Yes, Cycadjungle (?) had a post about how it detered them or out and out killed them.

Here is the link to the article originally posted by cycadjungle.....

Since reading this article, I have been pouring UCG's + water on my sago's and have seen suprising results. One infested sago was free of CAS within a week and is still CAS free. The other two are slowly clearing up as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Coffee, Cycads' New Best Friend

Thanks, folks! I have sent the link to my friend, along with your comments. Sure appreciate the fast response!

Marcia

Marcia, I'm so glad you started this thread because I was thinking about it too!

Let me barge in ;-) and ask, what about tomatoes? Has anyone tried it for bugs, not dirt, on tomatoes?

I wonder if it would change the taste of the tomatoes? LOL

Corrie

The tea worked wonders for the mealybugs in my bamboo ;-)

A tea of nicotine is also good for the scale insects on the sago and of course other plants also.
Felix

Marcia, I too have been using coffee grounds on sagos to control scale insects, and it has been working very well. I get a big bag of used grounds from $t*rbucks and use it as a mulch around the base of the plant. I also sprinkle some of the grounds onto the crown of the plant.

One more thing. If you made the "tea" it wouldn't be tea, it would be coffee. ;)

John

Hey Corrie, I use coffee grounds on EVERYTHING especially my new baby tomatoes. I mix it in the soil with some powdered organics, bone meal, corn meal and epsom salts. I have a snail invasion and the coffee grounds keep them at bay and outta my pots and planters. Plus, the coffee seems to retain moisture in the soil and it smells really good. I doubt the coffee affects the taste, otherwise, fertilizing would make tomatoes taste like poop?? lol

LOL Cindee, leave it to you!

I just don't want to end up with deep rich robust tomatoes!

But then, I drink so much coffee I probably wouldn't know the difference. ;-)

I didn't know that about the snails though! I'm going for it! Back me up, I'm going in!
I'm going to try the coffee elixer spray on the tomatoes too.

Corrie

I was thinking about using some diluted coffee on my milkweed plants to treat for aphids. But then I wondered if it would also kill the eggs/caterpillars that would use the milkweed as a host plant. I think I will try it on one plant to see how it goes.

I also wonder about the earthworms that are in the bedding/potting soil. Does it harm them as well?

All of these are very good questions and suggestions. Thanks! Felix, when you say nicotine, do you mean tobacco dust? If so, I'm not going to try that one. It's very toxic and I don't want to be around it, or have my dogs get near it. But maybe you have another type?

And I'm also curious about the earthworms mentioned above.
Of course, if you are mulching under one sago, it isn't likely go cause a lot of harm, but if you are treating entire beds...well, what does it get rid of and what does it leave unharmed and happy?

Inquiring minds wanna know.....

Marcia

A few coffee grounds sprinkled in the cups of bromeliads will keep the mosquitos out of them.

I use the tea bags as well, I just dig a hole and bury bag and all. And left over coffee and tea in my watering cans. ;o)

Coffee Grounds
% N 2.08
% P .32
% K .28
The benefit from using coffee grounds seems to be the addition of organic matter into the soil . If it works for you - that's all that matters .

Here is an interesting write up about using oils :

So far, we have found that the most consistently effective treatment for controlling the cycad aulacaspis scale insect has been spraying them with oils. We have been using fish oil emulsion, but one of our colleagues has been using a petroleum-based horticultural oil with good results.

We mix the fish oil with water at a rate of 1 part oil to 100 parts of water. Since the cycad aulacaspis scale insect infests mostly the lower surfaces of the fronds, the spray must be directed there. A single cycad can be treated using a 1-quart hand sprayer or even a small squeeze bottle. We have found it useful to use a stick to lift each frond to spray the lower surface. The scale insects also commonly infest the stem, so we spray it as well as the fronds.

We haven't yet established how many times a cycad must be treated to control these scale insects. The fish oil treatment works best as a preventative that keeps scale insect crawlers (the larval stage) from settling on the plants. It is also somewhat effective in killing some of the mature females, which of course by laying eggs are the source of new the next generation of scale insects on the same or adjacent plants. When we have sprayed highly infested cycads once a week for several weeks, we have controlled the cycad aulacaspis scale insect. The sprays prevent establishment of new crawlers. Meanwhile, the mature females expend all of their eggs and die off.

As mentioned above, the scale itself is highly persistent, clinging to the leaf surface long after the insect beneath it is dead and dried up. For this reason, people often keep spraying plants long after they have killed all of the scales. Generally, old scales become infested with fungi and fall off gradually, and at the end of several months the plants are clean. Oils may help to loosen the scales, but we really don't know yet if they do. Frequent spraying with a garden hose may help wash off some of the old dead scales.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cycad Aulacaspis Scale

The article quoted by Chrisd talks about the alkaloids in coffee being the active ingredient in fighting scale, etc. I gathered it was not at all a nutrional thing, but the presence of the alkaloids that make it a good addition around some plants.

I received an email from cycadjunlge this morning on this subject, too. He has not been able to post on the forum for a month, so had to answer me privately. (Thanks, CJ! I sure appreciate your input!) Here is what he has to say:

"On your questions, the coffee does not kill earthworms. Coffee grounds has been used for decades for composting and using in gardens as a soil enrichment, just not for killing insects. If it killed earthworms, people would have stopped using it. It is ok to use on tomatoes, but there has been some people who documented that the tomatoes didn't grow as well with the coffee as a mulch."

Thanks, everyone! And Katkin, a special thanks on the bromeliad tip. We have lots of those and I have always kept them away from the front door to reduce mosquitoes by the entryway. I will try your tip, for sure!

Marcia

Imidacloprid the active ingredient in things like Bayer Advanced, is a nicotine based chemical. Although, I believe the nicotine is man-made as opposed to natural.

If I could grow tobacco, I have wondered if growing it around other plants would act as a natural pest deterrent.

As far as the coffee, I use it generously around everything for pest control not fertilizer - and I absolutely think it helps. I read an article(don't remember where) suggesting that plants might actually absorb the alkaloids from the coffee, making them more naturally resistant to pests.

That's what the article above implies, Minibim. And it makes sense to me.

I have grown flowering tobacco, and don't remember whether it deterred insects or not. Not necessarily the same as smoking tobacco, but definitely in the nicotine family.

Marcia

I thought that coffee had some oil in it? Am I wrong?

Nicotine is extremely harmful to honeybees.

For those who are considering using tobacco as a pesticide, please remember it is very harmful to tomatoes. Ever hear of tobacco mosaic virus? I understand it will almost always wreck havoc on your tomato plants and I think, anything in the tomato family, such as eggplant. Sheri

I have started vermicomposting and all the material I read says that worms like used coffee grounds. They also eat the paper filters...

I don't know the correlation between nicotine/tobacco and mosaic virus. TMV is just that, a virus, nicotine doesn't cause it. Also tobacco and tomatoes are the same family and unless you are buying organic veggies, there is an overwhelming possibility the tomatoes you buy are from plants treated with Imidacloprid.

Okay, my sense of it is basically, coffee grounds GOOD, tobacco dust/nicotine, BAD. Which is pretty much what I thought to be begin with. I don't know about viruses and the like, but I do know that tobacco dust is terribly toxic. I also don't know about using products with Imidacloprid, but I stay away from any kind of pesticide as a general rule, not wanting to harm the beneficial or enjoyable insects in my garden. My plants aren't usually worth the sacrifice of my caterpillars and butterflies, so I don't take the chance.

But I do think the coffee grounds directly under the plants sounds like a good idea where needed. And I have always added coffee grounds and tea leaves to the compost bin. Plus any other uncooked kitchen scraps (vegetable, not meat).

Thanks to everyone who took the time to weigh in on this subject. My friend is already trying the coffee grounds, and hopefully that will help her sagos.

Marcia

Well have to share this.
We are in Real Estate and as you know STINKS right now. DH came home early and I asked how it went. I got the usual "answers, no one has money,they can't get mortgages,the sellers are mad because the value of their homes went down. But", He said "the highlight of my day was stopping by Starbucks and picking up three bags of coffee grounds for the garden!"

Hahaha...good for him! That's looking at the bright side, eh?

Marcia

I'm almost within walking distance of a Starbuck's and it's in the same shopping center as my Publix. That's why I have an almost un-ending supply, as I stop there almost daily. The baristas love it, I walk in and they just hand me the big garbage bag. I don't think they've had to actually package any coffee grounds in ages!!!

I'm almost within walking distance of a Starbuck's and it's in the same shopping center as my Publix. That's why I have an almost un-ending supply, as I stop there almost daily. The baristas love it, I walk in and they just hand me the big garbage bag. I don't think they've had to actually package any coffee grounds in ages!!!

Talked with my Sister who lives near Ft. Lauderdale . I had told her about coffee grounds and sagos . She had never heard of such a thing but tried it any way on some other plants that would not respond to traditional treatments .
The report was that the coffee grounds liberally sprinkled around her Jatrophas and other shrubs a month ago were now insect free for the first time in ages . The grounds have already disappeared into the soil and she plans to replenish this soil topping today . Another convert !

Does anyone know if I can spread coffee grounds around the base of my milkweed plants? I just planted three and then read that the Anoles (lizards here in Fort Lauderdale) are immune to the toxins in the caterpillars. So I feel like I've just given them a tasty treat. I was hoping the grounds would deter the Anoles from climbing the plant. Help?

FWIW, this would probly be better as its own topic, rather than tacked on to a 7 year-old discussion, but anyways, I can tell you I've never had a problem w/ anoles eating monarch larvae. Paper wasps are a real threat, tho - they go after all kinds of caterpillars, big & small.

I agree. The anoles in my yard don't seem to bother the Monarch cats much. They might be immune, but I guess they don't really care for the taste.

I was very excited to see a post from Manature and from Felix but then realized that it was dated 2008! I miss both of you. This forum isn't the same without you. This forum has change too much and it's not as interesting as it once was.

Regina

Thank you. I love watching the monarch zero in on the milkweed. And the fact that you can actually see the caterpillars chewing is a joy.

Just in case, I have never seen any evidence that the coffee will repel lizards of any kind, and I have been using the coffee for insect control for almost 9 years now.

For anyone who was around back in 2008, cycadjungle had just been kicked off gardenweb. There was a group of GW members who wanted to come out to tour his place. He gave them his contact info from his website, and from then on, was never allowed to post on any GW forum again.