Allotments 4 All

someone gave me a massive tin of Nescafe for christmas, when i looked the date stamp was 2001!!!! opened it and it didnt look or smell too good for us to drink, so is there any use for it in the garden??? just thought id ask before i chuck it.

i use brewed coffee grains in the wormery.  have a brew up.
pete

It is said to be a good slug repellant  if  brewed as coffee and used round  your plants .. Some Guys on our lotties buy  the cheapest brands from supermarkets and swear by it . I have never tried it ..what do others on here  think ,,Has anyone tried it?
.Jim

I'm trying something similar, saving coffee grounds from filter coffee, drying them off, and using the grains as a mulch around potted Hostas. Not the best time of year to do slug experiments, but I hope to have a good layer on all my pots before the shoots emerge in spring. I was also told that instant coffee made into a very strong solution and watered on would repel slugs. My method is cheaper, so I'll let you know what happens. So far it makes a very attractive mulch!

Brian

I have started saving coffee grounds from work too, so I suppose the question is, where should coffee NOT be used ...

Apparently Derek coffee grounds are good for the garden.They give off a slow release of nitrogen ..I didn't  Know this ..I googled it and it came up with it .. :) Jim

Using coffee as a slug control,

Try http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2067214.stm

as supplied by Ozzy

chives and all the alium family love coffee  :)

Quote from: Delilah on January 11, 2006, 19:44:45
chives and all the alium family love coffee  :)

In what way Delilah, as a fertilizer?

yep sorry didn't explain that very well, i put the coffee grains around the plant as a mulch, or if any coffee left in the pot I empty it around the chives :)

do you get coffee flavored chives?

I think it was Hugh that did this experiment and posted his results on A4All

"The coffee I used was not intended to kill the slugs - a 2% caffeine solution would have been required for that - but was used as a deterrent at normal drinking strength of 50 gms per 2 gals of water, and was the cheapest I could find (Aldi at 37p per 100 gms)

Without setting out the full details of the tests, the conclusions I finally reached were:-

1. The coffee was an excellent deterrent, and, once treated (thoroughly drenched) the soil remained cleared of slugs for up to 2 months unless there was excessive rain

2. Coffee applied to growing plants, especially young carrot seedlings could cause chlorosis and retard growth in some cases

3. Coffee applied to mature carrots in September did not adversely affect the plants.

4. The most beneficial way to use coffee is to drench the bed some two or three weeks before sowing to clear slugs out, and then to re-apply around the edges of the bed only at intervals throughout the season to maintain a barrier.  I always overwinter my maincropcarrots in the ground, so once they had matured in September they were drenched, and this was repeated in November to keep the crop clean - there were no ill effects on the carrots.

The coffee was also used around (not actually on) Hostas at a radius of about 6inches from the plant stems -once in late spring and again in midsummer. Not one plant was attacked and the plants showed no ill effects.

As to the matter of the pH levels, 50gms of coffee used in this manner will have no more effect than a bucket of garden compost dug in over the same area."

Wow, excellent Doris_Pinks, thank goodness for long memories! I wonder out of date decaf would work, or if the whether it's the caffeine that deters? Really useful info on coffee granules, watch out sluggies  ;D and thank you Doris  :-*

We talked about coffee in the old days of the BEEB -it really does work as a slug deterrent.

Stephan, i remember the coffee discussion very well at the Beeb i teased Ozzy,
terrible about it but it does work.

Will Caffinated Carrots help me stay awake on Night shift ! as carrot juice would be a lot better than cups of coffee for sure ???


Carl ;-)

There was a letter about this in Kitchen Garden Mag about 6 months ago.

check out this page from starbucks:

http://starbucks.co.uk/en-GB/_Our+Stores/_Community+Programs/Grounds+For+Your+Garden.htm

Well seeing as I'm a flowerlady  ;D ;D ;D   - couldn't resist that!!    I have used coffee grounds on my hostas for the same slug deterrant reason.

Also I have put them on hydrangeas!  They seem to be quite acid, so helps with the blue! ;)

Are we talking instant coffee as a solution or 'proper' coffee grounds? or do both work?

(Tongue firmly in cheek here)
You are all of course aware that this is not listed as approved on the Pesticides Register?  ;D