Your right! I was googling it when I got this message. I have like 50-pouds of Coffee Grounds. Where do I start?

Dean

I'm going to mix coffee grounds into media when I transplant this year.

For worms? well, under piles of leaves mostly. 😆
Barb

I bought a dozen night crawlers. Now I need to grow them out. What do you do, Barb?

Dean

I'll post to reply to Off Topic, OK? 😀
Barb

Today (24 hours later), he's fine (obviously happy to be in warmish soil).
Decidedly unscientific, but my conclusion is: if coffee grounds kill scale after 10 hours,
obviously no harmful effects to larger organisms.

I'll check earthworm daily for longer term effects.

I've been adding coffee grounds to my compost pile, maybe now I'll just add it straight to plants
from what folks have reported.
Barb

Bart, did you water it in or just add the grounds to the top of the soil? The insecticidal properties come mainly from the "second pass coffee" that comes from water dissolving the alkyloids. I doubt you would see much of an immediate effect with dry grounds -- even on scale. I would suggest that you poke some drain holes in the bottom of the container and water the soil every few days and see if that has any effect on the worm.

Jody

Her name is Barb. I doubt you will see any negative effect to the worms. Worms love Coffee Grounds!

Jody, thanks for the reminder.
That was in the literature.

My one worm is now in the company of a dozen nightcrawlers.
I will use second pass coffee next occasion.

If anything, I expected dry grounds to irritate the worm's soft body.
Didn't look any worse for wear 24 hours later.

Thanks ever so much Jody for helping us with this stuff.
Our palms and cycads will sure benefit from our new knowledge. 😀
Barb

Her name is Barb.

Typo... sorry.

That's okay just wanted you to know.

FYI! I was told that Coffee grounds hold little value as a worm food and that i should use peat moss instead.

no prob whatsoever, visualpalm 😆 😆
Just don't call me late for dinner!

Re Tom Broome's excellent trials using coffee grounds for scale control, some pics showed dry grounds entirely covering the caudex.
Presume your "second pass" idea is to have it drench the root system, where scale are known to overwinter in considerable numbers.

Dean we've moved the worm-feeding-raising discussion. 🙂
Barb

Yes, he does use dry grounds as a top-dress mulch. But the alkyloids are not released until water is applied. And yes, the idea is to kill the scale insects that are on the roots -- which, BTW, happens year-round, not just in the winter. It's just that in the winter the insects living on the leaves and trunk above ground are knocked back by the cold, dry weather, and the plant is then "re-populated" in the spring by the individuals in the roots. During warmer, wetter winters, the scale is not necessarily reduced above ground.

Jody

...

re-populated

And I presume that isn't even taking into account the life cycle of scale?
Mr. Broome's tests had such good results within 10 hours for "initial" control.
Several applications are likely needed for maturing eggs?
Barb

It does take the life cycle of the scale into account, because (1) the alkyloids continue to leach out of the coffee grounds for some time, and (2) there also seems to be a systemic effect -- both of which combine to control the scale above and below ground for many months.

Jody

All of which combine to perhaps make coffee grounds the perfect "additive" for cycads.
Could be part of an overall cleanliness routine for our plants.
I don't see any negatives, rare indeed!
Barb