Coffee grounds are a product people often throw away after getting delicious cups of coffee. But perhaps few people know that coffee grounds contain nutrients that are very suitable to become organic fertilizer for your plants. The question here is whether coffee grounds are good for blueberry bushes.
Are coffee grounds good for blueberry bushes?
Coffee grounds are a type of product that contains many nutrients such as high nitrogen content, as well as potassium and phosphorus. Not only that but coffee grounds are also known for being good for the soil because of their high acidity. Coincidentally, blueberries are also a plant that thrives in highly acidic soils. Nitrogen in coffee grounds is also a substance that brings many benefits to the soil. If we use the right amount of nitrogen, they will be very good for the growth of plants in your garden.
However, if your soil is already rich in nitrogen or highly acidic, consider using coffee grounds. If you use too much coffee grounds for soils that are highly acidic as well as nitrogen-rich, they will hinder the development of flowering and fruiting blueberries. For plant species, they are not suitable for living in soils that are too acidic and lead to inability to grow and even death.
How to put coffee grounds around blueberry bushes?
Coffee grounds are great for providing nutrients to blueberries, but you shouldn’t add too much or an inappropriate dose into your soil. Make sure that your nitrogen level as well as your pH is suitable for applying coffee grounds, otherwise, it will result in the soil being too acidic, causing slow and stunted blueberry plants.
Each blueberry bush will need one to two cups of coffee grounds to thrive. Spread coffee grounds around the base of the blueberry tree. Try to spread them evenly around the base of the tree rather than just pouring them into one spot. If only coffee grounds are left in a certain place, they will be difficult to decompose and can also lead to a sudden increase in the nitrogen content of the plant.
Some fertilizers which are suitable for blueberries
Fertilizing is one way to help your blueberry bushes stay healthy and grow better. So what is the best fertilizer for blueberries? We should fertilize blueberries in the spring before they reach the young leaves. This helps the fertilizer to gradually penetrate into the soil, the roots of the blueberry plant will absorb it first and then make the blueberry plant grow faster.
You should fertilize blueberries only once a year with a highly acidic fertilizer because blueberries are a plant that loves acidic soil. Consider fertilizers that are highly acidic, specifically ammonium sulfate, and those that are high in nitrogen. One thing you need to keep in mind is that blueberries don’t like nitrates, so avoid choosing fertilizers that contain nitrates because they will cause your blueberry plants to die.
Consider using blood meal or fish meal, two organic fertilizers, that help add nitrogen to blueberries. As mentioned above, coffee grounds help to provide acidity to the soil of crops, besides, peat also has the same use and brings quite good results. And if you want to provide extra potassium or phosphorus, use bone meal and seaweed meal as a fertilizer. And certainly, using these organic fertilizers both helps the growth of plants and makes the environment unaffected like chemical fertilizers.
Can we use eggshells for blueberry bushes?
Eggshell is a product containing a lot of calcium, which is great for fertilizing your garden. Eggshells contain calcium carbonate(Research from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences), which is an ingredient in agricultural lime, and they contribute to making the soil more acidic. So it can be said that they are very suitable for improving the habitat of blueberries.
To make the best use of eggshells for your garden, keep a few points in mind. Before applying eggshells to your blueberry bushes, crush them finely. This is because eggshells take up to several months to break down in the soil, crushing them shortens this process and makes it easier for plant roots to absorb. It is recommended to fertilize eggshells in spring and autumn for best results.
Which plants do not like used coffee grounds?
Coffee grounds are very good for plant growth because it provides essential nutrients for plants. However, not all coffee grounds are good for all crops for a variety of reasons. Coffee grounds are really not an ideal choice for plants like lavenders, and orchids… because they really can’t live in soil with high acidity.
Let’s talk about lavender first. This flower likes to live in dry and alkaline soil, so adding coffee grounds will increase the acidity and make it impossible for them to grow.
Next is the orchid. Orchids cannot absorb the nitrogen present in the coffee grounds, leading to root rot and plant death.
Besides, rosemary is not too suitable for the nutrients that coffee grounds bring. They are also unsuitable for highly acidic soil environments. If you really want to use coffee grounds for your rosemary garden, be sure to dilute them well before watering to limit the harmful effects it brings.
Bottom line
Coffee grounds really do great for your blueberry bushes. They are not only convenient but also very cheap, as well as easy to find. However, make sure your soil quality is suitable for adding more coffee grounds because if the soil is more acidic than what your blueberry plants need this will have negative consequences for tree growth.
