My uncle said to put coffee grounds on my tomatoes and I lost 2 plants in a week

Jake Grant · 2026-09-24T12:50:03.384616+00:00

My uncle has been growing tomatoes in his backyard in Modesto for like 30 years, so when he said to work used coffee grounds into the soil around my plants, I did it without thinking twice. That was 6 weeks ago. About 5 days later the leaves on my two biggest plants started curling and going yellow, and by day 8 one was completely dead. I dug around and the soil right at the stem was clumped up and sour smelling. Turns out I piled it on thick and it was still wet, so it just sat there and got moldy instead of breaking down. I lost both plants and had to buy replacements at the farmers market for $6 each. Now I'm reading that you're supposed to compost the grounds first or only use a thin layer, which nobody told me. Was my uncle just wrong, or did I mess up the way I did it? Anyone got a method that actually works for tomatoes?

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My uncle said to put coffee grounds on my tomatoes and I lost 2 plants in a week | Daily Surprises Log - Thought Shares