G'day one and all, it's Sunday afternoon and we are in the deck kicking back with a couple of ales and musing ideas. I mentioned to my child bride about pest and coffee grounds. Years ago when we were younger we had friends that swore by coffee grounds to keep pest and bugs out of their garden beds. Has anyone used coffee grounds to keep pests away from their trees?

Judgetribe wrote:

G'day one and all, it's Sunday afternoon and we are in the deck kicking back with a couple of ales and musing ideas. I mentioned to my child bride about pest and coffee grounds. Years ago when we were younger we had friends that swore by coffee grounds to keep pest and bugs out of their garden beds. Has anyone used coffee grounds to keep pests away from their trees?

I have used coffee grounds to make firelogs (use an empty milk carton, melt some old candles, put the wax and coffee in the carton, mix and let it cool down). That burns nicely, but hardly smells like coffee.

I wouldn't know why coffee would work against bugs - especially the non-crawling onese - except by hitting them with that log.
I've not tried it myself though, so I don't know if it works. Also, I'm not sure if it would be good for the soil. Just found an article about that, haven't read it yet (leaving for Paris in a moment..., will read it later): forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bonsai...115463428406.html?12

Would it work against crawling bugs? According to this article it does not work against ants (which you don't want to live in your bonsai, not because they harm your trees, but because they can bring aphids - their 'cattle' with them):
fireant.tamu.edu/entomologist-testing-pu...fire-ant-treatments/

I have used coffee grounds for years on acid loving plants. It also serves as a good slug preventive around hosta in that the slugs get cut to ribbons, so they don't cross the field of coffee. We save them all winter in a 5 gallon bucket, then come spring, put them to work again. Suggest you allow them to dry out before placing them in the bucket, otherwise you may get some mold. It doesn't seem to hurt anything, just creates moldy smelling coffee grounds.