Question about using coffee grounds for my ferns after a chat with my neighbor

My neighbor in apartment 3B, who grows orchids, said 'your plants might be too acidic' when I mentioned adding coffee grounds, which made me test my soil's pH for the first time.

3 comments

3 Comments

charlienelson1mo agoMost Upvoted

Test your soil pH yet? My ferns hated coffee grounds, turned out they were already in pretty acidic soil. What did your test show, and what kind of ferns are you trying to feed?

danielhenderson1mo ago

Oh man, @charlienelson, you saying your ferns hated coffee grounds is so real. I did the same thing with my Boston ferns before testing. The pH kit showed my soil was already crazy acidic, like way lower than I thought. Adding the grounds just made everything worse and I got these sad, yellow fronds. Now I just use a tiny bit of diluted fish emulsion in the spring and they're way happier. Always test first for sure.

johnson.jesse21d ago

3B sounds like the plant guru of the building. Now I'm just imagining your neighbor knocking on doors offering unsolicited pH advice to everyone.