Question on the coffee treat to nepenthes

[zhilin]

I know there are many threads on other forums discussing this topic. But I have no accounts on those forums, so I post my questions here. Hope somebody can reply

It was suggested to use cooled, stale coffee to water the soil once or twice a year. But there is no clear statement on the strength of the coffee fluid. Does that mean directly pouring the coffee from the coffee kettle to the soil? Or treat the coffee as a somewhat fertilizer, and dilute 1 tsp of coffee with 1 gallon water?

I also read a thread using coffee once every other month or every three months. I think the concentration may also be different to the above case.

Thanks

[peterhewitt]

Fertilizing with coffee is a recent phenomenon, so dilutions and strengths of application are still being experimented on.
Most people are using the stale leftover coffee in a pot at full strength about once a month.

[zhilin]

Thanks, Peter. The "full strength" means no need to dilute?

May 26, 2010 8:50:14 GMT peterhewitt said:

Fertilizing with coffee is a recent phenomenon, so dilutions and strengths of application are still being experimented on.
Most people are using the stale leftover coffee in a pot at full strength about once a month.

[nmraskin]

I just tried this on my Nepenthes Miranda. I had about 3/4 of a pot left, so I poured it on and let it all run through. We'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

[zhilin]

Thanks. I am looking forward to seeing your results

May 26, 2010 22:53:46 GMT nmraskin said:

I just tried this on my Nepenthes Miranda. I had about 3/4 of a pot left, so I poured it on and let it all run through. We'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

[peterhewitt]

No need to dilute.

[noplay]

Does this mean that you make the coffee with RO water? Why would coffee benefit Nepenthes? It could take a hell of a lot of coffee to water a large collection of Nepenthes. I have over 100 plants. David

[peterhewitt]

Since neps can tolerate a higher level of diluted solids in there water, coffee made with tap water should be OK. Or dilute a bit with RO water.
People with a large collection, are still safe going ahead with Nitrogen fertilization directly in to the soil, on a scheduled basis. (Diluted appropriately of course)
I Myself have a few thousand Nepenthes, so soluble Nitrogen fertilizers are the only option for me. I do give struggling plants and newbies the coffee treatment, as i feel Coffee is more of a substrate conditioning agent, than a full fertilizer. This could have something to do with re acidifying the mix and very slow release of nutrients as a result.

[zhilin]

Hi, Peter, did you compare the coffee treat with MaxSea fertilizer? I am curious on which one is better.

May 29, 2010 11:51:36 GMT peterhewitt said:

Since neps can tolerate a higher level of diluted solids in there water, coffee made with tap water should be OK. Or dilute a bit with RO water.
People with a large collection, are still safe going ahead with Nitrogen fertilization directly in to the soil, on a scheduled basis. (Diluted appropriately of course)
I Myself have a few thousand Nepenthes, so soluble Nitrogen fertilizers are the only option for me. I do give struggling plants and newbies the coffee treatment, as i feel Coffee is more of a substrate conditioning agent, than a full fertilizer. This could have something to do with re acidifying the mix and very slow release of nutrients as a result.

[peterhewitt]

I have not been able to perform trials, I doubt that coffee will be a replacement to regular nitrogen fertilizing. Rather an addition used sparingly.

[bigbella]

I had been told that it was advisable to apply the regular strength coffee biannually, not monthly; and I have seen marked improvement in most of my plants -- and certainly a surge in the growth of the live sphagnum, a primary component of my composts. Coffee, applied more often, especially in conjunction with conventional biweekly orchid fertilizers would probably encourage too much algal growth.

Here's a link to a TerraForums thread:

www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121639&highlight=coffee

[manders]

Just wondered if anyone has tried tea as a fertilizer, it's been used for many decades as has used coffee grounds. Is there anything special in the coffee or would tea work just as well?

[manders]

Coffee seems to act as a quick release fertilizer for a number of trace elements including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, copper and calcium and acts a slow release fertilizer for nitrogen and has a Ph of 6.5.

[unstuckintime]

The caffine found in coffee is also a highly nitrogenous compound, and as I understood it, several plants have evolved their carnivorous nature because their environment lacks fixed nitrogen in the form of nitrate... maybe there is a link there?

[manders]

Caffeine is also found in tea.

Coffee is relatively low in nitrogen, the growth effect is I suspect a response to getting a dose of micro-nutrients which are missing from the inert potting mixes in use and the bulk NPK fertilizers.