View Single Post
  #11   Report Post  
Old 24-11-2010, 08:41 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening
[email protected] nmm1@cam.ac.uk is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Oct 2008
Posts: 1,907
Default Caffeine versus slugs & snails

In article ,
Bob Hobden wrote:
"Bertie Doe" wrote ...

So far, all my spent coffee grinds, have ended up in my
compostor ( I believe there was a thread on ukrg last
year).

After reading the following article, I'll separate the
coffee and use it as a spray next year, on the
allotment. It also mentions tea leaves as a good source
http://preview.tinyurl.com/34gjnw2

The only problem I see is that DEFRA have not given it a licence to be used
as a pesticide, it has not been tested as such, and we therefor do not know
what damage it would cause to the environment as a whole. It might also kill
birds and others that eat the contaminated slugs for example, it might do
irreparable damage to the soil flora/fauna.


Yeah. And it might super-stimulate the slugs, so they go racing
round the garden, or even sprout wings and fly.

Given the massive experience we have of composting them in open
heaps, the effect on birds is almost certainly nil to negligible,
and we can be certain that it won't cause irreparable damage to
the soil flora and fauna.