# Is there a use for used coffee grounds? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 30, 2006, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507 "2006-10-30T23:29:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/21 "2006-11-01T03:30:42Z")
I’d use them for mulch rather than throwing them on the compost heap. Does wonders for controlling a variety of pests. [QUOTE=Xema] Hard to say - they can’t actually dust for vomit. [/QUOTE] They can… it’s just nobody wants to clean the brushes afterwards. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/22 "2006-11-01T08:13:41Z")
Create a cockroach trap! It was all over the local television news this summer when there was an infestation of cockroaches around the Las Vegas valley…(combination of summer heat and rain and all…) You take an empty glass jar, put in fresh coffee grounds and just a bit of water, and either place the jar next to a wall (so the critters can crawl up and get into the jar) or put some masking tape around the jar so they have traction to climb up from the outside. Once they fall into the jar, they can’t crawl out. Seems cockroaches like the smell of coffee and it attracts them in hordes. Seemed to work here and lots of people wrote into the television station to thank them for the tip. ---
**Author:** ![Triskadecamus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@Triskadecamus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Triskadecamus)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/23 "2006-11-01T08:23:15Z")
I have always heard that coffee grounds tilled into the garden fresh, as opposed to composted first made the worms very active. Since worms procreate according to their frequency of interaction, a bunch of coffee freak worms will work the heck out of your garden. Might all be a pack of farmer lies, I don’t know. I have a black thumb. Tris ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/24 "2006-11-01T11:32:49Z")
They’re rich in nitrogen, so yeah, they make great plant food directly to the soil, you don’t have to compost 'em. Scratch them into the soil a bit instead of just leaving a pile, but they’re great stuff. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/25 "2006-11-01T15:45:42Z")
[QUOTE=Xema] Hard to say - they can’t actually dust for vomit. [/QUOTE] Ahhh… so that’s why there’s so few arrests of vomiting burglars. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/26 "2006-11-01T18:07:41Z")
If you dry 'em out, you can smoke 'em in a pipe when you don’t have any money for tobacco and you’re desparate for a smoke. ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/27 "2006-11-02T03:27:08Z")
[QUOTE=LouisB] If you dry 'em out, you can smoke 'em in a pipe when you don’t have any money for tobacco and you’re desparate for a smoke. [/QUOTE] You can also mix them with tea and roll a cigarette that tastes surprisingly normal. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/28 "2006-11-22T18:50:08Z")
[QUOTE=DMark] Create a cockroach trap! It was all over the local television news this summer when there was an infestation of cockroaches around the Las Vegas valley…(combination of summer heat and rain and all…) You take an empty glass jar, put in fresh coffee grounds and just a bit of water, and either place the jar next to a wall (so the critters can crawl up and get into the jar) or put some masking tape around the jar so they have traction to climb up from the outside. Once they fall into the jar, they can’t crawl out. [/QUOTE] Was it Starbucks or Folger’s? ---
**Author:** ![swampbear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/swampbear/32/467_2.png) [@swampbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/swampbear)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/29 "2006-11-22T18:56:45Z")
Ah memories! This thread made me think of poor college days. Making a pot of coffee in the morning and saving the grounds to reperk (add one teaspoon fresh coffee) that night while studying. What? I didn’t say it was a _good_ memory. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/30 "2006-11-22T19:13:07Z")
[QUOTE=Icarus] That great god of all things coffee known as Starbucks has taken to packaging their used grounds for home gardeners to use as a nutritious mulch. [/QUOTE] Witnessing belongs in GD, where we can debate the worship of Starbucks versus other, superior, caffeine providers. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2006, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507/31 "2006-11-22T19:36:37Z")
Around three years ago my electric coffee maker broke and I switched to a French press. My routine now is every morning I get up, but some water on to boil, pour a little water into yesterday’s coffee grounds still in the press, take them outside and dump them around the plants. It certainly hasn’t hurt anything and the grounds seem to immediately incorporate into the soil. I tried “mulching” some of my indoor plants with coffee grounds but it molds. Can’t recommend that. [QUOTE=010011010] I’d use them for mulch rather than throwing them on the compost heap. Does wonders for controlling a variety of pests. [/QUOTE] Could you name some of the pests I’m controlling? I’ve never heard that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-use-for-used-coffee-grounds/378507.md?page=1)