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Using coffee chaff to aerate substrate

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Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)
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  • July 1, 2016 at 10:55 pm #1482
    Shaun Mace
    Participant

    Hi Everybody,

    I was just wondering if anybody had thought of or tried using coffee chaff(the waste product from roasting coffee) in place of straw. Although it is very dry and light(in comparison to wet pasteurised straw) I was thinking as it has been roasted at high temperatures it shouldn’t need pasteurising right? and as it is from the original shell of the coffee been then I guess it isn’t so different from using husks…

    The main reason this has come to mind, is that the Chaff is another nutrient rich waste product going to be bagged and buried at landfills that could be put to good use and secondly, it could potentially save you more on money and bringing in more resources from outside the city.

    I have just finished the course and am about to start growing and experimenting soon. I can easily get a sack or two a day if useful.

    Any thoughts or feed back would be greatly appreciated, cheers,

    Shaun

    July 4, 2016 at 12:24 pm #1487
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Shaun and welcome to the course and forum 🙂

    Although we have yet to experiment with coffee chaff (it’s on our to do list!) I have heard a few times of others who have added them to the mix with success. It has a texture similar to sawdust and, like you said, the high temperatures of roasting and the low moisture content will make it a pretty sterile material to use without the need for further pasteurisation.

    The fact it is so dry (I think when we looked into it before it has a moisture content of around 12-14%) could present an issue if you add too much as it will lower the overall moisture content of your substrate.

    Worth some trials – we will probably test adding some at a low rate (maybe just 10%) and also adding some at a higher rate of around 30%, but to soak it in water first to hydrate it.

    Best of luck with the trials – let us know how you get on and we will do the same when we get to it.

    January 14, 2017 at 3:08 pm #2059
    Alvin Daal
    Participant

    Hi,

     

    What is the result of using coffee chaff? Did it work and in which proportions?

    January 16, 2017 at 10:57 am #2060
    Adam
    Keymaster

    Hi Alvin,

    we have actauuly not yet trialled it ourselves as we’ve beeen unable to easily source any so far from the couple of coffee roasters near to us.

    Not sure if Shaun has grow with any yet though?

    January 16, 2017 at 12:39 pm #2062
    Shaun Mace
    Participant

    Hey ya,

    Na sorry, never got around to trying it. One day I shall and I’ll let y’all know how it goes but in the mean time let us know how it goes if you do play around with it.

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