26 Plants That Like Coffee Grounds And a Few That Don’t

by Erin Marissa Russell

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You may have heard the gardening tip about putting coffee grounds in your garden, but this technique should only be used in a specific situation. Coffee grounds are acidic, and if you put them on plants that like neutral or alkaline soil, they won’t be good for your plants at all. Use coffee grounds with plants that crave acidity to change the pH level of your soil. 

In this article, we’ve listed commonly grown plants that like coffee grounds along with a few that don’t. This is not a comprehensive list, of course, so if you’re curious about whether a plant in your garden likes coffee grounds, just do a bit of research to see whether the plant craves acidity. It’s a good bet to use coffee grounds with acid-loving plants. If you aren’t sure about a particular plant, it’s best to err on the side of caution and save your coffee grounds for plants that will really thrive with them.

Plants That Like Coffee Grounds

Flowering Houseplants

• African Violet (Saintpaulia spp.): Popular houseplants with fuzzy leaves and delicate flowers in various colors. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can improve soil acidity and provide essential nutrients for healthy growth and flowering.
• Cyclamen (Cyclamen spp.): Houseplants with attractive heart-shaped leaves and showy, butterfly-like flowers. Optimal pH: 6.5-7.0. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, promoting healthy growth and blooms.

Flowering Perennials

• Azaleas (Rhododendron spp.): Evergreen or deciduous shrubs with stunning, colorful flowers. Optimal pH: 4.5-6.0. Coffee grounds can increase soil acidity, provide essential nutrients, and improve soil structure.
• Camellia (Camellia spp.): Evergreen shrubs with glossy leaves and large, showy flowers. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can enhance soil acidity and provide crucial nutrients for healthy growth and flowering.
• Hydrangeas (Hydrangea spp.): Large, deciduous shrubs with striking, globe-like flowers. Optimal pH: 5.0-6.5 (depending on desired flower color). Coffee grounds can help adjust soil pH, supply essential nutrients, and improve soil structure.
• Lilies (Lilium spp.): Elegant, showy flowers that grow from bulbs and come in various colors and forms. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can provide vital nutrients, especially nitrogen, for healthy growth and abundant blooms.
• Rhododendrons (Rhododendron spp.): Large, evergreen or deciduous shrubs with clusters of vibrant flowers. Optimal pH: 4.5-6.0. Coffee grounds can boost soil acidity, provide essential nutrients, and improve soil structure.
• Roses (Rosa spp.): Classic, fragrant flowering plants with a wide variety of colors and forms. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can help maintain soil acidity, provide essential nutrients, and even deter some pests, like slugs.

Fruit Plants

• Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.): Deciduous shrubs producing sweet, antioxidant-rich berries. Optimal pH: 4.5-5.5. Coffee grounds can increase soil acidity, supply essential nutrients, and improve soil structure.
• Cranberries (Vaccinium macrocarpon): Low-growing, evergreen shrubs that produce tart, red berries. Optimal pH: 4.5-5.5. Coffee grounds can enhance soil acidity and provide important nutrients for growth and fruiting.
• Gooseberries (Ribes uva-crispa): Deciduous shrubs that produce small, tart berries often used in jams and pies. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can enhance soil acidity and provide important nutrients for growth and fruiting.
• Wild Strawberries (Fragaria vesca): Perennial plants producing small, flavorful berries. Optimal pH: 5.5-6.5. Coffee grounds can help maintain soil acidity and supply essential nutrients for growth and fruit production.

Vegetable Plants

• Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata): Cool-season vegetables with dense, leafy heads. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.0. Coffee grounds can provide essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, for healthy growth and head formation.
• Carrots (Daucus carota subsp. sativus): Root vegetables with a sweet, earthy taste and high in beta-carotene. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.8. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients and improve soil structure, promoting healthy root growth.
• Parsley (Petroselinum crispum): Biennial herb grown for its flavorful leaves, often used as a garnish or in various dishes. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.0. Coffee grounds can provide essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, promoting healthy foliage growth.
• Peppers (Capsicum annuum): Warm-season vegetables that range from sweet to spicy. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, for healthy plant growth and fruit production.
• Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum): Starchy, underground tubers grown for their versatile culinary use. Like french fries! Optimal pH: 5.0-6.0. Coffee grounds can help maintain soil acidity and provide essential nutrients for healthy tuber development.
• Radishes (Raphanus sativus): Cool-season vegetables with a crisp, peppery taste. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.0. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients and improve soil structure, promoting healthy root growth.

Houseplants

• Christmas Cactus (Schlumbergera spp.): Succulent houseplants with segmented stems and showy, tubular flowers. Optimal pH: 5.5-6.5. Coffee grounds can help maintain soil acidity and provide essential nutrients for healthy growth and flowering.
• Ghost Man (Epipremnum aureum): A popular indoor trailing plant with heart-shaped, variegated leaves. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.5. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, promoting healthy foliage growth.
• Jade (Crassula ovata): Succulent houseplant with thick, fleshy leaves and small, star-shaped flowers. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can provide essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, for healthy growth and flowering.
• Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum spp.): Delicate, indoor ferns with arching fronds and small, fan-shaped leaflets. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.0. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, promoting healthy frond growth.
• Norfolk Island Pine (Araucaria heterophylla): A tree that’s sometimes grown as an indoor conifer plant with soft, needle-like foliage. Optimal pH: 6.0-6.5. Coffee grounds can provide essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, for healthy growth.
• Philodendron (Philodendron spp.): Popular houseplants with large, heart-shaped leaves. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.0. Coffee grounds can supply essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, promoting healthy foliage growth.
• Snake Plant (Sansevieria spp.): Low-maintenance houseplants with upright, sword-like leaves. Optimal pH: 6.0-7.0. Coffee grounds can provide essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, promoting healthy growth.

A Few Plants That Don’t Like Coffee Grounds

Alfalfa

Black-Eyed Susan

Century Plant

Clovers

Lavender

Madagascar Periwinkle

Orchids

Pothos

Rosemary

Sago Palm

Tomatoes

Yucca

Tips for Gardening with Coffee Grounds

• Surrounding your acid-loving plants with coffee grounds is one way to keep them safe from slugs or snails. The mollusks won’t be inclined to crawl over the abrasive grounds, so they work as a barrier around your plants.

• Some gardeners report that using coffee grounds in the garden is one way to keep the neighborhood cats from digging in your carefully tended flower beds or using them as a litter box.

• Only use cooked coffee grounds that have already been used in your garden.  Uncooked coffee grounds won’t give you the same benefits.

• Dilute coffee grounds with water before using them as a liquid fertilizer. The undiluted coffee grounds contain lots of caffeine (unless they’re decaf), and caffeine can be harmful for plants.

• Coffee grounds contain lots of nitrogen, making them a great ingredient for compost. By composting your coffee grounds, you can use them all throughout your garden. Just make sure that the coffee grounds make up no more than 20 percent of your compost.

• If you’re using too much coffee in the garden, you’ll see some of these negative effects: fungus growth, too much moisture in the soil, or stunted plant growth. Stop using coffee on plants that are showing these signs, and reduce your usage on other plants.

• Daily or even weekly treatments with coffee grounds will be too much for even the most acid-loving plants. A safer schedule is to use coffee grounds on your plants about once every six weeks or so. If you’re using liquid coffee on your plants, keep treatments to once every two or three weeks, and make sure the coffee you use is diluted enough not to harm your plants.

• Don’t use too much when you give coffee grounds to your plant. About a tablespoon spread in a thin layer on the soil around the plant is plenty. You want just enough so that the soil around the plant is covered with a thin layer of coffee.

• Your plants will absorb nutrition better from the coffee grounds if you water the plants right after giving them a coffee treatment.

• Don’t use coffee on young plants or seedlings, even if they’re acid-loving. Instead, wait until the plants are mature and established before starting them on coffee treatments.

• You can mix coffee grounds with mulch to make a nutritious mixture for your plants. But you’ll need to make sure you don’t use too much coffee. One part coffee to three parts mulch is a good ratio to use. 

• When you’re making coffee that will eventually be used in your garden, it’s important that you use unbleached coffee filters. After all, you don’t want the bleach to make it to your plants and garden soil.

• Coffee grounds work especially well in gardens where the soil texture needs improvement. Even if your soil is heavy clay or chalky, coffee grounds will help to aerate the soil and make it a more hospitable home for plants. Coffee grounds work similarly to sand in this way, except they’re packed with nutritious nitrogen for your plants.

• People aren’t the only ones who love coffee. Worms will be attracted to your garden if you start using coffee on your plants, and as you probably know, worms are a blessing for a garden.
  
• Test soil pH before applying coffee grounds. To avoid over-acidifying your soil, test its pH before adding coffee grounds. This way, you can monitor the soil’s acidity and adjust the application accordingly. Use a pH meter or pH test strips
  
• Avoid direct contact with plant stems. When applying coffee grounds, keep them away from plant stems. Direct contact can lead to rot, fungal growth, or other issues.
  
• Combining coffee grounds with other organic materials, such as leaves or grass clippings, can help balance nutrient levels and improve overall soil structure.
  
• While coffee grounds may deter some pests, others may still be attracted to your garden. Regularly check your plants for signs of pest damage and take appropriate action when necessary.
  
• Try different methods of applying coffee grounds, such as mixing them into the soil, using them as a top dressing, or adding them to your compost. Different plants may respond better to different methods.
  
• Regularly monitor your plants for signs of stress, such as yellowing leaves, stunted growth, or poor flowering. If you notice any issues, adjust your coffee ground usage accordingly.
  
• Be patient. The benefits of using coffee grounds in your garden may not be immediately apparent. Give your plants time to adjust to the new conditions, and you may see improvements in their health and growth over time.
  
• If you’re unsure about using coffee grounds in your garden or have specific questions, consult your local extension agency for guidance and advice tailored to your region.

As you’ve learned here, using coffee in the garden can be a real benefit. However, you need to know just how to use coffee: how much to give plants, which plants like coffee, and how often to use it. All those questions were answered here, so you should be prepared to give the acid-loving plants in your garden coffee treatments that will help them thrive and grow healthy and strong.

Learn More About Gardening With Coffee Grounds

https://balconygardenweb.com/houseplants-that-love-coffee-grounds-for-plant-growth/

https://coffeeaffection.com/what-plants-like-coffee-grounds/

https://farmingmethod.com/list-of-plants-that-like-coffee-grounds/

https://www.floradelaterre.com/house-plants-that-like-coffee-grounds/

https://www.homesandgardens.com/advice/are-coffee-grounds-good-for-plants

https://www.wellandgood.com/what-plants-like-coffee-grounds/