velvet_underground
Member
Can coffee chaff (the skin that comes off from roasting coffee beans) be used as an amendment for organic soil? I'm thinking it might be nice to add.. Has anyone done this?
Coffee chaff as an ammendment?
- Thread starter velvet_underground
- Start date
Rasta Roy
Well-Known Member
Used coffee grounds are okay. Unused ones would still be too acidic. You could compost them though I imagine.
Vnsmkr
Well-Known Member
Sounds like this is the skin from the bean itself, not grounds
velvet_underground
Member
FWIW, I'm not talking about unused coffee grinds.. I'm talking about the skin of the coffee bean that comes off during the roasting process.
https://www.theroasterie.com/blog/spring-has-sprung-and-your-garden-needs-coffee-chaff/
https://www.theroasterie.com/blog/spring-has-sprung-and-your-garden-needs-coffee-chaff/
velvet_underground
Member
It's very thin, crumbles easily and is light as air..
Vnsmkr
Well-Known Member
Sounds good.
You meant adding it to your compost pile or whatever proccess involved in building a readytogo soil right?
calliandra
Well-Known Member
Interesting!
Reading on from your link, the text at
http://www.ehow.com/way_5232478_do-coffee-bean-chaff.html
says this:
"The chaff is green pieces of skin or hull that come off in different ways depending upon the type of roasting process used."
So count it as a green. It's high in nitrogen.
The light and crumbly consistency will let it literally melt into the soil, I imagine
They do warn against overusing on that page:
"A concentration that is too high in chaff in your mulch, compost or soil will serve to block water absorption from your soil and plant life. This is because when it becomes wet it becomes very sticky and acts as a sheet against both water and air for the plants it surrounds and the soil and compound that it is mixed in. As long as you make sure to use only a low percentage of the actual chaff in your compost or mulch, it should not cause this problem."
Well yeah, so what's a low concentration for amending soil?
Somewhere along the lines of a cup (or was it half? lol) per sqft like othe hi N amendments like alfalfa meal?
That would be my best guess!
edit: ahh and here we have it, all the goodies these hulls contain (give or take, factor in natural variance and also not sure how the roasting then affects contents) - good Potassium source too, it seems
http://feedipedia.org/node/11612
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velvet_underground
Member
The fourth paragraph in the following article is interesting.
https://www.batdorfcoffee.com/blog/coffee/coffee-garden/
https://www.batdorfcoffee.com/blog/coffee/coffee-garden/
Tupapa
Well-Known Member
At longest it has been used in anyway its safe to use and mix with composting soil., Raw don't use. GL