Thanks to the lovely and long suffering Mrs. Gotch's efforts (I never touch the stuff), we'll have ~ 15-20 dry quarts of coffee grounds left over after Tomato-n-Pepper planting.

Should a person just distribute them equally twixt the three (3) composting bins, or is there a better approach?

The Gotch

My compost basically depends on coffee grounds, so that gets em all. But I'm curious to hear what other uses people found worthwhile.

The 1st place I ever worked had free coffee.
They had so many coffee grounds, they used to spread them on the sidewalks during the winter instead of sand.

If I had them I would add them to my potting and or seed starting mixes.

I add a small "grab" (~two [2] tbsps/28.2 grams) of both coffee grounds and epsom salts to each Tomato-n-Pepper planting hole.

The Gotch

I add them to my compost pile.

We get huge quantities of coffee from a local cafe, most of it goes in to the compost pile or the wormery. You can sprinkle them over soil as a light top dressing, not in a thick layer which can form a hydrophobic crust. In autumn I put a thicker layer on the raised beds and cover it with compost, by spring the worms etc. have broken it all down. I don't dig them directly in to the soil as there is a study which showed this can reduce plant growth, but the addition of manure solves that (they said it wasn't due to N depletion but didn't allude further).

I also use them as a small percentage of potting mixes for certain things like potatoes and squash which don't seem to care what they grow in, 10% of the total mix is the maximum I have used.

slugworth wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 4:48 pm The 1st place I ever worked had free coffee.
They had so many coffee grounds, they used to spread them on the sidewalks during the winter instead of sand.

I tried this one year. It did work pretty well for non slip, but what a mess to track into the porch.

Okay what is it???
I go one place and I read worms like coffee grounds.
Another says they kill worms.

Raw coffee grounds can be toxic to plants and worms, but used grounds are ok for both.

Rockoe10 wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 6:52 am Raw coffee grounds can be toxic to plants and worms, but used grounds are ok for both.

That's what I always thought.
Who on earth could afford to dump fresh coffee grounds on a plant or soil?
I mean seriously are people that ignorant these days?
Do they have to be held by the hand that much?
Not ranting so to speak but seriously.

Bower wrote: ↑Sat May 28, 2022 6:14 am

slugworth wrote: ↑Fri May 27, 2022 4:48 pm The 1st place I ever worked had free coffee.
They had so many coffee grounds, they used to spread them on the sidewalks during the winter instead of sand.

I tried this one year. It did work pretty well for non slip, but what a mess to track into the porch.

Just blame the dog.
Wood ashes leave skid marks also, but lighter in color.

Worms love coffee grounds, at least mine do, supposedly euros. I take all the coffee grounds and layer them in the hot compost. The worms go the edges and don't burned. Or at least, the survivors don't complain. The coffee grounds are a perfect compost source, they can be treated as brown or green. There was a time I tried to collect coffee grounds from the dunkin donuts and such around here, but it was not worth the effort, lots of "we're not allowed" and wasted time and gas. I don't know what they do with them nowadays, probably sell them to some worm farmers.

That would make a heck of mess using them as traction!

Just don't get one in your eye.
Eyes hate coffee grounds.

I wonder how much coffee grounds people are generating every day? I use about 1/2 ounce dry coffee grounds a day. Call it a pound a month. 12 pounds a year. That would be a very minor part of the contributions to my compost pile compared to everything else that goes in there.

karstopography wrote: ↑Wed Jun 01, 2022 3:47 am I wonder how much coffee grounds people are generating every day? I use about 1/2 ounce dry coffee grounds a day. Call it a pound a month. 12 pounds a year. That would be a very minor part of the contributions to my compost pile compared to everything else that goes in there.

That's exactly how much coffee I brew at home every day.
The days of brewing a whole pot of coffee to just go to waste are long gone.
I don't even have that type of coffee maker.
And haven't had for so many years I can't remember.

Pre-covid I'd pick up spent coffee grounds from the coffee shop on way home from work. As many kilos as I could carry and put it in layers in all the worm bins. Mixed in of course with other greens and browns for the wrigglers. I'd say the worms loved it, I think they get addicted by the caffeine and get hyperactive. Many a time I'd come home and there they were, around the sides of the bin smoking a cigarette with an empty mug waiting for the coffee...

It certainly enhances the overall texture once the worm compost is extracted.

Coffee grounds are high N compared to other kitchen waste. So every bit of it is valuable where your compost is mostly plant material weeds and straw. The coffee grounds bucket is the layer that counts.
I know I had a pile in one corner (granted somewhat shaded) which was straw and weeds with no coffee grounds, and at the end of the day it was a lot less like compost and more like a heap of straw. Two years in a row barely made enough dirt to stick something into.
I just need to drink more coffee to make more compost. Plenty of weeds and straw!

Mostly around 2 lbs a month is used here, and most often it is scattered around the yard or composted.

I spread used coffee grounds under the apple tree, around rose bushes and of course in tomato containers. (not too much for tomatoes... once in two weeks maybe... )