De-Caff Coffee Grounds - Should I use them?

I have successfully made the switch to decaffinated coffee, which is good for me. On the other hand, now that I can drink coffee without half killing myself, I've started drinking more (that flavor...mmmmmm....). I get organic fair trade beans and all, but I was wondering if the grounds would be good for the garden or not?

Basically, I know that used grounds from regular coffee are a great amendment for the garden. But how about the Decaf?

I use any kind of coffee grounds in my compost, around my azaleas and also feed them to my worms. I get decaf when my daughter and SIL come to visit and haven't seen any problems. I don't think the caffeine extraction process does anything bad to the grounds, after all, they are safe enough to use to make something that gets ingested

Thanks Dragonfly. I wasn't sure if there was a major difference or not. But if you get good results, I'll start putting them in with the rest of the kitchen compost.

If you have a Starbucks coffee near where you live (and who doesn't? LOL ) you can go there and get their used coffee grounds pre-packaged to use in your garden. I don't think the decaf thing matters...

The grounds are free and the ones by my house have bags upon bags of them sitting there for whoever wants them. They're nicely pakaged and sealed in a sort of foil/plastic bag so they're easy to transport and keep.

I suppose other coffee places do the same thing with their grounds, maybe not.

I think you have to live in an area where there is a lot of plant people. I've tried asking the 2 Starbucks in Danville, VA for their grounds and they never save them them unless you promise to pick them up frquently. Since I live 40 minutes away, I can't pick them up regularly.

Hmmm- my Starbucks bags the grounds while I stand there- it's supposed to be a corporate policy to 'find them a good home'!

The ones in Danville claim they have just emptied them into the garbage, no matter when I get there and in order for them to save them I have to talk to the manager who is never available.

So I guess Corp policy is that they are supposed to put them in the used bags but I think most of them just dump them in the regular garbage

There are about 10 SB's around me, not to mention a couple of other coffee houses. I bet I can convince one of them to let me have the used grounds.

How much grounds can your soil stand before it gets too acid or anything like that, though? I'm figuring on mixing the grounds with some soil to cover the tops of my hay bales, so I can grow root vegetables and such, and was wondering how much coffee will trip from good to "what were you thinking?"

I don't understand all the excitement over coffee grounds. The brewing process removes or neutralizes much of the acidity in the grounds, and I'm not sure how much is there to begin with. If people feel good about recycling this stuff from Starbucks, it's far better to add it to a compost heap than to mix it directly into planting mixes. And, if you're not aware of it, if you use it uncomposted, and water from the soil it is mixed with with runs onto concrete or tile, it stains it something terrible. If the soil in an area is not already acidic, adding coffee grounds or any other amendment is not going to change things in the long run. It's far better to plant things tolerant to alkaline soils than to attempt to convert alkaline soils to acidic soils by heroic measures.

Now you flamers have your say if you feel so inclined.