If you have randomly thought to yourself, do Snake plants like coffee grounds?
The answer is yes they do, but in moderation.
Adding coffee grounds to Snake plant soil can be beneficial for providing a nitrogen boost, making the soil more acidic and overall can be used as fertilizer when diluted.
With all of that said, if done incorrectly or not used in moderation, this can cause more harm than good so it will ultimately be up to you if you want to add coffee grounds to your Snake plant (sansevieria) soil.
Pros of adding coffee grounds
If you’re thinking why would I add coffee grounds to my Snake plant, consider some of the following benefits and decide if the effort is worth it to you.
Increases soil acidity
Snake plants aren’t super picky about their soil ph, but they prefer to be grown in slightly acidic soil for optimal growth and nutrient absorption.
A good range will be between 5.5ph and 7.5ph with somewhere in the middle being the sweet spot so to speak.
If your soil is too alkaline then your Snake plant will have trouble growing and coffee grounds can be added to increase the acidity to where you want it to be.
This is only true with fresh coffee grounds that haven’t been used, washed or otherwise diluted as used coffee grounds are more along the neutral ph range.
So if you plan to lower your Snake plants soil ph, you can sprinkle some in as a compost addition.
Increases nitrogen levels
Coffee grounds actually can provide a nice nitrogen boost to your Snake plant which can provide extra growth support as coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen.
We all love to see some solid growth and nitrogen is a very important nutrient for Snake plants that you don’t want to neglect on providing.
With that said, if you only gave your Snake plant nitrogen and neglected every other nutrient, this would result in weak, leggy growth which you don’t want.
This is especially true when too much nitrogen is provided as it can produce rapid growth which ends up causing the plant to become leggy, weak or stretched out.
Thankfully, coffee grounds also contain other nutrients, not just nitrogen.
They can be used as a fertilizer
Coffee grounds not only contain nitrogen, but they also contain phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron which all aid your Snake plant’s ability to thrive.
With all of these nutrients being contained in coffee grounds, this can actually be used as a fertilizer or at least rotated in between using standard liquid fertilizer.
At worst this can be a great fertilizer replacement if you run out of normal fertilizer or want to save some money and fertilize every 2 or 3 months instead of once a month.
Cons of adding coffee grounds
Although Snake plants like coffee grounds, if too much is added then you can run into some issues such as the following.
Soil becomes too acidic
If you go overboard and add too many coffee grounds to your Snake plant’s soil, you run the risk of the soil ph becoming more acidic than it really should be.
This can cause root burn and overall hinder your Snake plants ability to grow new roots, absorb water and intake nutrients.
Coffee grounds can attract bugs
Pests such as fungus gnats are attracted to decaying organic matter such as used coffee grounds so you will need to keep that in mind before adding any.
This is not exclusive to coffee grounds but decaying organic material in general so it may not really affect your Snake plant all that much depending on what you’re already using.
If you’re worried about bugs or currently dealing with them, check out my article on how to get rid of bugs on Snake plants.
How to add coffee grounds to a Snake plant
There are really 2 main purposes for adding coffee grounds to a Snake plant which are using it as a compost addition or using it as a liquid fertilizer.
Here is how you can use it for each purpose.
Compost addition
If you already use compost when growing your Snake plant, coffee grounds can be a nice addition to the compost, but not a substitute as a whole.
Simply sprinkle in some fresh coffee grounds into the compost if you want to lower the ph or sprinkle in washed coffee grounds if you want the nutrient benefit without much alteration to the soil ph.
As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t exceed an amount of coffee grounds that would cover the top of the soil if you were growing in a small container.
Essentially less is better as you don’t want to go overboard.
You can even just sprinkle some in after repotting a Snake plant if you want to.
Overall I would say to limit the coffee grounds to be about 10-15% of the organic material in the compost to provide a benefit while playing it safe.
As a liquid fertilizer
If you’re looking to use coffee grounds as a liquid fertilizer for your Snake plant you can do the following.
[1] Fill a container with water.
[2] Add a small handful of coffee grounds to the water.
[3] Let the water stand for a few days.
[4] After a few days have passed, strain the coffee grounds from the water and keep the water.
[5] Add the water that’s left to a spray bottle.
From here you can use the solution as a liquid fertilizer and spray your Snake plant soil once a month during the spring and summer.
You can also alternate between coffee ground fertilizer one month and normal liquid fertilizer the next month.
Closing thoughts
So overall when it comes back to the question, do Snake plants like coffee grounds, the answer is yes but definitely in moderation.
Now it’s just up to you to decide if you want to or not depending on your Snake plant care goals or what you’re trying to do.
As always, thanks for reading and enjoy the process!