A gardener posted an Instagram reel showing viewers an easy way to deter flea beetles with a simple and inexpensive trick.
In the video, Ang Ferraro Fanning (@axeandroothomestead), who has 111,000 followers, explains how these pests do not like coffee grounds — which, if applied properly, can do the trick of keeping them away.
"Can be prevented, but not easily cured," she says.
The scoop
Fanning explained how the holes in your fruits and vegetables are from flea beetles and how it's quite easy to solve the problem.
"I'm willing to bet you already have the ingredient in your kitchen," she says.
The video shows Fanning sprinkling coffee grounds in and around a hole in her garden where she is about to plant something.
After putting the root of the plant inside the hole and covering it with dirt, she sprinkles more coffee grounds before going saying, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."
How it's helping
Growing your own food in your garden can have so many benefits that homeowners aren't even aware of.
Let's start with the simplest of benefits. Gardening, although it may not seem like it, requires lots of exercise, and that's a good thing when it comes to our health.
The most obvious benefit is that, in the long run, it saves you money because you are not buying as many fruits and veggies.
And by using coffee grounds instead of traditional pesticides, you are also taking care of your own health since conventional pest killers are full of hazardous chemicals that can be extremely detrimental to your own health and that of your pets.
Such chemicals can even cause cancer and may also end up in rivers, lakes, and even drinking water.
What are people saying?
Followers had plenty to say and questions to ask.
"Can you use used coffee grounds from pods?" one asked. To which Fanning responded, "Yep! That's what I do!"
Another didn't hesitate to adopt this practice.
"Thank you," they wrote. "I saw many holes in my pepper plants yesterday and was devastated. I haven't had much of an issue with flea beetles before. Headed out to the garden with coffee grounds now!"
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