Vol. 60

Title:
Effect of Coffee Grounds on Seed Germination

Authors:
Diana R. Cochran and Mengmeng Gu

pp: 596

Abstract:
Aqueous coffee extracts (ACE) and spent coffee grounds (SCG) were evaluated for effects on seed germination of Trifolium repens (white clover), Lolium perenne (perennial rye), and Amaranthus palmeri (palmer amaranth). In Experiment 1, five different percentage ACE treatments (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were mixed and added to petri dishes. Each petri dish had 25 seed of each weed species. White clover started germinating 1 day after seeding (DAS) in all treatments. By 8 DAS, nearly all white clover seed had germinated. However, visually the seedling size decreased as percentage ACE increased, suggesting that ACE might contain properties that deter seed from germinating. Furthermore, perennial rye seed had a lower germination rate, regardless of percentage ACE compared to the 0% ACE treatment. In Experiment 2, SCG and pine bark (PB) were evaluated as container mulch at five different depths (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 3.0 in.). Results indicated that SCG as container mulch, have similar weed control to PB mulch by 14 DAS, at respected depths. Additionally, use of either SCG or PB at 0.5 and 1.0 inches depth, had less weeds compared to the nonmulched containers at 14 DAS.

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