Garden Myths Coffee Grounds

However every year the flea beetles have destroyed the plants.

Garden myths coffee grounds.

True enough during the period of decomposition the ph level of coffee grounds can be very acidic but it doesn t stay that way. Other uses for used coffee grounds in gardens. The acid in coffee grounds is water soluble and that s why the coffee we drink is acidic. Coffee grounds are organic and will slowly decompose in the garden sounds like a good mulch.

Direct application of coffee grounds won t help to fertilize your plants and provide them with nitrogen. Many gardeners like to use used coffee grounds as a mulch for their plants. There are a few myths surrounding ways that you can make your soil more acidic. Coffee grounds can affect seedlings but the effects are short term.

Myth 1 coffee grounds deter flea beetles. There are certain myths associated with coffee grounds. If your plant doesn t have leaves it will die. The popular belief is that the coffee grounds are very acidic and that you should restrict their use to acid loving plants but legitimate studies arrive at a different conclusion.

I read other anecdotal advice saying that slugs won t even go near coffee grounds. Leftover diluted coffee works well like this too. Just because it is free organic material does not mean it is something you should be using. Here are my top 5 coffee grounds in the garden myths.

Coffee grounds are quite fine and as such they compact easily. Composted coffee grounds offer up some nutritive content but overall grounds are a weak fertilizer. In this post i will look at several of the claims made agaisnt using coffee. Some tests have shown that caffeine can stunt the growth of bacteria fungi plants and seedlings.

It is pure myth. While i can t say with certainty that coffee grounds will repel slugs in this case it can t hurt to try. One is that they acidify the soil. Coffee grounds are routinely recommended for the garden but in the last couple of years i ve seen several articles about the possible harm coffee grounds do to plants and soil.

To use coffee grounds as fertilizer work the coffee grounds into the soil around your plants. Busting myths about coffee grounds in the garden. Coffee grounds have a ph close to 7 0 neutral so they will not have much effect on soil ph. Coffee grounds acidify soil.

Robert pavlis of garden myths set up his own experiment with slugs and coffee grounds and he says the coffee grounds don t even slow them down. Most of these studies use high doses of caffeine and it is not the same when you use coffee grounds in your garden. Coffee grounds make a good mulch. For the last five years i have tried to grow eggplant.

Let s take a brief look at a few of them. It is a natural insecticide.