Coffee Grounds for seed starting?

[IndyGerdener]

Can you use coffee grounds in lieu of dirt? or is it better to mix with the dirt? I have just heard about using it, but I can only find info about mixing it with the dirt and not using it to start seeds.

Any help?

[Bobberman]

I was wondering if coffee grounds tea would work. Then mix the grounds with some garden soil and it should work great. Too much is bad just a little and a weak tea!

[applestar]

Coffee grounds are very nutritious -- what that means is that as mentioned above, they make excellent addition to soil and compost piles. FRESH USED coffee grounds can actually be used to culture and grow mushrooms as a hobby/experiment. Consider that they use rich horse manure and straw based compost for growing commercial mushrooms and you can see that used coffee grounds on their own really aren't suitable for starting seeds or growing plants.

Some seeds actually won't germinate in too rich/fertile soil.

Mold and other wild fungal spores will quickly take over any moist mass of used coffee grounds.

I put used coffee grounds in the watering can and use the UCG water to water my indoor plants during the winter. I think it could also be used to water seedlings that have grown true leaves -- I've done so in the past and I probably will when I start my seeds. I think a small amount might be added to seed starting mixes that are devoid of any nutrients, but I prefer to add finished compost.

I also put UCG in AACT with compost and molasses, and use diluted finished AACT to fertilize and enrich the soil.

[IndyGerdener]

Good information. I will just use potting soil after I use the baggie method