Re: Starbucks for coffee grounds!

**jimmy cee** 4/12/2021, 10:24 pm

OhioGardener wrote:Vermicomposting at its best, Jimmy! They did all the work, and you got all of the benefits.

Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment about 3 blocks away from Starbucks, so I'll have more grounds to bring home afterwards. I called Starbucks this morning, and she said they'd save them for me and will have my name on them so they won't go elsewhere.

Even though my local starbucks had many users of their grounds, they were always happy to see me. I often emptied their waiting shelves of 50 to 60 lbs of coffee...Diners would be another place to get them.

OhioGardener 4/17/2021, 4:49 pm

Love the Black Gold that Starbucks saves for us gardeners. Today's run came home with three large bags of grounds, and after removing the filters and random pieces of plastic there was about 4 cu ft of grounds to spread on the gardens. And, there were a lot of filters to put in the worm bin.

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 Coffee16

OhioGardener 4/22/2021, 8:48 pm

The daily pick up of Starbucks coffee grounds has gotten fairly large. The manager tells me that fewer people are picking up the grounds now, and she is glad that I am willing to take them. I still have a few gardens to apply the grounds to, and then I may have to start a pile of just grounds to allow the worms to compost them as Jimmy Cee did one time.

This was today's pick up of coffee grounds, just over 150# total.

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 Coffee17

**jimmy cee** 4/22/2021, 10:30 pm

YES by all means. Start a pile on its own and leave it to the weather. You will never regret it..so many areas to use them in....

yolos 4/22/2021, 10:41 pm

I got two large bags from Starbucks today.

JAM23 4/23/2021, 7:10 am

Hi!

I am new to gardening and just started my first compost bin made out of used pallets. I'm so excited!

Other than adding the grounds to your compost bin, how else would you use coffee grounds in your garden?

Also, how to you store them so they can weather?

Thanks.....I have soooooo much to learn!

OhioGardener 4/23/2021, 8:31 am

jimmy cee wrote:YES by all means. Start a pile on its own and leave it to the weather. You will never regret it..so many areas to use them in....

OhioGardener 4/23/2021, 8:42 am

JAM23 wrote:Other than adding the grounds to your compost bin, how else would you use coffee grounds in your garden?

Also, how to you store them so they can weather?

In addition to adding them to the compost bin, I spread them lightly on the soil of the garden beds. Don't bury them, just spread on the surface. They not only provide a lot of nutrients for the plants, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, and copper, they are also a favorite food of the earthworms. Periodically refresh the coffee grounds on the surface to replace the ones that have been absorbed.

If you don't need them at the time for gardens just pile them up on the ground, and let them weather naturally. If they are piled on the ground, the earthworms will move up into them and break them down into plant available nutrients.

JAM23 wrote:Thanks.....I have soooooo much to learn!

Worry not, we all started there! For me it was 60-some years ago, and for others it was last week. Remember that in gardening there are no failures, just experiments that didn't work.

JAM23 4/23/2021, 8:36 pm

Thank you for all that info! I can't wait to contact my local Starbucks!

**jimmy cee** 4/23/2021, 10:23 pm

JAM23 wrote:Hi!

I am new to gardening and just started my first compost bin made out of used pallets. I'm so excited!

Other than adding the grounds to your compost bin, how else would you use coffee grounds in your garden?

Also, how to you store them so they can weather?

Thanks.....I have soooooo much to learn!

Do not concern yourself about coffee grounds....Make a small enclosure and add add add. they will take care of themselves. when you need some, just take what you need. In time you will notice worms of all types roaming around in them.

OhioGardener 4/24/2021, 1:34 pm

I have mentioned before how I either throw the Starbucks coffee filters in the composter, bury them in the garden, or put them in the worm bin, but I've never checked to see how well they compost. So, I did a small experiment to find out.
Two weeks ago I picked up a large batch of grounds from Starbucks, and after separating the grounds from the filters, I had a 5 gallon bucket about half full of coffee soaked filters. I dug a hole in one of the raised beds to bury them, and covered them with about 6" of soil.
The next day I picked up another batch of grounds, and again separated the filters from the grounds. There was another half bucket full of filters. I dumped them into the compost tumbler along with the kitchen scraps. As usual, every other day I rotated the tumbler 5 times.
Today I dug up the soil in the raised bed to check on the filters, and was surprised to find there were barely any with enough paper left to recognize them. There was a mass of earthworms, though, and they appeared to be enjoying the feast. Then I checked the compost tumbler where I had put the filters. About 1/3rd of the filters were still recognizable, and the rest had mostly decomposed. It will probably take the composter another week or two to complete the composting of the filters.
This was an interesting experiment to me. I thought the ones in the composter would decompose faster, but found the ones that were buried and available to the worms decomposed much faster.

**jimmy cee** 4/24/2021, 10:00 pm

Such enjoyment comes from experimenting. I learned a lot by just doing that...

yolos 4/25/2021, 5:54 pm

OhioGardener wrote:I have mentioned before how I either throw the Starbucks coffee filters in the composter, bury them in the garden, or put them in the worm bin, but I've never checked to see how well they compost. So, I did a small experiment to find out.
Two weeks ago I picked up a large batch of grounds from Starbucks, and after separating the grounds from the filters, I had a 5 gallon bucket about half full of coffee soaked filters. I dug a hole in one of the raised beds to bury them, and covered them with about 6" of soil.
The next day I picked up another batch of grounds, and again separated the filters from the grounds. There was another half bucket full of filters. I dumped them into the compost tumbler along with the kitchen scraps. As usual, every other day I rotated the tumbler 5 times.
Today I dug up the soil in the raised bed to check on the filters, and was surprised to find there were barely any with enough paper left to recognize them. There was a mass of earthworms, though, and they appeared to be enjoying the feast. Then I checked the compost tumbler where I had put the filters. About 1/3rd of the filters were still recognizable, and the rest had mostly decomposed. It will probably take the composter another week or two to complete the composting of the filters.
This was an interesting experiment to me. I thought the ones in the composter would decompose faster, but found the ones that were buried and available to the worms decomposed much faster.

When you use the coffee filters either in a worm bin, tumbler, or buried in the ground, do you tear them up into smaller pieces or put them in whole. I just emptied 3 LARGE bags of Starbucks coffee in one of my beds. (I am using this bed this year for in-place composting for various reasons). I have a large number of filters and the thought of shredding them by hand is keeping me from doing anything with them. They are just sitting in my wheel barrow waiting for me to decide what to do with them.

OhioGardener 4/25/2021, 6:22 pm

yolos wrote:When you use the coffee filters either in a worm bin, tumbler, or buried in the ground, do you tear them up into smaller pieces or put them in whole.

I don't bother tearing them up, and just put them in whole with the wet coffee grounds still stuck to them. The only ones I tear open are, 1) the big bags of grounds used to make cold coffee; and 2) the larger bags of tea that are used to brew the iced tea, those are torn open to dump the tea out of them into the rest of the grounds. The earthworms and microbes don't take long to devour the paper.

**donnainzone5** 4/25/2021, 8:28 pm

I've noticed that my coffee filters tend to take a long time to complete the composting process, so I've been tearing them into small pieces. I separate the spent grounds and add to my *new* green barrel. Browns are going into a separate container from now on, per Wayne's advice. Perhaps that will enable me to have sufficient volume to do hot composting. Unfortunately, the neighbor who offered me grass clippings hasn't dead-headed her dandelions, so I may not be able to accept that donation.

OhioGardener 4/29/2021, 5:59 pm

This morning I called a local Starbucks to ask if they would keep the coffee grounds for me to pick up this afternoon after a doctor's appointment near there. She said they would love to save them for me, and then said they still have the grounds from yesterday that nobody picked up if I would like to have them as well. I told her I'd take all of them if that would okay. So, stopped in there to pick up the grounds, and was surprised when the young guy came out with the bags. I ended up with 7 large bags of grounds, and I'd estimate each bag weighed between 40# and 50#. When I add these to the pile of grounds I started last week, it will about triple the size of the pile. Gonna be a bunch of busy worms in there! Very Happy

**jimmy cee** 4/29/2021, 10:06 pm

OhioGardener wrote:This morning I called a local Starbucks to ask if they would keep the coffee grounds for me to pick up this afternoon after a doctor's appointment near there. She said they would love to save them for me, and then said they still have the grounds from yesterday that nobody picked up if I would like to have them as well. I told her I'd take all of them if that would okay. So, stopped in there to pick up the grounds, and was surprised when the young guy came out with the bags. I ended up with 7 large bags of grounds, and I'd estimate each bag weighed between 40# and 50#. When I add these to the pile of grounds I started last week, it will about triple the size of the pile. Gonna be a bunch of busy worms in there!

Don't let them forget you. They change people constantly. some are not happy for the extra work....so I have found.

OhioGardener 4/30/2021, 8:42 am

jimmy cee wrote:Don't let them forget you. They change people constantly. some are not happy for the extra work....so I have found.

So true. We have 5 Starbucks in our area, and 4 of them know me by my voice as soon as I call in. The fifth one isn't worth visiting - they don't want to be bothered with them, and all of their trash goes in with the grounds. The funny thing yesterday was after she told me about having the grounds I said, "Thanks so much!", and she replied, "No, thank you!"

OhioGardener 6/15/2021, 10:37 am

A neighbor called a week or so ago to say that her daughter wants to get some raised beds, and asked if she could by to see ours. I told her I'd be happy to talk with her. Well, she came by yesterday as I was out working in the gardens spreading out some coffee grounds. She told me I shouldn't be doing that because it would kill all of my plants. I was somewhat surprised at that, and asked where she heard that. She said she had put coffee grounds on her flowers one time, and it killed all of them. After some discussion, I told her wasn't sure what killed her plants, but I am sure it wasn't coffee grounds unless she had put them down so heavy that they smothered the plants. To make a long story short, she said she will never use coffee grounds again, and I assured her I will keep using them. We did have a good discussion on the raised beds, setting them up, and caring for them, though.

OhioGardener 7/9/2021, 9:09 pm

I use a lot of coffee grounds in my gardens, and am frequently asked how I separate all of the "junk" out of the grounds. So, I made a short video on how I use an old dairy crate for that purpose. The video is a little broken in places because the camera kept overheating in our 93ºF weather, but I think it still gives a good overview of the process.

yolos 7/9/2021, 10:39 pm

I like that method. I have a couple of crates and will try it when I run out of coffee grounds and need more.

OhioGardener 9/6/2021, 10:10 pm

Labor Day Weekend is a busy time at Starbucks, and asking them to hold the used coffee grounds can result in a lot of grounds. I collected a total of 14 bags of grounds, weighing between 40# and 50# each. Using the milk crate method to separate the grounds from the filters and miscellaneous trash made quick work of getting the grounds ready to spread on the beds as well as adding to the compost.

The bags of coffee grounds are unloaded from the Jeep and ready to sort out the filters

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 Coffee18

The first load of grounds are ready to go to the gardens. That 6 cu ft wheelbarrow is nearly full

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 1st_lo10

The second load of grounds are ready for the gardens

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 2nd_lo10

The third, and last load of grounds is ready for the compost

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 3rd_lo10

After separating all of the grounds, there were two 5-gallon buckets full of filters to add to the compost

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 Buckes10

**sanderson** 9/6/2021, 11:35 pm

Using the milk crate is a clever idea!

**Kelejan** 9/21/2021, 8:48 am

The milk crate allows the coffee to fall through five spaces, one bottom and four sides.
Makes quick work of sifting. I appreciate the colour matching with the crate and the wheelbarrow. Smile

OhioGardener 9/21/2021, 8:55 am

Kelejan wrote: I appreciate the colour matching with the crate and the wheelbarrow.

Starbucks for coffee grounds! - Page 3 3170584802

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