Coffee Grounds

I'm troubled by ants in my rose beds, so to put coffee grounds in a circle around the base of each bush. They are irresistable to ants, almost like a drug. Nice thing is, when they eat them, they kill them...

 

I have heard about the benefits and deterrent properties of coffee grounds. But do used tea leaves ( without the bag ) have any uses ? We just green bin all ours.

 

I empty my cafetiere around my acid loving plants as the grounds are slightly acidic. Desfontiania seems very happy with this arrangement. And I am convinced that they are a deterrent to the slimey critters too based on the lack of damage to the Tricyrtis I ringfenced with grounds.

@HarryS - tea bags break down surprisingly quickly in an active compost bin.

 

Really? endangered plant hostas? Not in my yard, they just keep growing, and growing and growing. Leaving the coffee grounds out of the equation as all happy in my gardens, actually too happy sometime.

 

They can be used to cultivate mushrooms, too. Some producers round here use a layer of grounds on top of FYM.

 

I also use grounds from the cafetiere dumped daily into the kitchen compost bin, as well as used teabags which seem to break down pretty well. The grounds seem to give a bit of substance to the compost. Never tested for acidity though I think my soil is alkaline anyway.

 

My blueberry plants like a caffeine kick as do I .

 

I used to get all the coffee grounds from the tea room I used to volunteer at along with 200 teabags a week on top. It would all happily go into the compost bin to top up my nitrogen levels.