from happy farmers.

[@stevoblevo]

great comment Justin. you made my day! I should see if my local coffee shop will do that with me.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Fantastic, if every coffee shop did this, imagine the amount of fertile soil that would be created!

[@dakotahflannery798]

I was one of those taking coffee grounds from Justin Davis when preparing my raised keyhole garden. Imagine my surprise seeing his comment when I was on a youtube stroll!

[@GoGreenCompost]

@@dakotahflannery798 that's awesome, small world of us composters! 😀

[@MissZ1KCMO]

@@stevoblevo most Starbucks stores gives the used grounds away daily

[@ruthslone2992]

I used empty toilet paper rolls to segregate the seeds at planting, and keep track of where they’re supposed to grow. (Helps me remember where I planted them!) I didn’t realize that the cardboard decomposition was good for the soil, too. I guess that explains why I got so many cucumbers 🥒 this year.😊

[@fattoria_di_bastoni]

I much with shredded paper. Not particularly attractive but not awful and when it’s turned over in the fall the earthworms eat it!

[@boop7313]

that's a really cool idea, thanks for sharing that!

[@TheyFearUAwake]

Cucumbers produce ridiculous growing in anything

[@SojournerOnSojourn]

Moldy wood pulp

[@triciac1019]

​@@fattoria_di_bastoniI love that look personally.

[@suburbanhomesteadsurvival7118]

I have found that Costco is a great source of cardboard. They use huge sheets on their pallets...no tape and label stripping! And they shred very easy!

[@GoGreenCompost]

great tip, thanks!

[@robertdouglas8895]

Furniture stores have lots of it and they are getting nothing for it recycling now.

[@PszemoI]

Looks like we are after the same sheets of carboard from Costco! I hope to visit my local branch before you will take them all! 😀

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

haha...funny I was just thinking of about this as I use these sheets as a tarp when laying out my compost but then after I use them and they get too wet I throw them in the city compost but if I have a lot of residue compost on them I shred and add back to my composter.

[@triciac1019]

Those big sheets would be great to lay down and then put wood chips on. It would suppress weeds nicely. I need to ask for them.

[@SN-sz7kw]

Thank you for this. I add my coffee grounds with the unbleached filter paper to the blueberry bed to maintain soil acidity. I no longer feel lazy for not removing the grounds from the filters. 😊

[@patpierce4854]

I use the filters too, mostly because I dump them with the grounds into the kitchen container for bits when I’m only half awake!

[@thedude4718]

It's been my understanding that spent coffee grounds don't add to the acidity as it all goes into the coffee. I've ground a bunch of beans and added fresh grounds to my blueberries but I've no real way, besides a pH tester, to tell if it makes a difference either way.

[@jessemallory741]

I use wood chips, kitchen scraps, leaves, paper shreds, and coffee grounds. When I dig up the pile in the spring, my pile is full of worms. This past spring I took compost, just made it the top layer of a raised bed where I planted and grew squash and had the best squash harvest ever.

[@Bogie3855]

When I started adding coffee grounds to my compost I found a football size clump of worms and when I separated them there was the ball of coffee grounds in the middle. Shiniest and fastest worms I have ever seen. They actually glowed.

[@GoGreenCompost]

"Mom, grandpa is telling his worm story again" 😁

[@karenannmcmillan2206]

@@GoGreenCompost 😂❤️

[@robertdouglas8895]

I have red wigglers on the bottom of my pile of coffee grounds I collect over the winter before I make my piles.

[@trishabookman4029]

WOW!!🐛💫🤩 I used to put in my compost and soil. I wasn't sure if I should use it with dogs and cats around. I recently read that it's great for putting in water and wiping it on your pets and leaving on for a few minutes then wash off. It works as a natural bug repellent... Thank you for your wonderful help tips! I've been missing the great results from having the worm castings in my soil☺

[@annabackman3028]

You turned them caffeine junkies!

[@timmartin8191]

Whatever you haven't figured out yet, you will figure out in short order. Videos like these really add to the knowledgw base of the gardening world.Thanks for an excellent video! Subscribed = ✓

[@09echols]

You can also add your coffee filter if it is unbleached natural fiber. Works when you don't have cardboard.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Oh yes definitely throw the filters in too!

[@mrose4132]

Good idea!!

[@kevinisbell1867]

Mmyeah good idea good idea

[@potelbat]

@@GoGreenCompost But also to oblige the slow-down process so it doesn't damage the worms as much? :)

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

I have been throwing in my coffee filters for years and I don't think they are unbleached and my worms love them and are fine.

[@nancyinoregon809]

That study about the decrease of earthworms is pretty interesting because I've kinda found the opposite. I live in the Pacific Northwest with dry summers and very wet winters. I save my grounds into a quart yogurt container and every few days I dump them over the side of my deck onto a dedicated coffee ground pile, where they sit undisturbed. Underneath that pile is my typical PNW heavy clay loam soil, not a compost-rich garden bed. If I disturb that coffee ground pile at all during the wet season, I find it's chock full of red wrigglers that somehow found their way to that pile. When it gets dry and hot they disappear. I'm wondering what's different about my environment from a compost pile that would make such a difference.

[@deekang6244]

Me too

[@triciac1019]

I think it's just the moisture level. If you can keep it moist the worms should stay. It's worth a try.

[@petermenningen338]

In simpler terms diversify your amendments to either type of compost system. If you look at nature what you see id diversification of materials dropped to the soil level during the year. What you are doing with any form of compost or mulch is aiding nature in the process your reward is that you speed it up. If the excess is green Nature lets it leach and bleach turning it brown. If the excess is brown the lichens and microbes us it as fuel and convert it to base nutrients for use. Sheet composting (organic mulches) use a combination of the two to make the nutrients available to the plants (Back to Eden method)

[@randyearles1634]

thanks, I've always used coffee grounds and now I'm gonna mix it with cardboard.

[@starseedenergy996]

Also don’t use too much coffee grounds. It really heats up the vermicopost. . Cardboard it’s carbon rich while coffee grounds are nitrogen rich

[@unlucky1353]

The Starbucks inside the Target my wife used to go by in Durham, NC would bag the used grounds in 5 pound bags and put them in a basket for anyone to take near their register.

[@craigmetcalfe1749]

Makes total sense. I think that sometimes we forget that coffee grounds are a green additive and the cardboard is a brown additive. I am just about to liberate my first compost where I used some of the coffee grounds I get from a coffee shop for free. You are the first person who I have seen do something similar to me. I use green plastic mesh in a cylinder in various places in the garden, so I always have compost near my three major growing zones.

[@alliecat9607]

Sure wished I lived near you -I’m tired of emptying K-pods.😅

[@MrThatguy333]

@@alliecat9607 no Starbucks near by?

[@666toysoldier]

I put coffee grounds and eggshells in a pan in my oven, where they get toasted when I bake something. I then process them through my old Waring blender. This makes a great addition to potting soil or garden soil.

[@GoGreenCompost]

I bet! increasing the surface area like that probably makes them break down faster

[@desertodavid]

@666toy soldier, good lord how much time, energy and money did you expend putting those ingredients into your electron gobbling appliances? This is hardly the goal of composting! 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@AWNoNickname]

dried and ground banana peel is great for houseplants - especially orchids .

[@kathyscott4671]

Exactly! Some of live in colder climates and dont use worm composting and need to speed up the decomposing process by baking the eggs shells, grinding things, and other ways to speed up the process.

[@desertodavid]

@@kathyscott4671 I made a winter garden here in the high desert where it gets too cold for regular gardening. I buried my compost materials about 2 feet down in the center of my 6' x 6' covered garden. I monitored the ground temperature in the buried pile while the plants were growing. It got up to 114 degrees Fahrenheit. So, I still say that this can all be done naturally without unnecessary work and added CO$T of electricity.

[@freddieivory625]

Thanks for the tip! I got a little nervous because I use coffee grounds in my worm compost hotel, ground compost stop and in my garden compost tumbler. But I always use cardboard and leaves. Wiping my head from relief. 😂. My worms are happy!!

[@robertdouglas8895]

The coffee grounds are nearly neutral. The worms do benefit from the mixture but I haven't found them to die from too much of a good thing. They live in the bottom of my pile of coffee grounds. Too much water and heat can kill them, though.

[@TIMTalksCooking]

A nicely edited, totally watchable, and very useful video! I really appreciated your English, which is correct and precise throughout, as well. This is intelligent, but simple. Good luck to you!

[@GoGreenCompost]

thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed it!

[@pdloder]

I found the coffee was upsetting my worm farm, so I created a whole new bin just for coffee grounds and then put a handful of worms in, to see how they would go, whether they would evolve to suit their environment. But I also added some cardboard and hessian bags or things like that. And they've been there seemingly happy for years. But I also tend to keep my coffee moist in plastic bags for a few weeks to months before I add into the bins, I think this tends to let mould do the first part of the breakdown - and I think it may eradicate some of the nasty chemicals.

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

I just throw the paper filters in with the coffee grounds...worms seem to love the paper filters....also you know what I do in summer? I go to places where people are throwing out the corn husks and the strings of the husks...my worms love that. Apparently you can boil that corn silk too and use it as a blood sugar regulator and you know what's crazy. Some people must have caught on because I saw some people selling the stuff.

[@KoguryoKid]

Thank you (from Australia) for these tips!

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Nice job Andrew, I've been Vermicomposting since 2009 in a Can-O-Worms. I started a KZbin channel in 2020. It started out as a garden channel and has evolved into a combination garden/worm/life. I do love my worms and have 6 bins at this point. Thanks for the suggestion on going to Starbucks 👩‍🌾👍

[@eulabergado6927]

Do the worms survive winter outside or do we take them indoor?

[@drewberrynews3875]

@@eulabergado6927 mine have survived the winter but I am in CA so the temp doesn't drop to freezing for long periods. I would cover my bins in clear plastic during the rain to solar heat the bins. Leave room for air by placing a couple of 5 gal buckets at the corner between bins to tent the plastic. I also did lower the soil moisture ratio making it a bit drier during higher humidity periods. They seemed happy and were thriving even in winter but again winter is not weeks of freezing where Im at.

[@rhensontollhouse]

There are 6 Starbucks within a ten minutes drive from my formerly low organic matter soil garden spot. Two of them put only coffee grounds in green bins. Often they will contain perhaps 1,000 pounds of old grounds each. Score! Was able to grow monster okra, squash, pepper and potato crops the second year of composting.

[@MichaelJosephJr934]

I'm in chicago and I asked a couple coffee joints for grounds and they looked puzzled. After a couple other requests I found a dunkin that has been giving me more than I could imagine. I could barely lift the bags.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Awesome, I bet in a densely populated area like that one coffee shop probably produces a heck of a lot of grounds each day!

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

does chicago have a big drug addict problem? I ask because I am in Vancouver, BC and I used to be part of a community garden and I used to walk over to the Starbucks and collect their bags that were their old coffee grounds that they would put in the used up bean bags and go and dump those in my garden. One day I went and they stopped handing out those bags because some junkies were taking them and selling them to people at discounted prices pretending they had bought the beans and just needed the money. So they told people to bring their own container but they had some junkies manage to get other bags and do same thing so they didn't want to do it unless they knew for sure it was for gardening so then I started walking over there with a wheelbarrow and would tell them they could come with me or come visit me. They let me take them but I am wondering if these confused places are just scared of situations like these happening. Don't get me wrong. Drug addicts I have no issue with and I worked alongside a number of addicts in the garden who gardened to keep sober but I am looking at how businesses might have reasons why they don't want to do things....and of course they just might not understand the concept that one mans garbage is anothers treasure.

[@brianfitch5469]

@@moniquevandeplas5210 Every city is full of addicts large and small. Yes chicago is full of tens of thousands of addicts.

[@tonysu8860]

The study you referenced wasn't detailed to know for sure, but I bet the probelm could also have been solved by simply feeding the worms correctly... by placing all new food in a corner which isolates the effects of food decomposition to that corner and doesn't contaminate the entire worm bed. This way, when the worms prefer a more pH neutral environment, they can retreat to their own bedding. In fact, I would say my recommendation is the only sure way of avoiding a worm herd killing. You can mix more carbon into the food as you recommend but it's hard to specify the exact proportions.

[@vernonhenshaw3089]

My mom used to coffee ground add egg shells in her worm Garden😊

[@janicereadymartcher7696]

Pure coffee grounds left in a plastic bag outside on the ground and weeks later it was Full of Woggims, likewise my compost bin, crammed with woggims.

[@jimjones8745]

I add egg shells in my coffee along with a few grains of salt (via Chester on Gunsmoke) makes a great cup!

[@EducatedSkeptic]

Will have to try adding them to the compost. I HAVE been using them as mulch in a specific garden area - but here in Maine, they have NOT molded and decomposed, but just accumulated as a kind of brown organic sand on the soil surface. We apparently don't have the right mold - at least at our farm - to get them to decompose. The only way I can get that process even started at all is to admix bread crumbs and other readily-decaying materials that will start a mold culture. We also don't have to worry that much about the earthworms here, either. None of those we have are native - not one - and in some areas, they're destroying the leaf litter layer in the forests. Took me a while to realize the mantra "earthworms are great for the garden!" isn't always true! Plus, now we have the "Chinese jumping worms," which are in some areas wreaking environmental havoc.

[@infernaldaedra]

earthworms are still native to North America. In Fact maine has had native worms before the populations died out during the last interglacial. They immediately rehabitated the region and not even all worms were killes during the ice age many nemotodes can survive freeze.

[@EducatedSkeptic]

@@infernaldaedra ... Native earthworms in North America, fine. But not in Maine. (And an Interglacial is the time period BETWEEN major glacial events.) Sorry, but when you're considering Maine, there's NO evidence for earthworms in the fossil record. North America has been glaciated some 20-25 times in the last 2.5 million years, and there is NO evidence for earthworms in that time interval - because there are virtually no known DEPOSITS in Maine from before maybe 16,000 years ago (and I've worked on two of those four known older sites). You're operating entirely from speculation. ALL earthworms now found in "the wilds" of Maine are introduced - from nursery stock, deliberate introductions, or fishing bait turned loose at the end of the day. And Nematodes are no more earthworms than snakes are.

[@chuckwaardenburg496]

Very educational you guys are deep.🫡

[@BarbaraC02]

Great tips... thanks. I live near a Starbucks and drink coffee. Love my red wigglers and don't want to harm them.

[@lizzymoore54]

We add our coffee grounds in the brown, not the bleached white ones, coffee filter that the grounds are in. Our compost is alive with earthworms. Thanks for the info., and cardboard will be used now as well. ☺️

[@psdaengr911]

Shredded paper works as well as cardboard does so does saw dust, grass clippings or anything with a high cellulose content and high surface areas to volume ratio. The cellulose absorbs some of the residual caffeine.

[@davidbowman271]

Compost attracts Black Soldier Fly larvae (Hermetia Illucens) which quickly devour the coffee grounds in your compost. Don't be alarmed! They mutate into Black Soldier Flies which do not have any moving mouth parts. The Black Soldier Fly larvae are also very nutritious and can be feed to you chickens if you have them or to the fish in your pond.

[@GoGreenCompost]

I wish I had some chickens, I get a lot of black soldier fly larvae at certain times during the year

[@stevoblevo]

hard not to be alarmed seeing those guys eh? just as challenging as in Luke 2:10 I'd bet. lol

[@billclinton6040]

I have loads of BSF larvae in my compost bin and they avoid the grounds along with the citrus. I suppose if there was nothing else in the bin they might eat the grounds, but I haven't seen that yet. Plus, I have a pile of grounds composting separately from the bin and no BSF larvae have ever appeared in it. In fact, grounds seem to deter all sorts of insects including vermin. I think the smell must repel them. There is probably still a small amount of caffeine left in them which is a natural insect repellent. Even though they are considered a green, they are not nearly as high in N as grass clippings or kitchen scraps because the compost piles using just grounds as the green source don't heat up nearly as much. None of this stops me from collecting grounds though from my local SB's. Grounds are a year round source of greens unlike other sources which is crucial because I always have an overabundance of browns and I appreciate their repellent properties not just in the compost but the garden as well.

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

@@GoGreenCompost you can sell them

[@MrBig8Little]

​@@stevoblevoor Exodus 8:24

[@papabear149]

Good information! I also get eggshells from a small breakfast restaurant nearby.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Great tip!

[@a0flj0]

Don't exagerate with the egg shells. They are mineral, worms can't use them in any way, they add a lot of calcium to the soil, which some plants don't tolerate well. They also influence pH - too many egg shells and your compost/soil will become alkaline.

[@papabear149]

@@a0flj0 Thank you. I distribute them over very large area

[@louisestaats234]

When slugs crawl over egg shells it cuts them and they die. Wondering if it does the same to worms.

[@papabear149]

@@louisestaats234 I work with slugs! Can’t get them to do a damned thing!

[@richardgordon3306]

I don't garden any more Land Lord won't allow, but this the best info I have seen. Thank you.

[@geraldnemanishen5079]

I have never had problems with my vermicomposter - nice healthy worm population. I think the reason is that I just add my paper coffee filters with residual grounds after I shake out the excess grounds into another pail. This I empty into my other aerated compost binds with the kitchen and garden waste. Sometimes I do add carbon when I think I am low on carbon in the mix.

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

I agree with you. I've kept a 3 tier worm bin since 2008. We drink 16 cups/daily. I put in the grounds, filter, banana peel and strawberry tops 7 days/week. I can't tell if it is slowing them down, but I have to clean them out once a month. I also had ground Eggshells for grit and toilet paper and paper towel roll. I think the combination works for me.

[@GoGreenCompost]

@@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920 Sounds like a pretty good worm diet!

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

@@GoGreenCompost they are happy little creatures 🐛

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

@@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920 you drink 16 cups of coffee a day?

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

@@moniquevandeplas5210 my husband drinks most of it. 6oz. cups

[@14Conan88]

When they done the study on coffee grounds, did they use fresh or used coffee grounds because fresh coffee grounds is very acidic.

[@OWK000]

I was using coffee ground to fertilize some potted plants and it would form a hard crust on the top of the soil in the pots and make it hard for water to soak in. I had a bunch of free sawdust I had obtained so I just threw some sawdust on top of the grounds and the water was able to soak in again which softened the crust, dissolving it completely and the plants thrived and were finally able to utilize the nutrients from the coffee grounds. If you are throwing out stale, un-brewed coffee grounds, or using conifer sawdust, you might want to add some kind of agricultural lime to the mix as well.

[@chriswhitley3283]

One of my granddaughters works for a coffee shop. She gets me some when she can. I have gotten a couple bushels so far.

[@hayro1088]

I’m about to start composting for all my plants and herbs. This info was exactly what I needed to hear thank you

[@GoGreenCompost]

Glad it was helpful, thanks for watching!

[@tinkernaut8736]

My compost is chopped leaves and coffee grounds by way of a Su Johnson reactor. Always turns out great.

[@EDLaw-wo5it]

Great information. Luckily I already do that. I drink a five cup pot a day and I include not only the grounds but also the paper filter. Cardboard is so plentiful and free. We have a DOLLAR GENERAL CLOSE BY AND THEY USE TONS OF IT. Sorry for the caps. Havagudun bud and thanks.

[@UrbanHomesteadArtist]

My worm population are going gang busters and I give them all our coffee grounds. I may not have noticed the affect because I also put into the kitchen pot toilet rolls, torn mail, tissues, paper napkins and sometimes small bits of cardboard. Kitchen scraps the chickens can’t eat too. I must have been automatically balancing it for them.

[@philiphughes6845]

I use to do this. Then I started growing mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, and use the coffee and cardboard as the growing substrate. After I get the mushrooms, I crumble what is left and add it to the garden

[@GoGreenCompost]

Tell me more! Do you use liquid culture, sawdust spawn, or what? Where do you get your cultures? Do you sterilize or pasteurize your substrate? Would love to hear your success stories with mushroom cultivation.

[@philiphughes6845]

I started about this time last year, during the lock down. I did a Google search on the easiest mushrooms to grow and they all came up with oyster mushrooms. I got an oyster mushroom growing kit from Amazon. And did another Google search on how to propagate mushrooms and went with the stem butt method. It seemed the easiest for me to start with. When I harvested the first mushrooms I loosely chopped the stems. Then boiled some cardboard (it was the box the mushrooms arrived in) taking care to remove the peaces with ink and glue. When it had cooled down I squeezed out the excess water and placed it in an airtight container, a old ice cream container, and layed the stem butts with the cardboard. I didn't expect anything to happen. Within a few days the stem butts were fuzzy, and in about 3 weeks had completely colonised the cardboard. I drink 2 or 3 French presses of coffee a day. I had saved those in the freezer, in another ice cream container. When the container was full I placed the coffee in a pan, along with chopped up cardboard, a tablespoon of sugar and some ground eggshells. Boiled it for 15 minutes or so, and when it was cool added the colonised cardboard (all in another container). And kept it moist for a few weeks, until it was like candyfloss, then took the lid off, sprayed it a few times a day and in a few days the pins started to appear

[@nevyildiz1151]

I heard the best compost mix is coffee grounds, leaves and cut grass.

[@robertdouglas8895]

I mix rotten hay, leaves, veggie scraps from the grocery store and old manure to my compost along with coffee grounds, but I've found, at the bottom of my huge pile of coffee grounds that I collect over the winter, that my red wigglers are doing quite well if not in the numbers in my piles. My piles are on the ground with three layers of sheet plastic and hay in-between as well as a few feet of snow on top. When I open the oldest one up on Groundhog day to start my tomato and pepper plants. the wigglers are on the surface and very active. Before using the plastic and hay layers, the worms moved into the soil to just make it through the winter. N Idaho. -20 degrees F

[@evelyny7037]

So when you add the rotten hay, is this hay that you know hasn’t been sprayed with anything or GMO type etc.? The reason that I ask is because I am noticing a lot of problems with hay that has been sprayed, absolutely decimating gardens. So just made me wonder, if you are using just whatever hay you find and it’s still working just great? Thx!

[@robertdouglas8895]

@@evelyny7037 I do ask if any herbicide has been used. So far, none that I've found have been sprayed. My neighbor used some that had been sprayed and it took years to come back from it.

[@jimjr4432]

Thanks so much! Great video, so I looked up earthworms, Wikipedia says an 'terrestrial invertebrate'. For some reason I thought that maybe the die off of the worms, could be the lack of pumpkin spice latte? Thanks again, I will save my coffee grounds for sure. Will subscribe now.

[@queenbeekeeper]

Good timing! I actually had planned to add a bag of coffee grounds to my 'tumbler' compost bin tomorrow so I will be sure to add plenty of cardboard with it. I would have been upset if I had accidently killed all my worms if I had added only the grounds.

[@maryannbritz1061]

Just add the filter paper with the grounds. Works the same as cardboard.

[@shinigami-man5727]

This video was much more enlightening than i expected. Thank you very much 😊 🙏

[@bizzybee852]

Thanks for a helpful reminder. I am pretty sure I had heard this long ago, but did not live in the country where I could garden for 5+ years and I sort of forgot. We just moved back to the country and I have been saving all my coffee grounds, and my husband and I drink a lot of coffee, like 2-3 cups a day each minimum.

[@curiousbystander9193]

I love the idea of using industrial cardboard made from who knows what kind of source materials...... held together with glues and binders, probably some latex like your paper towels..... nice

[@madewithscraps]

Thanks for the informational video. I have and do use my coffee grounds, combined with the shredded unbleached brown paper coffee filters, spent tea and chai tea bags, and crumbled egg shells. I simply dump all in a plastic container in my garage, then add to garden raised beds when the container is full. My plots are full of happy earthworms year round. I remember when I first started to sue this compost, along with the Splendid Increase of Taste and Harvesting of my veggies, especially sweetens the tomatoes and bell peppers. Along with other home made fertilizers, made from pulled plants and liquid calcium from egg shells and water sitting; I purchase Zero Commercial Fertilizers. My pest and disease control treatments are also made with organic, around the home ingredients. Such a Noticeable, Improved Taste over store bought wanna-be veggies! This video shows how recycling of your grinds and additives are so good for your garden.

[@PinballPreparedness]

Good point because you need greens and browns.

[@klomax7089]

Wow great info! I’m a first time viewer and already use my coffee grounds (and sometimes Starbucks too), but I’ve been putting them directly on the soil where I have my plants (I mostly container-grow). But I’m starting a small compost area in my backyard so this video is right on time 👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽

[@GoGreenCompost]

Glad it was helpful, thanks for watching! 😀

[@suewinston-elliott2674]

Young Aussie guys in Fremantle West Australia getting coffee grounds to grow mushrooms in ship containers. Coffee shops then buy back what they grow.

[@GoGreenCompost]

awesome way to add value and utilize a waste product!

[@williamwaters4506]

The University of Arizona, Extension Service found that earth worms do not like coffee grounds, initially. The coffee grounds have to be in the soil for a number of months in which time the soil microbiome changes the chemical composition of the coffee grounds. After a few months earth works will consume the coffee grounds. Coffee grounds provide nitrogen but very little potassium and phosphate.

[@DanielLLevy]

Earthworm/ Lumbricid activity! What a great, easy to quantify parameter to evaluate compostation! I'm sharing this to our Community Gardens group.

[@lafamillecarrington]

Really useful advice. I will be increasing the amount of cardboard that I add to my compost bins.

[@Andy-no9zl]

Just a suggestion. A video on creating compost using coffee grinds and dried leaves would be helpful. For example, what's the ideal amount of coffee compost vs dried leaf (visually). I know you can google it but it's hard to visualize the amount of each item to mix.

[@newttella1043]

Any proportion is fine. You can stir up the new material a bit to mix. I'm always adding in new mixed material over old compost and it seems to decay nicely. I have a compost bin with a bottom door to pull out the oldest material as I need it. It always seem to be good material with lots of worms.

[@robertdouglas8895]

In my piles I layer equal amounts of leaves and hay with a smaller amount of veggies and a similar layer of grounds along with several shovels full of mature compost with worms in it. Works good for me and the worms. I'm the worm guy at my farmers' market as well as veggies.

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

I think the ideal is supposed to be 70 carbon to 30 nitrogen but some like to do 60/40. Also studies have shown that actually coffee grounds are pretty neutral after going through the percolator...as the water puts most of the acidity into your coffee. They are just slightly acidic on like a 0.02 scale or something. And watch out for which dried leaves you use. Maybe dry leaves are okay but I know one of the trees contain jungalin or something...that might just be in the drip line though...okay sorry, my inner nerd is trying to escape.

[@josephlebowski7129]

​@@moniquevandeplas5210walnut trees produce juglans that inhibits other growth. So do sunflowers.

[@breeze787]

I have been using my own formula which is stew whatever you can stew now using grass cuttings, coffee grinds, shredded paper, brown leaves and mix it all up in a stew. Pile them up dismantle and pile them up again till I have to filter the compost and spread it back out on my lawn.

[@patriciahall2223]

I use coffee grounds all year , but needed this information ..thank you 🇨🇦

[@GoGreenCompost]

Glad it was helpful, thanks for watching!

[@newforceptyltd]

Great video with good ideas. I have found that some cardboards are treated with insecticides and/or antifungals. Just my two bobs worth.

[@tohrurikku]

My advice as some one who worked at a coffee shop: call a day or two in advance if you want coffee grounds! Where I used to work coffee grounds would be put in the garbage with everything else. If someone wanted used coffee grounds we would have to set up an old muffin pail and collect the grounds over the day. Usually the only person who wanted the grounds was a garlic farmer. Honestly, I really want to know exactly how he used the grounds. I was under the impression that things like cardboard, shredded newspaper and old leaves were supposed to be added along with the kitchen scraps. There was like a ratio of two to one or something along those lines...

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

I have heard of some people growing garlic straight in coffee grounds...heard it works like a charm but never tried it myself.

[@evanstephen300]

@@moniquevandeplas5210 Not sure how it would work, because the density of the grounds (esp after becoming wet) would not really provide adequate airflow

[@FloridaGirl-]

Collect leaves in fall. Mix with grass clippings. Throw in whatever you want (except meat and dairy)=BLACK GOLD

[@HollyOak]

Coffee grounds can be a green (nitrogen) or a brown (carbon) depending on if you've used them or not. Coffee grounds that have NOT been used are a brown. Coffee grounds that have been used are a green. The cardboard is needed if you add too much green, it's all about balance.

[@ramonafrances4364]

YES. Excellent info

[@JhonnyCrash1]

Wow, this is amazing info. I've been reading up on composting a lot lately, and this is the first time someone said this. Coffee grounds are always seen as green. Does this mean you can mix used and unused coffee grounds to have the perfect rario? (Ofcourse you need to add other stuff for other nutrients)

[@badmotherhumper]

No, op is wrong. Used grounds are not a good source of carbon

[@Foma_Stuppa]

???????!!!!!!!! If we are talking about nitrogen to carbon ratios, unused coffee should have even more nitrogen than used coffee as nitrogen is extremely water soluble. Also.....are you buying coffee just to compost it without using it?!?!?!?!

[@arcar66]

This winter, we are using our hugelkultur garden as a compost heap....I will definitely start using coffee grounds (a trip to StarBucks might help) and shredded cardboard... should be a neat experiment.

[@MohsinRaza-ii6fm]

Have you tried composting only coffee grounds with some 10 or 20 percent normal garden soil? I compost tea grounds with clay and it's ready in a month to use.

[@holisticheritagehomestead]

Great video! I think I heard that worms like coffee grounds. Apparently, they do not. This is good to know. I have a mistrust of cardboard, because I am worried about glues, chemicals, whatever… We try to stay away from toxins as much as possible. However, I really like the idea of mixing grounds with leaves. I add coffee grounds directly to our garden beds, our planter, and to our compost pile. Great reminder for me to make a connection with coffee businesses to try to get some of those spent grounds. Thank you!

[@joyannkjb4l250]

Just started video but wanted to say, you've got the coolest😎 compost bins I've seen yet!!👍👍🙃 ~ok, back to vid lol

[@edwardlucas5498]

My coffee dealer has been supplying me with about sixty litres of grounds a week for years it makes really good compost 👍

[@truderenken3248]

I wish I had known this before I was shocked when my worms disappeared! Thank you!

[@Splendid123456789]

Thank you for the video! How much of that huge bag of coffee grounds are you adding to each of your compost piles?

[@englishcoach7772]

Very sincere, thanks for the good content.

[@GoGreenCompost]

My pleasure!

[@timmoore6055]

First time I have heard this. Thanks!

[@maidenminnesota1]

I throw my toilet paper and paper towel tubes in with my kitchen scraps, which includes crushed eggshells and coffee grounds.

[@triciac1019]

Mix that with some shredded leaves or straw and you can get some good compost. Keep it moist.

[@donnabeaudin9114]

I just started a compost pile last summer and have been throwing in grounds regularly. As soon as all the snow melts, I will be sure to add the shredded cardboard. Good information, thanks!!

[@GoGreenCompost]

thanks for watching!

[@robertdouglas8895]

I've learned to compost with worms in N Idaho with cold winters. To keeps the pile warm, put iton the ground with triple insulated layers of hay and sheet plastic. Without the insulation, the worms went into the ground to survive, but now I'll get potting soil ready to go with worms on the surface of the pile the end of January to start my peppers. Give them plenty of greens to get through the fall and winter. I haven't used cardboard but spoiled hay free on Craig's list works well and has more nutrients.

[@donnabeaudin9114]

@@robertdouglas8895 Thanks for the information !

[@Causemoi]

Thanks for the info! For my worms, I use coconut peat, ground egg shells and coffee grounds, and now thanks to this video, shredded cardboard. Is this OK and what else am I missing? And in what proportions should they all be?

[@serendipitymoments4684]

Thanks for the invaluable information...I will add cardboard to my coffee grounds compost.

[@stevoblevo]

Amazon donates a lot of carbon to my yard. I'm appreciative.

[@stevecarter8810]

Yeah, who do we email to ask them to use better/less tape and stickers to make it more compostable...?

[@Fragrantbeard]

@@stevecarter8810 and now the damn paper bags from Whole Foods grocery pickup/delivery. Now the paper seems coated.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Ha ha good to hear, this is the best way to recycle these boxes.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Yes removing the plastic tape does get a bit tedious after a while.

[@stevoblevo]

@@Fragrantbeard is it coated now? that's a shame. I haven't experienced that yet. Also my experience with Amazon is they use the right tape which is like paper and breaks down nearly as fast as the cardboard does. Who needs chipdrop and mulch when Amazon gives me cardboard?

[@kenfarley957]

I compost with coffee grounds, kitchen waste, chicken waste in pine shavings and mulched leaves. The bsfl break down the kitchen waste and chicken waste. It makes a great soil and the bsfl makes a great healthy treat for the chooks. And if you want to attract the bsf to your compost, coffee grounds and banana peels will do it.

[@Andluth]

Would you recommend just doing a separate pile of coffee grounds and cardboard and let that breakdown before adding it to your larger compost/worm pile? Thanks for the info!

[@jonathanbuford1793]

And broken down leaves and saw dust from local sawmill I can’t imagine it’s bad unless it’s to much percentage wise and or if you use pine straw which we don’t but good to know and makes sense to keep an eye on ph levels which we bought a meter for ph and moisture with long rod for checking bins and lime can lower if it gets to high so much still to learn🤔😁😎💪🙏😇

[@Nettsinthewoods]

Top tip with the cardboard. Thank you! For fellow Brits, Waitrose keep their coffee grounds for people to take if they wish. Also, I suspect decaffeinated coffee would upset the worms less?

[@phillipbampton911]

Earthworms: Ye-Ye-Ye-Yes Please!!!

[@karensumpter7752]

Waitrose also have a free newspaper, which seems to compost well enough along with food scraps.

[@sandrinefresne6575]

I have a bin that I top up with cardboard, coffee ground (I have a coffee shot so lots of it) , egg shells , vegetable scraps ... a french study revealed that for the coffee to be good for your garden , it has to be 9 months old ... if it’s too young , not mature enough , it doesn’t do much good . So I keep that coffee mix in a separate composter.

[@jonesjr29]

Do you have a link for that study? Thx

[@sandrinefresne6575]

@@jonesjr29 I am afraid it was a french article in a newspaper. But I will ask around and see if we can find it again on Facebook.

[@GoGreenCompost]

would definitely be interested in that study, let us know if you come across it again! thanks for watching 👍

[@Lucianato2]

Great video! Will definitely be breaking down those Amazon boxes I have waiting to be put out with recycling and throw them in the backyard to be weathered, then added to compost pile and other flower beds for the winter.

[@NaughtyGoatFarm]

My understanding is that coffee grounds are considered a 'green' in compost. Meaning they are a source of nitrogen in the same way as grass clippings etc. The cardboard, paper or leaves are a 'brown' meaning they are a carbon source.

[@MikeLowther-d7l]

My experience with spent coffee grounds in composting is as a major source of green, Carbon-nitrogen ratio around 1:20, pH is 6-6.5 so ideal. Looked at cardboard as a major consistent source of carbon. But issue is time cost of sorting. So just use diversity of carbon; wood chip, spent hay, seasoned manures. Trick is break it down as much as you can, turn often at thermophilic stage (microbes heating) and introduce your physical composters after this to balance out the compost. Takes 6-12 months to make great compost. Half science, half commonsense. Bit like winemaking ?

[@kevintaylor1434]

I use coffee grounds for when im going on a fishing trip , just replace the night crawers from the dirt they come in and replace with coffee grounds , two weeks before fishing trip , you will have the biggest crawers you have ever used.😊

[@Gkrissy]

Good video. I do the same thing, I get coffee grounds from my local Starbucks

[@GoGreenCompost]

Good stuff!

[@kathysimpson3249]

I learned something new. Thanks for the video

[@Utah_Mike]

My house hold goes thru 2 pots of joe per day, I spread the grounds thru out the garden year round.

[@differentkim]

Niiiiice. I likethose cages in the back. Will check out the channel to see if there is more info about them. I still have a huge pile of covid cardboard and, I live near a juice bar. You've given me an intriguing idea for an experiment. I love using leaves. They are the great equilizer.

[@yourportlandlifestyle2907]

there are places to get free sawdust too. I bet that would work as well. I have really dense dirt in my front strip by the street. I am trying an experiment. I am adding coffee, leaves, sawdust and my camilia flowers that dropped. I read that worms do well if they have a good mix of stuff above ground... so I'll see

[@kcb3rd]

Tried this idea with eggshells and got a 'ton' of them from a breakfast restaurant.

[@joer5627]

A good idea

[@ttb1513]

Good idea. Also, I’m checking how accurate google results are: How many egg shells in a ton?! ;-)

[@flowercook3915]

Tell your Starbucks that you want the filters too! Mine uses unbleached,brown filters so that will give you some carbon and Starbucks is happy they don't have to sort them out!

[@GoGreenCompost]

Great idea, thank you!

[@maryannbritz1061]

Yep I use the filter paper also I just rip it up and plop it around my blueberries. So I guess the plants get the extra carbon they need .

[@guyh.4553]

Very interesting. Theres been comments on soil types being acidic, neutral, or basic. That doesn’t apply here until you go to apply it. Just an FYI. My question to you is are you layering the coffee grounds to your bins or what? Another question is did that study look into tunnel composting? I'd be interested. Good information, thanks!

[@daliacastello2608]

I have come to realize that coffee grounds actually keep ants out of the garden where I have had difficulty getting ants out of the growing area those coffee grounds deter them not kill but the move out after about a week they have moved the baby eggs and all. People may beg to differ which is fine but this works in my garden it takes about a week so be patient I usually make a deep line across the top and sprinkle the grounds on and around the area

[@johnnyhays2942]

Andy--a friend of mine here in Louisiana raised red wigglers for fishing and also to put a little spending money in his pocket---he used coffee grounds but one thing he used was cornmeal-- his worm beds weere prolific and the worms were large..

[@moniquevandeplas5210]

I met a guy who has a micro brewery and I was thinking of using his spent grain to do composting with but I am not sure if this would be the same results and also I think spent grain might be sticky.

[@fjb4932]

johnnyhay, I'm not computerwise. How do you type and at same time cross it out ? ( in simple, non-computer geek talk ) Thanks ☆

[@brianfitch5469]

@@fjb4932 might wanna google it his comment is over 2 years old.

[@TheFarmacySeedsNetwork]

Yep, coffee is high in Nitrogen... gotta keep that balance with carbon... 30:1 C:N is preferred,,,, makes sense. Good tip! cheers!

[@joanies6778]

I throw the unbleached coffee filter in with the coffee grounds, plus cardboard. Getting ready to build a new bed with yard waste, food scraps (including coffee groynds), alfalfa pellets, and old straw mulch underneath it.

[@GoGreenCompost]

Sounds a lot like the bed I made in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/f3SzqIZ4qc2djtk . Currently growing lettuce, arugula (which has bolted but is still quite tasty) and some garlic greens in mine. What do you plan to plant in yours?

[@joanies6778]

@@GoGreenCompost I'll be planting corn on one end and okra on the other. Since both are summer crops, I won't plant until June 1 to clear our last frost date, and gives the worms plenty of time to devour what I buried. I covered the whole area with a big piece of cardboard, too. Pulled it up the other day to check moisture and some big worms were there on the surface!

[@joanwharff6483]

I love your Stainless Steel bucket to collect your grounds in your kitchen ….. WHERE can I get one ????? … Please ????? 💗🙃💗…. Thank You, Joanie

[@jeffjohnson2348]

Just add a paper layer in your Kitchen Pail, then add a layer each time the one below is covered. This gives a good mix of vege waste, coffee grounds and paper material. Also, make sure you have drained the Coffee grounds of excess water. I put then is a separate container to let them settle, then drain the excess liquid.

[@johnthompson5409]

I've tried the Coffee Ground method.. Update : what you want to do is take your used coffee grounds and re-run the grounds again in water and use the water to water your plants..My Plants love to be watered with coffee water. only once a month .

[@azriyadi9347]

There's small coffe factory in front of my store , today I asked for the coffee grounds that they usually throw away.