# Cold coffee on house plants?!



## Marauder (Apr 17, 2006)

Anyone else hear that cold coffee is good for houseplants?

I recently had a friend tell me that his mother swore by it. I tried it and, y'know, it seems to work. I have no measurable evidence, and my "testing" was completely unscientific.

The plant I tried it on was a Epipremnum (Pothos). It seems to grow faster and with better color. 

Is there any science to this? I think that since coffee is derived from beans, that there is extra Nitrogen in it. Test kits are useless since color charts obviously won't work. Does coffee have a different Ph that plants like?

So how about it all you scientists, plant guru's, botanists, chemists, and horticulturists? Any theorys?


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

My younger daughter's 1st grade science fair experiment addressed this (w/ marigolds). I think it was a trivial difference, at best. I'll post again in here if the paper says otherwise.


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## dennis (Mar 1, 2004)

Coffee is somewhat acidic so overtime you could make the soil more acidic and thus increase the availability of some nutrients (of course this can go to far and at low pH some elements are toxic). More than likely though, your plant just likes the extra watering and attention


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## crataegus (Nov 16, 2006)

You can probably find the nitrogen content of coffee on the Internet, but like Squawkbert said, it's not gonna do your plants much good. You'd be better off vermicomposting the grounds. Plus, even if you don't add sugar or sweeteners to your coffee, fruit flies love it. We found that out in an office where I worked. Someone heard about pouring coffee on plants and tried it. After that, we weren't allowed to have plants in that office.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Marauder said:


> ...
> 
> The plant I tried it on was a Epipremnum (Pothos). It seems to grow faster and with better color.
> 
> ...


Must have been the shot of caffeine!


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## Squawkbert (Jan 3, 2007)

As far as germinating & growing Marigolds went, tap water > coffee.

If you're seeing an improvement w/ coffee, it's because you're sharing it w/ your plant on a more frequent basis.


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## Boz (Jun 1, 2006)

Interesting. My mother swore by this as well. My father had an ailing rhododendran that stopped flowering for two years. He sits on his porch with his morning coffee every day, so I told him to dump some on the bush every day. It's now flowering yearly, and is the best looking rhodo in his neighborhood. Of course, rhodos are acid loving, so that's probably why. He's in a hard water area. I think for evergreens and other adic loving plants, coffee/grounds are a cheap way to lower the soil pH.


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## fredyk (Jun 21, 2004)

kind of similar topic, but if you use up the milk in a milk carton, and splash some water around in it, this milkywater is good for houseplants!
then, with the coffee, it'd be cafe au lait : ))))


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