Coffee grounds have a good reputation as a natural plant-eater animal deterrent as skunks, chipmunks, rabbits, raccoons, and others are seen to be repelled by using coffee grounds.
As a result, when deer seem to destroy and eat plants in your garden, you may think about whether using coffee grounds would be effective enough to keep deer away from your property or not. So, let’s read ahead to get answers to this query.
Do Coffee Grounds Keep Deer Away?
Coffee grounds quite effectively keep deer away from the property. Coffee grounds produce a bitter scent that triggers the defense mechanism of deer when they are at places with coffee grounds making them assume that human beings are around to them. Thereby, deer evacuate the place immediately.
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Deer being herbivores animals absolutely love to munch on the young plants in people’s yards or gardens. And here, coffee grounds play a good role in deterring deer along with other deer deterrents.
Keep deer away from the plants of the yard and garden:
Coffee grounds are frequently referred to as one of the inexpensive yet effective and environment-friendly deer deterrents.
It’s because when coffee grounds are sprinkled on the ground, a powerful bitter and acidic smell is dissipated from them which is scented quite the same and obnoxious as other deer deterrents that deer can’t tolerate.
As a result, using coffee grounds works really well to keep deer away from the plants of the yard and garden.
Precisely to explain, deer naturally have a sharp sense of smelling scents which deer use for detecting food sources as well as predators.
So when deer pass through places with coffee grounds, the strong bitter scent of coffee grounds incites the defense mechanism of deer giving them the feel of the presence of humans nearby them.
And as deer take humans as predators, upon smelling the scent of coffee grounds, they get the signal of danger and quickly leave the area.
However, know that there isn’t any scientific proof to support the efficacy of coffee grounds in keeping deer away.
Sometimes, using coffee grounds may not be effective enough to keep deer away from the plants of the yard and garden as the scent fades away shortly after rainfall.
Do Deer Like Or Dislike Coffee Grounds?
Deer just dislikes coffee grounds because coffee grounds spread a strong bitter and acidic smell and to deer, the scent of coffee grounds smells similar to other deer repellents with obnoxious scents.
Thus, deer do not stay near places with the smell of coffee grounds.
Besides, deer take advantage of their strong-smelling sense to realize the existence of predators around them by smelling unfamiliar or bitter scents.
Since, coffee grounds have a bitter scent, it scares deer with the thought that humans are around them, so deer aren’t found of coffee grounds’ smell.
What Type Of Coffee Ground Deters Deer?
Since coffee grounds refer to both fresh coffee grounds and spent coffee grounds, so you can wonder about what type of coffee grounds between them would be the effective one in deterring deer.
So to let you have an exact answer, below explanations are added regarding both coffee types.
Fresh Coffee grounds:
Fresh coffee grounds unquestionably make the best option when it comes to deterring deer by using coffee grounds because freshly grounded coffee beans contain more aroma and bitterness than pre-grounded coffee beans.
Thus, if you grind coffee beans and make fresh coffee grounds right before sprinkling them to your yard or your home’s perimeter, it is supposed to work more effectively as the scent will be more powerful and bitter which will keep deer away.
Used Coffee Grounds:
In terms of deterring deer with coffee grounds, spent coffee grounds are no less effective than fresh coffee grounds.
In fact, many people who tried repelling deer using coffee grounds preferred to spend coffee grounds more because spent coffee grounds somewhat spread a more bitter scent than fresh coffee grounds.
So, you directly can use spent coffee grounds from your coffee maker to the areas where deer invade, as after brewing, spent coffee grounds create a better bitter scent barrier to deter deer.
Spent dark roast coffee grounds are believed to work better in deterring deer as the beans are roasted longer than others, resulting in having a burst of more bitter flavors.
How To Use Coffee Grounds To Repel Deer?
After knowing that coffee grounds can be used for deterring deer, many of you may want to know to get some tips to use coffee grounds to repel deer. So below for your convenience the method/tips are explained.
Sprinkle On The Ground:
Sprinkling coffee grounds is the simplest way of using coffee grounds to keep deer away from your property or eat plants in your garden.
As per your wish, regardless of the fresh coffee ground, pre-grounded coffee, or spent coffee grounds, you can just take a handful and sprinkle the coffee grounds on the soil around the plants or your garden/home’s perimeter.
And by creating a pungent bitter scented barrier, it will repel deer away
Mix With Soil:
Mixing coffee grounds with soil is another good method of using coffee grounds to repel deer.
It’s because both fresh and spent coffee grounds work as a good fertilizer when they are mixed with soil because it increases the pH level of soil, improves the drainage system, also organic materials are added to the soil.
So you can mix coffee ground with the plant bed’s soil, this will deter deer as successfully as spreading grounded coffee in the soil.
Directly Dump Spent Coffee:
After having your freshly brewed coffee in the morning, you can dump the spent coffee grounds from straight from your coffee maker. It’s actually is an alternative to sprinkling coffee grounds that works effectively as well.
Thus, just dump spent coffee grounds together near the plant beds or any spot in your garden to stave off deer from your property by creating a pungent bitter scent.
Will Coffee Grounds Repel Deer For The Long Term?
Coffee grounds will not keep deer away from your property for a long period and the main reason is habituation.
When you will be using coffee grounds repeatedly, deer ultimately will get habituated to the aroma of coffee grounds and will understand that no human is present around them, so they will stop being scared of the scent.
Thereby, coffee grounds will not affect deer, nor will repel deer away.
However, combining coffee grounds with other deer repelling methods might work to repel deer in a long run.
What Are The Benefits Of Using Coffee Grounds As A Repellent?
As repellent coffee grounds have numerous benefits, some of the major benefits that you can get have been briefly explained below.
Repel Other Animals:
Coffee grounds as a repellent not only repel deer but also repel other garden invaders such as rabbits, squirrels, skunks, and rodents.
As these animals also can’t withstand the bitter scent of coffee grounds, so they don’t go near places with coffee grounds’ smell.
Repel Pests And Insects:
Coffee grounds also can repel plant destroyer pests and insects as it acts up as an insect/pest repellent too. Therefore, using coffee grounds in the soil will repel slugs, snails, ants, and other insects and pests.
Improve Soil Composition:
Coffee grounds have around 2% of nitrogen and it’s acidic so while using it as a repellent, coffee grounds will help in altering the pH level of soil and will make it more fertile.
Moreover, using coffee grounds as a repellent will boost the soil’s ability to retain water.
Do All Plants Like Coffee Grounds?
All species of plants don’t like coffee grounds as a fertilizer because coffee grounds are acidic so they increase the acidity level in the soil, and not all plants can thrive well in highly acidic soil.
Only plants that prefer acidic soil to flourish such as roses, lilies, hydrangeas, azaleas, radishes, rhododendrons, and carrots like coffee grounds.
Plants such as alfalfa, cloves, and tomatoes don’t prefer coffee grounds at all, you better not use coffee grounds while groin growing these plants.
What Are The Other Ways To Keep Deer Away From Your Garden?
Except for using coffee grounds as a deer repellent, the strongest way to repel deer is by installing strong fences around the garden’s boundary so that deer can’t enter the garden.
Planting deer repellent plants such as lavender, oregano, rosemary, daffodil, mint, dianthus, etc. between the plant’s deer eat will repel deer too.
Also, using other scent repellents such as DIY deer repellent spray, predator urine, ammonia will deter deer. Scaring deer with loud noise or motion-activated water sprinklers will keep deer away as well.
Final Thoughts
Coffee grounds make a good scented deer repellent, so both used coffee grounds and unused fresh coffee grounds deter deer away by spreading a pungent bitter and acidic scent which scares deer with the thought of human presence nearby them. However, coffee grounds may not deter deer for a long time.