UK gardeners are being urged to take action this winter before the weather warms up again. The year 2024 saw a surge in slugs and snails due to a particularly wet summer, providing them with ideal conditions to feast on their cherished garden plants.
These ravenous molluscs will stop at almost nothing to strip your garden of everything you’ve lovingly planted, munching through strawberries, raspberries, tomato plants, potato foliage and every type of flower in their relentless pursuit of food. Slug and snail populations have been significantly higher than usual over the past 12 months, boosted by the gloomy and wet weather, but it’s predicted to get even worse in 2025.
This is because these well-fed slugs and snails laid eggs last year, ready to hatch in the spring, signalling the arrival of a whole new wave of these slimy creatures. However, gardeners are sharing a top tip to control and repel slug populations before that happens – instant coffee.
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Cheap coffee grounds aren’t just a way to kick-start your morning routine, they can also give everything growing in your garden a boost too. Caffeine is toxic to slugs and snails, and some gardening experts swear by it as a method of pest control.
A word of caution though, coffee is a very painful way for slugs to die, worse than salt, so don’t apply coffee grounds directly to any slugs or snails.
Simply scatter the coffee grounds onto soil and around raised beds or pots during dry, clear weather. When it rains, the slugs won’t cross the coffee, thereby safeguarding your precious flowers and crops.
Studies have shown that coffee grounds can reduce slug and snail populations by between 50 and 90 per cent. The coffee won’t harm your plants either, in fact, some research suggests that caffeine actually promotes plant growth.
Gardening blog Tea and Coffee states: “Coffee grounds contain a chemical called alkaloid, which is poisonous to slugs. When slugs ingest coffee grounds, they suffer from severe dehydration and eventually die. For these reasons, slugs will avoid areas where coffee grounds have been sprinkled. While coffee grounds may not be the most effective way to keep slugs out of your garden, they can be a helpful tool in deterring these pests.”