When it comes to coffee grounds, you can use them in multiple ways instead of simply throwing them out. One such use for coffee grounds is for the plants. Many gardeners use coffee grounds to help grow out their plants. However, are coffee grounds actually good for your plants?
Here is a list of pros and cons that can help you decide whether you should use coffee grounds for your plants or not!
Pros
One of the many reasons why people prefer using coffee grounds is that they help keep away certain animals. Coffee grounds are a good deterrent against animals like snails, cats, and so on. These animals can be a bit of a nuisance for the plants especially since they eat the foliage. This can eventually cause the plants to stop growing.
The taste and the smell of the coffee prevent these animals from coming near the plants. Not only this, but the grainy texture of the coffee grounds also acts as a barrier against the entry of snails and slugs near the plant.
Coffee grounds can also be mixed in with leaves and other organic vegetables to form a mulch. You can put the mulch on top of the soil to help prevent any evaporation. This mixture prevents moisture loss from the soil. In winters, mulch can help trap in the heat to maintain plant growth.
Apart from this, coffee grounds prevent weed growth in the soil, providing a healthy environment for your plant to grow in.
If you do not want to use any chemical-based fertilizers for your plants, then you should use coffee grounds as a fertilizer. Coffee grounds contain many different nutrients, including Potassium, Phosphorus, Nitrogen, and so on. These nutrients are extremely essential for the growth of your plants.
Worms are extremely vital for the health of the plant’s roots. Since worms consume coffee grounds as food, their population can increase rapidly. This will result in stronger roots for your plants.
Since coffee grounds are organic, they help improve soil quality. With an increase in the amount of organic material in the soil, there is less water collection around the plant roots. This is beneficial since too much water can cause the plants to rot and not grow properly.
Cons
- Harmful for the Dogs
If you have a pet dog, then you should avoid using coffee grounds. Coffee can be toxic for dogs when ingested since caffeine can be harmful to their bodies. Therefore, it is necessary that you use coffee grounds in reduced quantities or not at all.
Coffee grounds also contain residual caffeine which can be harmful to some plants. Caffeine can inhibit growth for seedlings as well as mature plants, especially if it is present in large amounts.
While coffee has numerous anti-bacterial properties, it can also kill the good bacteria present in the soil. This can also make the soil more vulnerable to pests and diseases that would have otherwise been managed by good bacteria. This changes the natural biodiversity of the soil as well.
Conclusion
To conclude, using coffee grounds for your plants can be beneficial as well as dangerous. It depends on the number of coffee grounds that you use and how you use them. It is important that you use coffee grounds for your soil only when needed. Always be careful of the number of coffee grounds that you use