The Effect of Used Coffee Filter and Groundson the Height of the Lima Beans

Sumin GohPeriod 22/17/12

Takoma Park Middle School 2011-12

Abstract

This experiment was done after the question, “What is the effect of used coffee filter and grounds on the height of the lima beans?” and I hypothesized that If different combinations of using used coffee grounds and filter paper such as only the coffee filter paper, only the 4 cc coffee grounds, both the 4 cc coffee grounds +used coffee filter paper, and no fertilizer at all, were applied on beans, then the beans grown with both 4 cc coffee grounds and used coffee paper would be the tallest, because coffee can provide so many good nutrients for beans,1 coffee makes the soil acidic2, coffee filter paper can decompose very fast, it's full of good nutrients, and also it can hold water well which will keep the soil moisturized. All of the 56 lima beans were soaked3 in same conditions, and they were divided into 4 groups. Each group was planted in separate pots, Pot 1, Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot C, and were given different fertilizers which were combinations of used coffee filter and grounds – Pot 1 was given only coffee filter, Pot 2 was given only coffee grounds, Pot 3 was given both coffee filter and grounds, and Pot C, being the control group4, didn’t get any type of fertilizer. My hypothesis was supported because in my data, Pot 3 had the biggest mean height. But there could’ve been some major implications in my experiment, such as not evenly given sunshine and watering and accidentally disturbed stems.

1. Many good nutrients for beans: Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Zinc, etc.

2. Makes the soil acidic: acidic soil has a ph value less than 7, and it suites acid-loving plants, including lima beans 3. Beans were soaked: meaning the process of covering the beans in wet, warm tissue for 8~24 hours, depending on

how fast they begin to germinate4. Control group: the group of test subjects that’s used to show what happens if the independent variable is not

applied

Introduction and Review of Literature

What happens to all the used coffee grounds and used coffee filters? Probably it goes into the garbage bin. But our family's always taken recycling seriously- my mother would leave used coffee filter papers and grounds out to dry, and

after they were completely dry, I used to play with them by folding them into varieties of beautiful flower or butterfly shapes. Meanwhile, I heard from some sources that used coffee grounds or filter can be used as fertilizer. I've always been interested in doing something with 'already-used-and-should-be-thrown-away-stuff' such as

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calendars, empty cosmetic bottles, or paper towel rolls. When I was in third grade, in Korea, I was the classroom gardener, and every day after school, I had to stay late to take care of the plants. Also, I have planted beans at home before, so I know the basic procedures for growing beans. But one time I gave a plant too strong fertilizer and it died, so it'd be good if I could figure out which one of these combinations makes just the right fertilizer for plants. Since I'm so interested in plants & recycling and have some previous experiences with beans and planting, I thought working with coffee and plants would be great. Used coffee filter paper is just like coffee soaked on a paper and we know that paper can be good fertilizer also, so I thought that using a used coffee filter as fertilizer will be a good idea. But since I'm not sure if it'd work or not, I split it into different levels of IV- giving only coffee filter paper to the beans, giving only 4 cc of coffee grounds, giving used coffee filter paper (it has about 4 cc of coffee grounds on it), and my control variable is nothing added to the beans. So my testable question is: Which one of these combinations of used coffee filter and grounds will cause the beans to grow the tallest: nothing added to the beans at all, only coffee filter added to it, only 4 cc of coffee grounds added to it, or both coffee filter and coffee grounds added to it?

This topic is important because it will be helpful to the environment. If you can recycle the used coffee filters that many people just throw away, then you can save a lot more paper and give the plants ‘more natural’ fertilizer (when you compare it to the artificial ones). But before I could start anything, I had to have some background information, so I asked myself a few questions that I have for this experiment.

My first question was, ‘Why might used coffee grounds/used coffee filter paper be helpful to the height of the plants if used as fertilizer?’ and an answer I found was that coffee covers most of the nutrients needed in plants. The nitrogen helps plants with rapid growth, increasing seed and fruit production and improving the quality of leaf and forage crops. Phosphorous helps the plant with the rapid growth, blooming and root growth, withstanding stress, proper plant maturation, and transforming solar energy into chemical energy. Potassium helps in the building of protein, photosynthesis, fruit quality and reduction of diseases. Calcium makes the cell wall thicker and stronger and thereby makes the whole plant grow tall and strong. Magnesium helps activate many plant enzymes needed for growth. Sulfur helps

with vigorous plant growth, resistance to cold, producing protein, and improving root growth and producing seeds. Boron helps in the use of nutrients, regulates other nutrients, aids production of sugar and carbohydrates, and is essential for seed and fruit development. Copper is important for reproductive growth, it aids in root metabolism and helps in the utilization of proteins. Iron is essential for formation of

chlorophyll. Manganese functions with enzyme systems involved in breakdown of carbohydrates and nitrogen metabolism. Molybdenum helps in the use of nitrogen. Zinc is essential for the transformation of carbohydrates, regulates consumption of sugars, and is part of the enzyme systems which regulate plant growth. In addition, the coffee grounds tend to make the soil slightly acidic, which most of the plants prefer it to be including the beans. Another reason why the used coffee grounds/used coffee filter might be helpful to the growth of plants if used as fertilizer is because a coffee filter paper can be helpful to a plant’s growth- it decomposes very fast , it’s full of good nutrients, and it holds water well which will keep the soil moisturized. This relates to my

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Figure 1

Beans

experiment because as my experiment is to know how much coffee grounds w/ the used coffee filter are good as fertilizer for beans, it’d be good to know why does using used coffee filter and grounds as fertilizer works too, and this tells me the information I want to know.

My second question was, ‘How much coffee fertilizer is enough for the beans?’ and an answer I found was that about ¼ of coffee and ¾ of water is good enough. But since I’m using coffee ‘grounds,’ 4 coffee bean≈4 cc grounds (When you brew your coffee, 1cup of coffee≈4 coffee beans. Since it’s already been brewed, it would be about similar to ¼ coffee and ¾ water) each week will be fine. I’ll have to feed it to my beans once, 1 week after I planted it. This relates to my experiment because when I'm feeding the beans I’ll need to know how much fertilizer (in this case coffee grounds) I should give them or I'm going to be giving them either too much or too less. Also, when I'm feeding them too often, the beans might be overfed with too many unnecessary nutrients which isn’t so good.

My third question was, ‘How do you plant the beans? And I found out these useful facts. If the soil’s moisture content is too high, it’s most likely to crack and germinate (to begin to grow) poorly, so soaking the seeds in the water isn’t good. However, putting them on a wet tissue or paper towel to germinate overnight is fine, because that will keep the beans’ parts from falling apart. Refer to figure 1. The temperature mustn’t be too high or too low. Plant the seeds 1 in. deep, and the seeds should be at least 2-3 in. apart from each other. Water right after planting. This relates to my experiment, because during my experiment it'll be very important for me to know how to grow beans properly so that I can succeed on my experiment.

There were many previous studies done by other scientists that were related to my project and that gave ideas for levels of IV, hypothesis, methods to be used in my experiment, what to do

for my project, and provided background information for my project. One of them was “Compost Specialist Coffee Grounds and Soil Trial” by OSU Extension Service Master Gardner Compost Specialists, which took place during Nov. 2008 through Sep. 2009. It was an observational trial to see what effect coffee grounds had on soil pH and nitrogen content when incorporated into soil, and this is the basic method they used: Each location divided the trial plot (a small piece of ground, generally used for specific purpose) into thirds, one as a control in which no coffee grounds were used, another one with 2“of coffee grounds, and the next one with 4“of coffee grounds. Coffee grounds were collected and then incorporated into the soil to a depth of about 10” (about one shovel full deep). All samples were sent to a certified soil lab for analysis. The findings were that the beans all germinated (began to sprout or grow) well in all locations, but the plants that grew in the 2” bed and the 4” bed showed slower rates of later growth than those planted in the bed with no coffee grounds and the coffee grounds did not seem to affect rates of germination. Greater

amounts of coffee grounds incorporated into the soil did appear to have a more adverse effect on the growth and productivity of plants than smaller amounts. This relates to my study because this experiment was to see if the coffee grounds affect on soil as compost, and it taught me many important things that I needed to know

for my experiment. I learned that coffee wouldn’t help the rate of germination when you feed it to seeds before it has started to grow, and that greater amounts of coffee grounds incorporated into the soil did appear to have a more adverse effect on the growth and productivity of plants. The methods used in the experiment tells me what to avoid and how to conduct my experiment when using coffee grounds into the soil. Some important key vocabulary were plot, a small piece of ground, generally used for a specific purpose, and germinate, to begin to sprout or grow.

My second previous study done by other scientists was titled “The Effects of Coffee and

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Eggshells as fertilizer for Red Clover and Barley Seeds” by Angelique Gros, Stephan Ledbetter, Autumn Merrill, and Willow Sells which took place on March 28, 2008. The summary of methods they used was this: first take eight pots with ten seeds in each pot, and the pots should contain the same type of soil with differing fertilizers. These pots will be given the same amount of water. Two pots will be controls; one will have red clover seeds and one will have barley seeds in regular potting soil. The remaining 6 pots (3 for each plant type) will have fertilizers of just coffee, just eggshells, and a final mix of coffee and eggshells. Measure these plants every day on the basis of height and circumference of stalks, the color of the plants, and the leaf measurements of length, width and depth. At the end of this experiment, find the average of the growth in each pot to decide which fertilizer worked the best. The findings were that the best fertilizer to use for the Red Clover plants is a combination of dried coffee grounds and crushed eggshells, because the plants in this pot had an overall higher plant stem lengths and wider leaves. The eggshells that add calcium to the soil and the coffee that adds nitrogen to the soil helped the plant to do well, and also since the coffee grounds make the soil slightly acidic which most of the home garden plants prefer it to be. It is assumed that the reason why the Barley seeds did not sprout was that the seeds had been buried underneath too much soil and they were not able to get enough sunlight. This relates to my experiment because it shows that coffee grounds may be more helpful in the growth of plant than the control level (without fertilizer) when they are mixed with eggshells and used as fertilizer. Referring to the methods used in the experiment will be useful to my experiment later. An important word used in this study is ‘control,’ meaning an individual or group used as a standard of comparison in a control experiment.

The third study from another researchers that I used was “Was the differences in growth (in the plants) caused by the caffeine or some other component in the coffee?” by Caffeine Buzz Team (Thomas Wilke, Emporia State University). The date of study was March 18, 2009. Their

prediction was that the plants with the caffeine will grow larger than the plants without the caffeine concentration (the ratio of the mass or volume of a salute to the mass or volume of the solution or solvent). During their experiment they used wheat seeds and caffeine pills crushed and put in water in ten of plants and use water in the control group of ten plants. The caffeine pills were 200mg each, and five pills were crushed with a mortar and pestle and mixed in 1000mL of water, and that gave a concentration of 1 g caffeine per 1L of water. Each plant was given 10mL of water every two days. The 10 control plants were given 10mL of regular tap water, and the 10 experimental plants were given 10mL of caffeine solution, about 10mg of caffeine. But their results showed contradiction (something that contains contradictory elements) to the hypothesis. The researcher predicted that the plants that were given the caffeine grew sooner than the control plants, but in the end, they were dwarfed compared to the control. The average plant with caffeine only reached around 112mm, while the controls grew to an average of 216 mm, which is quite a significant difference. The researcher acknowledges that some experimental error that could have contributed is the fact that they used soil with nutrients, so this would obviously contribute to plant growth. Another is the distribution of caffeine per plant. They diluted the NoDoz in a big pitcher of water, so they could not control the caffeine being irregularly distributed. They did stir the crushed pills well, but had no way of controlling different concentrations. This relates to my experiment because the researcher acknowledges that the experiment might have errors to reverse the conclusion. Accordingly, I think that I should definitely review the methods thoroughly and correct them, if any, to get more accurate findings. Some key vocabulary words were hypothesis, a tentative explanation for an observation, phenomenon, or scientific problem that can be tested by further investigation, contradiction, something that contains contradictory elements, and concentration, the ratio of the mass or volume of a salute to the mass or volume of the solution or solvent.

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Figure 3

1/8 of the length

One lane

1/3 of the width

Figure 4

1/3

My IV (independent variable) will be the different combinations of using coffee and coffee filter paper as fertilizer, and my levels of IV are: 1. Only the coffee filter paper, 2. Only the 4 cc of used coffee grounds, 3. The used coffee filter paper w/ 4 cc of coffee grounds, and finally with no kind of fertilizer added to beans as my control level of IV. I chose these levels because what I want to know after this project is which one of these (coffee, coffee filter, combined) actually is the main factor that will make the beans grow tallest. In order to find that out, you should be testing them in your experiment, so that's why I chose these levels. My DV (dependent variable) is the height of the beans, and I’ll measure my DV by measuring the height of each bean with a cm ruler, and I’ll find the mean of them for each levels of IV.

Now based on my research, This is the hypothesis I came up with: If different combinations of using used coffee grounds and filter paper such as only the coffee filter paper, only the 4 cc coffee grounds, both the 4 cc coffee grounds +used coffee filter paper, and no fertilizer at all, were applied on beans, then the beans grown with both 4 cc coffee grounds and used coffee paper would be the tallest, because the coffee can provide good nutrients for beans such as Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Zinc, etc., coffee makes the soil acidic, coffee filter paper can decompose very fast, it's full of good nutrients, and also it can hold water well which will keep

the soil moisturized. The background information and previous studies really helped me with coming up with a hypothesis, because before I had some background knowledge about what I’m going to make a prediction about, but I didn’t have any facts supporting my prediction nor could I make the correct decision since I didn’t have any

reasons or facts to persuade me to do so. But after I had all my important facts that led me to this hypothesis, I was able to explain why I made that prediction and I was surer about it.

Results

The mean of the height in Pot C (control group, no fertilizer) was 49.61 cm, Pot 1 (only coffee filter paper) was

57.74 cm, Pot 2 (only coffee grounds) was 50.85 cm, and Pot 3 (both coffee filter and grounds) was 59.57 cm. From the order of tallest to shortest, it was Pot 3, Pot 1, Pot 2, and then Pot C. Refer to figure 5 and 6. Many of the leaves in Pot 3 were

drooping and small, but the trunks were much thicker and stronger than the other

ones.

Materials & Methods

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Height of the Beans (cm)

Fertilizer

Bean #1

Bean #2

Bean #3

Bean #4

Bean #5

Bean #6

Bean #7

Bean #8

Bean #9

Bean #10

Mean

No fertilizer

64 46.8 46.8 53.8 47.2 62 48.5 41.9 60.3 0 49.61

A coffee filter

44.6 41.3 41.3 51.8 70 72.5 57.2 49.3 75.1 43.4 57.74

1 g coffee grounds

73.4 73.4 34 50.9 23.1 67 47.7 64.4 71.2 0 50.85

Filter + grounds

41.9 48.4 83.2 51.5 52.3 56 72.7 54.9 69.8 65 59.57

Figure 7: the effect of the combinations of coffee and filter paper as fertilizer on the height of the beans

On each one of 4 paper plates, I laid a wet paper towel and put 14 lima beans (Fordhook Bush #242) on top of it. I wet another wet paper towel and put it on top of the beans on each plate. I kept it

for 24 hours and then took all the beans on each plate to plant them in each of the 4 long pots from Home Depot (model # MB2412TC). On each pot I poured Scotts® Potting Soil up to 15 cm high, and then pushed my finger down into the soil to about 3.5 cm where it’s 1/6 of the length of the pot and 2/3 of the width of the pot. I put a lima bean seed in that hole and repeated the same process with 6 more lima bean seeds in that same lane. Refer to figure 2: trunks of the Pot 3 beans. Where it is about 7 cm away from each bean seeds vertically in Figure 3, plant (repeat the same process that’s been done so far) the other beans. There were 14 beans in each pot- 10 were the actual experimental group, and the other 4 were alternates. At least 10 out of 14 would germinate and grow successfully. I gave 50 ml tap water from our house to each pot every other day. I named each pot by its level of IV (independent variables): the control level of IV, nothing added to the beans, applied to pot C, the 1st level of IV, only a used

coffee filter added to the beans, applied to pot 1, the 2nd level of IV, only 1 g of used coffee grounds added to the beans, applied to pot 2, and the final (or the 3rd) level of IV, both used coffee filter and

used coffee grounds added to the beans, applied to pot 3. Refer to Figure 4. As each pot was named, I applied each IV to the right pots- I cut the coffee filters into about 1x4 cm . After I finished planting them, I watered them. For 1 week after that, I didn’t do anything else except for giving those plants 50 ml of water each day.

During the experiment, there were many things to make sure that I keep the same. One of

them was that the temperature must be kept the same throughout the experiment, because if some plants are kept in a colder place than the other ones, that will affect the result very much. Also, the time the water is given to each pot were kept the same because for example, if you water them in the morning one day and water those in the evening the next day, then the plants could die by lack

of water. Another important controlled variable was the amount of sunlight each of the pot gets every day. If some plants get a lot of sunlight and the others don’t, then the results of the plants that got a

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0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

49.6157.74

50.8559.57

Figure 6: Effect of Coffee filter and Grounds as Fertil-izer on Height of the Beans

Pot C-no fertil-izer

Pot 1-coffee fil-ter (sprinkles)

Pot 2-coffee grounds (4 cc)

Pot 3-cofee fil-ter and grounds

DV:

Hei

ght o

f the

Bea

ns

lot of sunlight will be different from the other plants that didn’t.

For 1 week after that, I didn’t do anything except for giving those plants 50 ml of water each day. When 1 week had passed I didn’t do anything to pot C, applied a used coffee filter cut into about 1x4 cm rectangles to pot 1, applied 4 cc of coffee grounds to each plant on pot 2, and applied both the coffee filter and coffee grounds to Pot 3. I applied the IV 1 week after I planted the beans, and I used a centimeter ruler to measure how tall my beans got- I put the end of the ruler (where it’s 0 cm) at the bottom of the bean’s stem where it touches the soil, and measured it up to the very top of the bean. I recorded each data on my data table (refer to figure 6), and then I had 10 trials for each levels of IV. I found the mean of the 10 data by adding them altogether and dividing them by ten.

Discussion and Analysis

In conclusion, my data supported my hypothesis. My hypothesis was “If different combinations of using used coffee grounds and filter paper such as only the coffee filter paper, only the 4 cc coffee grounds, both the 4 cc coffee grounds and used coffee filter paper, and no fertilizer at all, were applied on beans, then the beans grown with both 4 cc coffee grounds and used coffee paper would be the tallest, because the coffee can provide good nutrients for beans such as Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Boron, Copper, Iron, Manganese, Molybdenum, Zinc, etc., coffee makes the soil acidic, coffee filter paper can decompose very fast, it's full of good nutrients, and also because it can hold water well which will keep the soil moisturized,” and Pot 3 (the beans with coffee filter and grounds, 59.57 cm) grew 9.96 cm (59.57 cm 49.61 cm) taller than Pot C (the beans with nothing added to it except for water, 49.61 cm), it grew 1.83 cm (59.57 cm 57.74 cm) taller than Pot 1 (the beans with coffee filter added to it, 57.74 cm), and it grew (59.57 cm

50.85 cm) taller than Pot 2 (the beans with coffee grounds, 50.85 cm).

My original testable question, “Which one of these combinations of used coffee filter and grounds will cause the beans to grow the tallest: nothing added to the beans at all, only coffee filter added to it, only 4 cc of coffee grounds added to it, or both coffee filter and coffee grounds added to it?” was answered after the experiment, based on the data that both coffee filter and coffee grounds will cause the beans to grow the tallest, because Pot 3 (the beans with coffee filter and grounds, 59.57 cm) had the highest mean height of all. Refer to figure 5.

My results relate to one of my previous studies, “The Effects of Coffee and Eggshells as fertilizer for Red Clover and Barley Seeds.” They got a result that the Red Clovers that were given both coffee and eggshells grew the tallest. That shows me that coffee is actually very effective when used as a fertilizer, and that good things combined is better. In my own experiment, it showed the similar results beans that were given both coffee filter and grounds grew the tallest. In both experiments, it was shown that the coffee is effective when used as a fertilizer, and that good ingredients combined made the plants grow better.

There was another previous study named “Compost Specialist Coffee Grounds and Soil Trial” that related to my experiment. The findings were that the beans all germinated (began to sprout or grow) well in all locations, but the plants that grew in the 2” bed and the 4” bed showed slower rates of later growth than those planted in the bed with no coffee grounds and greater amounts of coffee grounds incorporated into the soil did appear to have a more adverse effect on the growth and productivity of plants than smaller amounts. During my own experiment, I found out that at first, the beans with coffee grounds were shorter than the control beans and the beans with coffee filter, but later, the beans with both coffee grounds and filter were taller.

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There were quite a few sources of error. The first was the amount of water and sunlight given to the beans. I used a beaker that had a 10 ml interval, so it wasn’t very exact, and sometimes I spilled water when I was watering them. I tried hard to make sure that all the beans get the equal amount of sunlight, but I’m sure that they couldn’t get the exactly same amount of sunlight. It was cloudy sometimes, and there’re some big trees in front of the windows of our house which could’ve blocked the sunlight. Second, I might’ve bent some trunks of the beans or taken off some of the leaves when I was watering them, even though I tried to be careful. Third, when I was soaking the beans, I didn’t know that I had to soak them in warm water, so I soaked them in cold water first and then poured some warm water again. the beans grew fast enough during that time for me to get significant differences between the heights, but it would have been better if there was a longer amount of time and I could count how many beans each plant got as the dependent variable. I think that there should’ve been more beans per pot, because the difference between the heights of the plants were not that big. The difference between Pot 3’s mean height and Pot 1’s mean height was larger by only 1.83 cm. If there could’ve been more beans, maybe like 50 beans per pot, the differences between the experimental groups would’ve been more significant. Also, the ruler I used to measure the heights wasn’t really exact. It was a flexible ruler, so it could bend easily which would’ve affected the data.

In the future, my results can be useful for many people like gardeners, people who make fertilizers, and the people who do experiments related to fertilizers. Gardeners who are interested in good fertilizers, people who make fertilizers that want to know what could be used as a good fertilizer, and the people who do experiments related to fertilizers that’re wanting to know about the effect of used coffee filter and grounds on lima beans can look at my results and find out which of the 4 combinations of used coffee filter and grounds would work the best for plants. Also, when people actually start to use coffee filter and grounds as fertilizer after they look at my results,

it’d be good for our environment because then wet, used coffee filter and grounds won’t be just thrown away into the trash can, when they can be used again.

There’re some other possible experiments related to my experiment. Since I now know that used coffee filter and grounds both used as fertilizer works the best, I can do another experiment that’d let me figure out what kind of plants would grow well when used coffee filter and grounds are used. Finding the various reactions of various plants to coffee filter and grounds is also possible. Or, I can do an experiment that’d figure out the various positive and negative effects of coffee filter and grounds on plants (e.g: using coffee grounds as fertilizer might be able to keep the pests off the plant).

References

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Coffee Research Institute. (2006). Soil analysis examples and coffee nutrients. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Coffee Research Institute website: http://www.coffeeresearch.org/ agriculture/ soil.htm

Jjmcgaffey. (2011, November 3). How to grow beans and peas. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from wikiHow website: http://www.wikihow.com/ Grow-Beans-and-Peas

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NCDA&CS. (n.d.). Plant nutrients. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website: http://www.ncagr.gov/ cyber/ kidswrld/ plant/ index.htm

OSU Extension Service Master Gardner Compost Specialists. (2009). Compost Specialist coffee grounds and soil trial November 2008-September 2009. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Oregon State University website: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/ lane/ sites/ default/ files/ CoffeeGrdTrial.pdf

Snell, E. E., Truswell, S. A., & Carpenter, K. (2011). Nutrition. In Britannica Academic Edition (nutrition in plants).

o http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/ topic/422875/nutrition/242097/Nutrition-in-plants

Sustainable Enterprises. (2002). Coffee and gardening. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Sustainable Enterprises website:

o http://www.sustainableenterprises.com/ Business/ coffeefert.htm

University of Illinois Extension. (2011). Watch your garden grow. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from University of Illinois Board of Trustees website: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/ veggies/ beans.cfm

Vanderlinden, C. (2010, July 30). Use diluted coffee to fertilize plants. Retrieved November 10, 2011, from Discovery Communications, Inc. website: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/ home-garden/ use-diluted-coffee-to-fertilize-plants.html

Owen, M. (n.d.). Acid or Alkaline? Retrieved from PlanTea, Inc. website: http://www.plantea.com/pH.htm

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