Used coffee grounds - Toss or reuse?

[Goatrope]

A little off-topic, but I was curious what others do with used coffee grounds after brewing coffee. I didn't see other threads on this subject, so I'll ask here. Point me in the right direction if there are existing discussions about it.

I was putting mine around the foundation of my house to repel bugs, but it was a bit of a hassle, and I wasn't sure if it was actually working so I stopped doing it.

Here are some other ideas I hadn't thought of:

7 surprising ways you can reuse old coffee grounds

We’ve found 7 clever uses for old coffee grounds

www.tomsguide.com

Do you reuse old grounds for anything, or do you just toss them in the trash?

 

[nemo]

Mine get composted.

 

[Ted A]

Compost. We, in fact, have municipal composting. The compostable items are collected and turned into compost locally and sold or distributed.

 

[slimshavy]

I compost mine. When I'm growing blueberries I dump some around the plants to acidify the soil and prevent weeds (not that it does well at the latter). I wouldn't count on it for bug repellent. Even if they don't like the grounds, it's hard to arrange and keep them in any way that can function as an effective deterrent.
My in-laws dry and keep the grounds and sprinkle them on the roof and other places that get icy because they're dark and absorb sunlight and melt ice and snow. Again, messy, but they don't have gutters and don't mind.

 

[Goatrope]

Thanks guys!

 

[swellcat]

Cat litter, then compost.

 

[T r e y]

I pour it on the flower bed near the house, because I heard that it loosens the soil, but I am sure that it is not useful for all flowers, because it is important that the coffee grounds do not oxidize the soil if the soil is acidic.
... my flowers are lucky, I drink too little coffee.

 

[blethenstrom]

I have an unusual thing I did with coffee grounds. I added some to my shop soap that I made. You know soap for greasy nasty hands. It works great as an exfoliant and made it a quite scrubby soap.

 

[Old Hippie]

For years I collected coffee grounds from the outlets on the campus where I taught. One day I started adding up the numbers and I was putting 30 metric tonnes of coffee grounds on our organic farm every year. Considering all the organic inputs I was throwing on, our agronomist said, "I have before never seen an organic soil that tested 'optimum' in every single respect."

So yeah, put it on the garden.

O.H.

 

[njpaddy]

I was putting mine around the foundation of my house to repel bugs, but it was a bit of a hassle, and I wasn't sure if it was actually working so I stopped doing it.

Our coffee grounds get tossed. If you have a bug problem, especially ants/carpenter ants, visit domyown.com. At our old house, a neighbor's tree had a carpenter ant nest in it and we'd see them in our driveway and around the foundation. An exterminator told me that they're everywhere and not to worry unless you see them in the house. It didn't take long until my wife walked into the bathroom one night and they were crawling up the walls. I called the exterminator, who came out and sprayed outside and inside, and baited inside. A year, and $500 later, numbers decreased but we still saw them inside occasionally. The exterminator wanted more money for another year of inside bait. I never liked the idea of inside bait, and after a search I spoke to a woman at domyown, who told me that the outside spray they used is only effective for 90 days, and that exterminators don't want to kill the golden goose. She suggested spraying the outside foundation and around the base of the tree with Termidor SC. 10 days after using it, we never saw another carpenter ant inside the house, and I'd spray every year or two. When our oldest daughter, with kids and dogs, complained about spiders in their rental next to a golf course, my wife took them out to eat, while I sprayed the outside foundation with Thermidor. She had no more problem with inside spiders. Her dogs, and the outside feral cats they fed, were fine.

 

[KW Driver]

Compost

 

[luvmysuper]

Trash

 

[Goatrope]

Cat litter, then compost.

Really? I thought caffeine was bad for cats.

 

[ajkel64]

They go in my compost bin and then eventually go on the garden or in a pot plant. I don’t have many grounds these days as I have gone back to mainly using instant coffee or the packet cappuccino coffee.

 

[Darth Scandalous]

Compost and soil amendment for us, too.

Grandpa used to throw some used grounds in with the nightcrawlers to keep them lively.

 

[Whisky]

Compost, the pucks from espresso get placed in the indoor plant’s pots. When we water they eventually break down. We then stir them into the soil.

 

[BanjoCowboyMartaTobes]

Compost although the 7 ideas above include staining scratches in darker wood. That’s pretty cool!

 

[mcee_sharp]

I compost mine. When I'm growing blueberries I dump some around the plants to acidify the soil and prevent weeds (not that it does well at the latter). I wouldn't count on it for bug repellent. Even if they don't like the grounds, it's hard to arrange and keep them in any way that can function as an effective deterrent.
My in-laws dry and keep the grounds and sprinkle them on the roof and other places that get icy because they're dark and absorb sunlight and melt ice and snow. Again, messy, but they don't have gutters and don't mind.

I spent high school and university in Sudbury, ON. The soil was VERY acidic thanks to decades of nickel ore smelting before major cleaning up in the 80's. PERFECT for blueberries the size of marbles.

Even without the smelting all the sulphides in the endless rock outcrops make for fertile blueberry soil.

 

[Whisky]

Compost and soil amendment for us, too.

Grandpa used to throw some used grounds in with the nightcrawlers to keep them lively.

When we were vermicomposting we did this too. I swear the worms get addicted to the caffeine. They would get as crazy as a bunch of worms can get when we put coffee grounds in their bin.

 

[Sideburns]

Like many others have said, my coffee grounds end up getting composted. Not only are they acidic, they're such a good source of nitrogen that they're considered green waste, not brown. I mix them with vegetable trimmings, seeds and shredded paper for the carbon. One of these days, maybe once spring has sprung I'm going to have to put some on the front yard as we've got almost no topsoil here because whoever graded the lot made no effort to save it.