{"id":127,"date":"2016-04-08T16:40:43","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T16:40:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.growseed.co.uk\/blog\/?p=127"},"modified":"2016-04-08T16:40:43","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T16:40:43","slug":"coffee-grounds-in-the-garden-facts-and-fiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.growseed.co.uk\/blog\/coffee-grounds-in-the-garden-facts-and-fiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee Grounds in the Garden \u2013 Facts and Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you are a coffee-lover, nothing gives you that much needed morning pick-me-up like a fresh hot cup of liquid energy. The used grounds can also give your garden a boost, if used correctly, and with organic gardening on the rise, coffee grounds are hailed as a cure for everything from pest-control to providing organic nitrogen. Scientific studies show coffee grounds do provide some benefits to the garden, but some of the publicized claims are unsupported and if fact, can be detrimental. Get to know the facts first before you start pouring on the grounds in the garden.<\/p>\n

\"Coffee<\/p>\n

Coffee Grounds Improve Soil Acidity<\/h2>\n

Since coffee is an acidic drink, it makes sense to think that the grounds are acidic too, and make great additions to the soil where acid-loving plants are growing. Unfortunately, this is a misconception. The fact is the acid contained in coffee is water-soluble and when brewed, gets flushed from the grounds. When tested, the grounds end up being more neutral than acidic on the pH scale, generally ranging between 6.5 and 6.8. Though cups of coffee holds the most acid, tests haven\u2019t been conducted that show whether pouring coffee into the soil benefits the plant or not \u2013 the jury is still out on this one.<\/p>\n

Coffee Grounds Repel Pests<\/h2>\n

Coffee grounds are promoted to repel all sorts of pests from slugs, snails and ants, though university tests do not confirm they work. However, caffeine sprayed on the foliage of cabbage<\/a> plants has shown that it significantly decreases the amount of slug and snail activity.\u00a0Experiments showed when solutions contain 0.1, 0.5 and 2.0 percentages of caffeine, the snail\u2019s heart rate decreased and within 96 hours, it was dead. Tests also show that 1 and 2 percent solutions of caffeine sprayed on mulch killed up to 95 percent of the snails. This leads one to believe that spraying plants, the soil and mulch with a cool cup of coffee might<\/em> have the same effect.<\/p>\n

\"Coffee<\/p>\n

Coffee Grounds Are a Great Source of Nitrogen<\/h2>\n

Tests show that coffee grounds contain approximately 2 percent of nitrogen and that\u2019s not enough to add any real benefit to most plants without the addition of a nitrogen-based fertiliser, if using directly as a soil amendment and not in the compost pile. However, the addition of coffee grounds into the soil improves its structure and earthworms utilize the grounds as a food source, depositing them deeper into the soil.<\/p>\n

In addition, soil-borne fungi and bacteria, which utilizes the nitrogen in the grounds for their growth, break down the assorted chemical components of the coffee grounds after a few months (copper,\u00a0phosphorus, magnesium and potassium), improving their availability to plants.\u00a0When adding coffee grounds directly into the planting bed, follow some basic tips and your plants will get off to a good start, and the grounds will not impede their growth.<\/p>\n