Plumeria plants are flowering in nature and tend to grow in the form of shrubs or minor trees. They require acidic soil that can also drain properly to grow well.
To aid this growth, you can use coffee grounds as an excellent solution for your Plumeria because of their acidifying nature as well as how they loosen up the soil.
To get a better idea about this, you can go through the following sections that explain how coffee grounds are good for Plumeria in further detail.
How Can Coffee Grounds Help?
Let’s take a look at how exactly coffee grounds can be good for your Plumeria.
Acidic Content
Plumeria plants prefer soil that has a bit of acidic content in it. Coffee grounds can provide this kind of acidity to the plants to a certain extent. However, their pH levels can go up to 6.8 depending on the coffee grounds you use, which might not serve the purpose well.
In case you grow the plants in an alkaline region, then the coffee grounds can help increase the levels of acidity in the soil by slightly reducing the pH levels. This can help give the soil a good amount of nutrition that can help the plant grow well.
Not enough research is available to prove this quality of coffee grounds, so make sure you do not rely entirely on these grounds for the acidity.
Organic Matter
Coffee grounds can certainly provide organic matter to the soil that you are growing your Plumeria plants in. They can be helpful for composting as they can improve the nitrogen quantity of the compost.
For this reason, adding coffee grounds along with some compost can help the soil significantly. You should also combine this with some fertilizer as well so that you can provide a sufficient amount of nitrogen content to the soil as the grounds might not be enough by themselves.
Together, the fertilizer and coffee grounds can help the plant grow taller while also allowing it to flower well due to the relatively lower nitrogen requirements.
Overall, this will enhance the health of the soil of the Plumeria plant.
Loose Soil
Coffee grounds can also help make the soil of the Plumeria plant looser. This loose soil structure is important for these plants in particular since it can allow the excess water in the soil to drain away much quicker.
Since Plumeria requires well-draining soil, coffee grounds can be good for Plumeria as they can allow some breathing space and oxygen for the roots once the extra water drains out of the soil.
At the same time, the coffee grounds can ensure that enough water or moisture is retained so that the plant can use it up for its regular requirements.
Disease Avoidance
Coffee grounds can help avoid common diseases that can otherwise harm Plumeria plants. For example, coffee grounds can reduce the growth of several fungal infections and rots.
This is because coffee grounds come with their own healthier kinds of bacteria and fungi that can prevent more harmful species from growing on the plants or in the soil.
It is important to add some other fertilizers to enhance this effect, as coffee grounds alone might not work to prevent such diseases. However, they can definitely limit the growth to a certain extent if used in the required quantities.
Are All Coffee Grounds Good for Plumeria?
It is better to use organic coffee grounds for Plumeria as these can ensure better decomposition and absorption of nutrients. Many inorganic grounds can contain plenty of chemicals that might harm the soil.
However, it is important for the coffee grounds to contain enough nitrogen, carbon and carbohydrates so that the bacteria present in the soil can decompose them well over time.
This can then allow the soil to absorb these nutrients so that the overall health and structure can improve.
When Should You Add the Coffee Grounds?
You should add the coffee grounds while preparing the soil itself for planting or potting the Plumeria. This can allow the soil sufficient time to absorb the nutrients from the coffee grounds as well as to reduce the risk of diseases.
From the very beginning, the coffee grounds can loosen up the soil more so that it can drain out all the extra water.
It is important to add only a small quantity of the coffee grounds whenever you are preparing the soil. This will be enough to provide all the organic substances to the plant.
A thin coating of the coffee grounds, combined with other organic materials, can work well for the initial soil preparation.
How to Prepare the Grounds
It is important for you to prepare the coffee grounds correctly before you add them to the soil. You can go through the following steps to figure out how to do this.
⦁ If you are using a compost mixture for the soil, you should ensure that the coffee grounds are present in the compost in small quantities. Anything over 1/5th of the compost might do more harm than good to the health of the compost and the soil.
⦁ If you directly want to add the coffee grounds to the soil, spread a thin coating of the grounds onto the soil and then cover it up with other organic materials such as leaves, bark, grass, scrap paper and more.
⦁ Along with the coffee grounds, add some fertilizer as well so that you can ensure nutrition for the plant until the coffee grounds sufficiently decompose in the soil.
Final Remarks
That brings us to the end of this detailed article about whether coffee grounds are good for Plumeria. To sum up, they are good for this plant as long as they are used in small quantities as they can help provide important organic material to the soil while also preventing diseases.
We have also taken you through the kind of coffee grounds you should use, when you can add them in and how to prepare them. Go ahead and feed your Plumeria well!