7 Ways To Use Coca Cola In The Garden (And 3 To Avoid)

Coca-Cola has a reputation for being more than just a sugary drink. You've probably heard about the many surprising ways you can use Coca-Cola around the house, but there are plenty of uses for it in the garden, too. That being said, not every Coca-Cola hack is worth trying. As a matter of fact, some hacks can lead to more damage and trouble than they are really worth. To sort the treacherous trends from the hidden gems, we scoured the results of scientific research, professional recommendations, and gardeners' trials to figure out the best and the worst ways to use Coca-Cola in the garden.

Whatever your opinion of Coca-Cola is as a drink, if you break it down to science, it is a substance comprised of key compounds like sugars, acids, and nutrients. Each of these compounds can have a significant impact on plant and insect activity, not to mention cleaning potential. Yet, not everything people say about the uses of Coca-Cola is true. For example, Coca-Cola will not improve your lawn's health, but it can act as a weed killer when used correctly. Similarly, it is proven to clean limescale, but it may be best to avoid cleaning your garden tools with it. Here are seven ways you can use Coca-Cola in your garden, and three you should probably avoid.

Similar to how Coca-Cola can damage a plant if you apply it directly to the vegetation, the sugars and acids in the drink can dehydrate and starve the weeds and slow their growth. It may not be the best option to apply directly to your garden bed, but for weeds hiding in cracks, it's perfect. Using flat Coca-Cola is a good alternative to a weed killer if you don't have anything else on hand. Be aware that overuse can damage nearby plants and attract unwanted pests that feed on the sugars. 

Coca-Cola is one soda you'll want to add to your compost heap. Experts and amateur gardeners agree that it is beneficial to add Coca-Cola to your compost. Adding any type of soda, including Coca-Cola, to your compost creates what some people refer to as "drunken compost," which is really just an internet term for adding an accelerator to your compost. Essentially, the sugars in the soda attract microorganisms to jump-start decomposition.

The sugars in Coca-Cola not only impact weed and plant growth, but they also attract bugs! While this can seem like an inconvenience when you spill soda all over the pavement, you can actually use it to your advantage to make a homemade wasp trap that won't harm the bees. The easiest method for making the trap is simply cutting the top of the bottle off and placing it upside down inside the bottom of the bottle without a lid. Then, add a few inches of Coca-Cola to the bottom of the bottle.

Coca-Cola cleaning hacks aren't only for your kitchen or bathroom; you can apply them to outdoor garden structures as well. If you notice limescale around your garden faucets, water sources, or even noticeable trails from rainwater buildup, Coca-Cola may be just the thing to solve your problem. The phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola can break down and remove limescale easily, so you don't need to spend your whole day scrubbing it away.

One of the most common soft drink cleaning hacks that people rave about is using Coca-Cola to remove rust. Unfortunately, it is only half true. You may have a slightly easier time scrubbing rust away from surfaces after applying Coca-Cola, but what it really works on is the stain. The chemicals in Coca-Cola change the color of rust from a bright orange to a more faded, iron color. In some cases, with a bit of scrubbing, this can help to remove the appearance of the stain completely.

Among the many rodents that may take up residence in your garden, skunks are among the worst. Not only because of the damage they cause, but also because of the odor they leave hanging around. Even if you are lucky enough to find and remove the skunk from your garden, the odor may linger on structures and materials used in the garden. Coating the affected areas with Coca-Cola before thoroughly washing can remove the oils, which can help eliminate the odor.

It isn't the most effective method out there, but if Coca-Cola is all you have on hand, you can use it to clean water spots and stuck-on grime from glass structures in your garden, like cold frames and greenhouses. It will likely leave behind residue and streaks, but it will remove stains better than water alone. After cleaning, it is best to wash down with water again to remove any sugars and stickiness left behind.

There is plenty of debate about whether Coca-Cola is really the secret to a greener lawn. It turns out it's not. Coca-Cola has the potential to provide essential nutrients to plants, including oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, sulfur, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. However, the high concentrations of sugars cause damage to plants long before they can absorb nutrients. If you replaced watering with Coca-Cola, you would end up with rotting plants, and even adding small amounts can disrupt how the plants absorb nutrients, leading to pests and disease.

You may have heard of a DIY fertilizer that calls for Coca-Cola and wondered if you should try it. It is a common misconception that the phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola can help fertilize plants because certain fertilizers use phosphoric acid in their recipes, but it won't actually impact the pH of the soil. Coca-Cola is generally considered a highly acidic drink in terms of what the human body can handle, but in fertilizers, the process involves a concentration of 72 percent to 76 percent phosphoric acid. The concentration of it in Coca-Cola is less than 0.3 percent.

So, if you can use it to remove rust stains, should you clean your gardening tools with Coca-Cola? Probably not. When Coca-Cola removes rust stains, it is essentially changing the color of the stain, not actually cleaning it. Similarly, other "cleaning" jobs that you can use Coca-Cola for are more about using the acids and carbonation of the drink to break down tough substances than they are about cleaning. When it comes to gardening tools, the focus should be on disinfecting the tools to prevent disease and pests. Coca-Cola will not only attract pests but also won't disinfect anything.