Home » Misc » Pour coffee on plants

Pour coffee on plants


How to Use Coffee to Water Plants

By

Colleen Vanderlinden

Colleen Vanderlinden

Colleen Vanderlinden is an organic gardening expert and author of the book "Edible Gardening for the Midwest." She has grown fruits and vegetables for over 12 years and professionally written for 15-plus years. To help move the organic gardening movement forward, she started an organic gardening website, "In the Garden Online," in 2003 and launched the Mouse & Trowel Awards in 2007 to recognize gardening bloggers.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process

Updated on 06/07/22

Reviewed by

Mary Marlowe Leverette

Reviewed by Mary Marlowe Leverette

Mary been a Master Gardener for 30+ years and a commercial and residential gardener for 50+ years. She is a former Clemson University Extension Agent. She worked to develop the Riverbanks Botanical Garden that opened in 1995. Mary co-owns Marlowe Farms Apple Orchards.

Learn more about The Spruce's Review Board

Fact checked by

Emily Estep

Fact checked by Emily Estep

Emily Estep is a plant biologist and fact-checker focused on environmental sciences. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a Master of Science in Plant Biology from Ohio University. Emily has been a proofreader and editor at a variety of online media outlets over the past decade.

Learn more about The Spruce's Editorial Process

The Spruce / Danielle Holstein 

Coffee is part of our daily life and a common gardening question is whether it's okay to water plants with leftover coffee or to add coffee grounds to the compost pile.

The answer is yes, in some situations using coffee when gardening is not only acceptable but a good idea. There are some caveats, though. 

Using Leftover Coffee Grounds

The Spruce / Danielle Holstein

Coffee grounds are a good source of nitrogen in your compost pile or when added directly to the soil in the garden. If added in fairly large amounts, they can raise the acidity level of the soil for acid-loving plants such as blueberries, azaleas, and rhododendrons. Coffee grounds sprinkled over the ground around acid-loving plants serve as a mild acid fertilizer for them. And worms seem to love them, either in your garden or outdoor compost pile or in a vermicompost bin.

And coffee grounds are regarded as an effective natural deterrent to garden pests such as slugs, snails, and ants. Rumors of coffee grounds repelling deer may be overstated. Deer are voracious eaters, and a few cups of coffee grounds are unlikely to make much of a difference. Coffee grounds will discourage a mischievous cat from roaming in your garden, but its effectiveness on rabbits and other common garden rodents is unknown.

Tip

If you're not a coffee drinker, don't forget your used tea leaves. They work great as a soil enhancer around acid-loving plants and add nutrients to compost piles.

How to Use Leftover Liquid Coffee

The Spruce / Danielle Holstein 

If you brew coffee by the pot, you may wonder if the cold leftovers can be used to water plants. Or, can the remaining half cup of cold coffee in your mug be poured into that potted pothos plant next to your desk?

The short answer is: maybe. It depends on the plant. Plants that prefer more acidic soil (such as African violets, Impatiens, Norfolk Island pines, Phalaenopsis orchids, and Dieffenbachia) seem to respond well to a weekly watering with coffee. Outdoors, acid-loving plants like azaleas, Rhododendron, Siberian iris, lupine, and any pine trees or shrubs will do fine if periodically watered with cold coffee. Liquid coffee can also be used to water a compost pile that has become too dry. 

If you decide to try watering houseplants with coffee, keep a close eye on your plant. If the foliage starts yellowing or the tips of the leaves start turning brown, it's a sign that the coffee is adding too much acidity to the soil. It's not a bad idea to dilute your coffee with water, especially if you prefer your daily cup of java on the strong side. In some offices, the only "watering" plants received is from emptying leftover coffee into the soil, and they often do quite well. 

One caveat: if you add cream, milk, or sugar to your coffee, don't pour it into your plants. Ditto for flavored coffees. The sugars and fats can not only harm your plants and invite pests but can eventually result in a stinky mess. A plant watered with sweetened or flavored coffee may soon be overrun by fungal gnats or odorous house ants.

Article Sources

The Spruce uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

  1. Grounds in the Garden. Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension.

  2. Acid Soil Problems. Louisiana State University Agricultural Center.

  3. Fungus Gnats Tiny Flies Around Your Houseplants. University of Wisconsin at Madison Department of Entomology.

Coffee Used On Plants - How To Water Plants With Coffee

Home › Gardening How To › Soil, Fixes & Fertilizers

Soil, Fixes & Fertilizers

By: Amy Grant

Image by byryo

Many of us start the day with some sort of coffee pick me up, whether it’s a plain cup of drip or a double macchiato. The question is, will watering plants with coffee give them that same “perk?”

Can You Water Plants with Coffee?

Coffee used as a fertilizer is not exactly a new idea. Many gardeners add coffee grounds to compost piles where it decomposes and mixes with other organic matter to create some fantastic, nourishing soil. Of course, this is done with grounds, not the actual cold cup of coffee sitting here at my desk. So, can you water your plants with coffee proper?

Coffee grounds are about 2 percent nitrogen by volume, nitrogen being an important component for growing plants. Composting grounds introduces microorganisms that break down and release the nitrogen as it raises the temperature of the pile and aids in killing weed seeds and pathogens. Very useful stuff!

Brewed coffee also contains measurable amounts of magnesium and potassium, which are building blocks for plant growth as well. Therefore, it seems a logical conclusion that watering plants with coffee might indeed be very beneficial.

Of course, you wouldn’t want to use the cup sitting in front of you. Most of us add a little cream, flavoring, and sugar (or sugar substitute) to our Joe. While real sugar would not pose a problem to the plants, milk or artificial creamer won’t do your plants any good. Who knows what effect any of the many artificial sweeteners on the market would have on plants? I’m thinking, not good. Be sure to dilute before watering plants with coffee and don’t add anything else to it.

How to Water Plants with Coffee

Now that we have ascertained that we should use diluted coffee for plant fertilizer, how do we do it?

Coffee has a pH of from 5. 2 to 6.9 depending on the variety and preparation. The lower the pH, the more acid; in other words, coffee is pretty acidic. Most plants grow best in slightly acid to neutral pH (5.8 to 7). Tap water is slightly alkaline with a pH greater than 7. Therefore, using diluted coffee for plants can increase the acidity of the soil. Traditional chemical fertilizers, the addition of sulfur, or allowing leaves to decompose on soil surfaces are methods to decrease soil pH levels. Now you have another option.

Allow your plain brewed coffee to cool and then dilute it with the same amount of cool water as coffee. Then simply water acid-loving plants such as:

Water with the diluted coffee just as you would with plain tap water. Don’t use this to water plants that do not like acidic soil.

Don’t water every time with the diluted coffee fertilizer. Plants will sicken or die if the soil becomes too acidic. Yellowing leaves may be a sign of too much acid in the soil, in which case, abandon the coffee irrigation and repot plants in containers.

Coffee works great on many types of flowering indoor plants but can be used outside as well. Diluted coffee adds just enough organic fertilizer to encourage bushier, healthier plants.

This article was last updated on

Read more about Soil, Fixes & Fertilizers

Did you find this helpful? Share it with your friends!

You might also like…

90,000 coffee grounds as a fertilizer for indoor flowers and gardeners in 2022 on the Gudgrint

Content

All this is possible thanks to useful substances contained in coffee grounds. You can talk a lot about the beneficial properties of sleeping coffee and its use as a fertilizer for indoor flowers and garden plants, but this issue should be dealt with in more detail.

Benefits of coffee grounds

Ground coffee contains a lot of valuable substances. This is:

Undoubtedly, during the brewing process, some of these substances are washed out of the coffee grounds. The content of useful mineral components in sleeping coffee is approximately 2-3% (for different substances it is different). But even this amount is enough to use coffee grounds as a mineral fertilizer for home and garden flowers, vegetables, and ornamental plants. The substances contained in coffee waste are essential for their growth and development.

For example, nitrogen plays a key role in the process of photosynthesis, without which plant growth and the formation of oxygen are impossible. Phosphorus and potassium are also involved in this important process, contribute to the development of the plant, the formation of flowers and fruits.

Using dormant coffee as a fertilizer is a virtually free way to provide your plants with healthy mineral nutrition.

At the same time, the probability of harming them from an overdose of one or another component is equal to zero. The concentration of minerals in the thick is optimal for many indoor flowers, garden and garden plants.

Potted flowers are particularly susceptible to coffee ground fertilizer:

A good result is the use of dormant coffee to feed vegetables, including:

This fertilizer is suitable for garden roses, lilies, ornamental shrubs, herbs.

Drinking coffee is an excellent means of feeding fruit and berry bushes and trees. After its application, the yield of these crops increases.

It is believed that coffee residues are highly acidic and therefore unsuitable for many plant species. This is not entirely true. The grains do have a high acidity. However, excess acid is washed out during the brewing process. Coffee grounds have a neutral level of acidity and as a fertilizer it is suitable for feeding any plants.

Use of coffee grounds as fertilizer

Coffee grounds are used to fertilize plants in two ways:

  1. Liquid top dressing. This method is very simple. It consists in the fact that coffee residues (thickness and part of the liquid) are collected in one container. Then this composition is watered on the ground in flower pots or under garden plants. This method has one significant disadvantage: a wet substance is prone to infection with mold or fungi. Therefore, to fertilize potted plants, it is recommended to use dry top dressing.

    Helpful Hint: To fertilize garden beds or garden shrubs, thin out the grounds until they are ready to be watered. Water the plants from above with a watering can, then pour plain water over them. This will allow the minerals to slowly release into the soil, nourishing your plants.

  2. Dry dressing. Dry the coffee beans thoroughly before use. To do this, after draining a small amount of thick, evenly distribute it on a sheet of thick cardboard or waterproof paper. You can use plastic spacing or baking sheets from the oven. Place the prepared thick in a warm place and keep it there until completely dry. When the substance dries, do not forget to break the caked lumps. Fertilizer can be used immediately or stored in dry glass, plastic or tin cans with tight-fitting lids. Thick paper bags are also suitable for this purpose.

Use of coffee grounds in the garden

Dried dry coffee is poured under the plant, then the soil is slightly loosened. When watering, useful substances will be released and flow into the ground, gradually enriching it.

When using this fertilizer in the garden, it is dug into the ground under the plants. With the help of a shovel, the earth is dug up to a depth of about 5 cm. Dry thickening is added to the loose soil. For one tree - 1-2 glasses, depending on the size. Then the thick is sprinkled with earth and lightly tamped.

Helpful hint: don't put too much ground (so that it covers all the ground under the plant). In this case, when watering, a crust may form, which will interfere with the access of oxygen to the roots. Do not add thickening to the soil for seedlings. It will weigh down the soil and slow down germination.

Sleeping coffee for flowers

Coffee sludge is especially popular as a fertilizer for indoor plants and garden flowers. For fertilizing indoor flowers, it is recommended to prepare the following composition:

Mix all ingredients and let them rot. To do this, you can use a large tank or an old pan. The mixture should be covered with fertile soil on top, make several holes with a stick and let it mature for about a month. The resulting composition can be used as nutritional supplements, making them into flower pots.

When planting flower beds and laying flower beds, coffee residues can also be used. Forming a flower garden, add them to the ground. On a bucket of earthen mixture, you should take one glass of dry thick, mix everything thoroughly, after which you can plant flowers. After planting the plants, the soil must be watered abundantly.

Coffee pomace as compost

Minerals, primarily nitrogen, contained in coffee residues tend to be released gradually under the influence of microorganisms. This makes coffee pomace a valuable component of garden compost. To do this, it is collected and placed in a compost pit. Thick contributes to the speedy decay of the contents of the pit, improves its mineral composition.

Coffee pomace can also be added directly to planting holes for garden ornamental and fruit-bearing plants. To do this, dry cake is mixed with prepared soil. A plant is planted in the prepared soil and watered abundantly.

Helpful Hint: Try using compost containing coffee residue to grow mushrooms. According to the reviews of those who used this method, the yield increases by 2-3 times.

How else to use grounds

Coffee grounds can not only enrich plants with useful minerals, but also protect them from a wide variety of pests. Insects such as ants, slugs, snails, aphids and others do not like it. Using grounds allows you to safely and inexpensively protect your plantings. It can also be used to prevent the appearance of insect pests.

Coffee grounds may just be indispensable in your garden. This is an excellent tool for changing the structure of the soil. Adding thickening will make heavy and clayey garden soil looser and lighter. To do this, the cake is added to the soil and regularly loosened.

Drinking coffee and coffee residues can also attract beneficial insects. Including earthworms. This property is especially important for composting. Worms, processing the contents of the compost pit, loosening it, contribute to the rapid maturation of the compost.

Cats do not like coffee aroma. With the help of thick, you can wean your pet from shitting under your favorite bush. You just need to sprinkle a dry product in a thin layer and do not water for a while.

Where to get enough grounds

First of all, do not throw away after drinking the drink itself. So, in a few days you can collect a sufficient amount of thick. Good for use as a fertilizer or compost cake from a coffee machine.

In some cafes and restaurants abroad, and in our country, a special table has recently appeared with packages that say "Coffee grounds for your plants" or "Coffee scrub for you." They are a useful and pleasant present for visitors to the institution. Feel free to grab a few bags. They will only benefit your plants.

Therefore, you should not throw away such a useful product as coffee cake. Following the tips given here, you are sure to find a use for it in the garden or when breeding indoor flowers.

which plants are suitable for, how to use pomace and ground coffee in the garden

Contents:

    1. What plants are suitable for
    2. Methods of use
      • Watering
      • Mulching
        • 50006
      • compost
      • for seedlings
      • Protection from pests
    3. Where you can not use
    4. Useful tips

Many begin their day with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, and after this daily ritual there is always cake, which can simply be pulled out in the bin or use coffee grounds as a fertilizer for indoor plants, flowers and gardens.

The answer to the question of whether coffee grounds can be used as fertilizer is obvious: of course you can! But let's take a closer look at what benefits this brings to plants.

  1. By adding coffee grounds to the soil, especially clay and loam soil, its structure becomes looser, drainage capacity and air exchange improve. In addition, coffee attracts earthworms, which also contribute to loosening the soil.
  2. The smell of coffee can repel harmful insects. He doesn't like cats either. If you sprinkle your garden beds with coffee grounds, you don't have to worry that uninvited visits from your pet will damage tender plantings.
  3. It is believed that fresh coffee has an increased level of acidity, and top dressing with such characteristics is not suitable for every plant. However, to avoid acidification of the soil, it is enough to shed thick water and then apply in the garden or vegetable garden.
  4. Coffee grounds as a fertilizer are rich in minerals and trace elements. Potassium and phosphorus contribute to good flowering and abundant fruiting. Nitrogen activates the rapid growth of plants. Copper helps to resist a number of diseases. And although the total amount of useful substances in coffee cake is about 2–3%, which means that it can hardly be considered a full-fledged fertilizer, the use of grounds as an organic plant food is fully justified.

What kind of plants is the coffee fertilizer suitable for

And yet, dormant coffee is a nutrient that is not suitable for every plant. Therefore, before you widely use it in your garden, you need to study for which plants it is most effective to use coffee grounds as a fertilizer. It is most useful for flowers that prefer a low pH level - azaleas, hydrangeas, heathers and rhododendrons. Due to the large amount of potassium in the composition, coffee grounds can be used as a fertilizer when growing vegetable crops such as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Feeding fruit trees with sleeping coffee will also help to significantly increase their fruiting. Magnesium, which is part of coffee, is useful for berry bushes. Magnesium and potassium will help to get a high yield of root crops, while nitrogen is indispensable for green crops.

Roses, palms, ficuses and ferns, as well as violets and asparagus, respond best to coffee fertilization. When using coffee grounds as a fertilizer for houseplants, it is recommended to shed and dry it first. If you simply pour the rest of the coffee from the cup into the pot, most likely there will be no benefit, but on the contrary, the soil may become covered with a crust and begin to mold. To prevent this, you need to mix the prepared thick with soil suitable for this type of plant.

Coffee with sugar or milk should not be used for horticultural, horticultural and flower crops, since sugar attracts ants, and milk provokes the development of putrefactive processes in the soil, which can damage the root system of plants.

Methods of use

Watering

Used coffee must be diluted with a sufficient amount of liquid before it can be used as a fertilizer for watering plants. To prepare a solution for 10 liters of water, 1 cup of grounds is required. Cake is poured with a small amount of water and left to swell for about a day. After swelling, the amount of liquid is adjusted to the calculated amount and used for watering plants.

After feeding the plants with coffee grounds, it is advisable to water the soil again, but with clean water. This technique will allow the minerals to be slowly released, nourishing the plants. When planting bushes, you should spill the ground with coffee solution at the rate of 1 liter under the bush.

Mulching

Coffee grounds can also be used for mulching crops to protect soil from drying out, repel pests and improve soil structure. However, it must be remembered that when using the grounds as mulch, as in the case of using coffee cake as a fertilizer in the garden in the country, it should be thoroughly dried to prevent the development of mold.

Soil supplement

Dormant ground coffee as a fertilizer can be added to the planting hole or hole before planting to improve soil structure. This technique makes the land more drained and loose, which ultimately has a positive effect on plant health and yield. When used on light soils, the thick acts as a binder. In this case, top dressing is applied to the upper soil layer at the rate of 200 ml per 1 m².

Compost

To speed up the maturation of the compost, it is enough to spill each layer no more than 10 cm thick with coffee infusion. Coffee grounds perform the function of nitrogen components that trigger an exothermic reaction inside the compost heap, in other words, heating it up, due to which the compost matures much faster. This method is so effective that some summer residents specifically purchase inexpensive varieties of ground coffee and sprinkle layers of compost on them.

For seedlings

Recently, the method of growing vegetable seedlings on a coffee substrate has become popular. But in order to prevent depletion of the soil, it is necessary from time to time to feed the seedlings with complex fertilizers.

Protection against pests

Coffee pomace as a fertilizer in the garden is also very effective for protecting plants from mature individuals of harmful insects - ants, snails, aphids, slugs. According to the experience of some gardeners, coffee can also destroy pest larvae, in particular mosquitoes and garden bugs. This remedy is not as effective as insecticides, but also much safer.

Where not to use coffee grounds

Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, so if used in excess, you can burn the root system, which will lead to the death of the plant.

Poorly dried coffee waste can cause mold and fungal diseases and kill plants. In addition, coffee fertilizer is not suitable for tradescantia, asparagus, geraniums and other crops that prefer more alkaline soil. Top dressing from pomace can change the shade of rose flowers.

Helpful Hints

Dried coffee grounds are very light, so when used dry, even the slightest breeze can blow them off the garden.

Learn more