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Tea for garden


9 reasons leftover tea leaves belong in your garden + compost recipe | FoodHero

Tea is so much more than just that warm and comforting beverage we love curl up on the couch with. It’s also a natural powerhouse ingredient to use in your garden soil. 

That’s right—tea leaves are packed with tons of benefits designed to help your plant paradise thrive and look extra lush, whether you’re spraying it on top of the leaves or adding it to your soil (check out our DIY tea compost for your garden below!) Repurposing your steeped tea leaves is also a quick and easy way to reduce your food waste and give back to the planet.

Ready to get your hands dirty? Grab your gloves and let’s dig into the 9 reasons leftover tea leaves belong in your garden.

1. Natural pest repellent 

Who needs pesticides and herbicides when you already have a natural pest repellent: tea! From black to green to oolong—tea leaves are about to become your secret weapon to warding off those annoying insects, spiders and snails from eating and destroying your beautiful garden. Just burry the leaves around your plants and let it work its magic.

2.Give outdoor plants an extra boost of nutrients

Two words: natural fertilizer. When you incorporate tea leaves into your garden soil, they release nitrogen naturally which helps balance out any carbon-rich materials that may already be present. Reusing tea leaves also helps you improve drainage and adds to soil structure.

3.Protect indoor plants from fungus

Sometimes one of our precious plants gets infected by a mysterious fungal infection. If this happens, don’t worry. Simply use your steeped leaves to brew a weak tea, add it to a spray bottle and spray your indoor plants. Chamomile and black tea leaves actually work wonders on clearing up fungi. 

4.Say goodbye to pesky weeds!

Remember those weekends you spent on all fours digging up those stubborn thistles and crabgrass? Well, no more. Tea leaves have the amazing ability to help the plants you love thrive, while deterring the plants you don’t want (aka weeds) from growing.  

5.Reduce household waste

When you recycle your tea leaves, you’re saving them from winding up in our already overly burdened landfills. Not only is it a win for you (not having to spend money on fertilizer is always a plus!), it’s also a win for the planet. 

6.Speed up composting

Tea leaves are naturally acidic which, when added to other organic materials like compost, increases the speed at which your pile decomposes. If you’re looking to make a nutrient-rich compost at home using leftover tea leaves, check out our how-to guide below.

7.Help plants retain water

Tea leaves have been known to help improve the soil’s ability to absorb and retain moisture, which is why many pro gardeners burry tea leaves around the roots of their plants. When your plants are able to retain more water, this means you don’t have to worry about watering them as frequency.

8.Give earthworms healthy food

You might be wondering: why would I want earthworms in my garden? As it turns out, earthworms provide many benefits to your garden, including helping fertilize your soil. By recycling your leftover tea leaves, you’re providing these little soil workers with a nutritious food source.

9.Keep your nosy cat out of your garden

Fun fact: cats can’t stand the smell of tea. Keep you cat from making a mess and ruing the plants you’re trying to grow by incorporating leftover tea leaves into your soil. It’s a quick, natural and effective way of keeping your favourite furry friend at bay. 

How to compost your tea leaves at home

Give your beautiful garden a feel-good dose of plant-happy nutrients with this perfect tea compost recipe courtesy of DAVIDsTEA.

WHAT YOU NEED

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Soak your finished compost in rain-barrel water and molasses for 2-3 days, stirring your compost regularly.
  2. Pour mixture over your garden soil and watch your plants grow and flourish.

Using tea leaves in the garden: to boost your plants' health

We’re all for recycling, especially when it benefits our gardens. The latest discovery we’ve made? Using tea leaves in the garden can lead to healthier plants. Of course it can – faded memories suddenly return of parents emptying tea leaves over bountiful rose bushes.

See: Garden ideas – inspiration and ideas for outdoor spaces

But tea leaves are not just good for plants – they can boost compost and deter pests, too. We investigate the upsides – and downsides – of using tea leaves in the garden.

Using tea leaves in the garden

Plant fertilizers contain, among other ingredients, nitrogen, which encourages healthy leaf growth.

Tea leaves also contain nitrogen – but much more than you’ll find in plant fertilizers. There is also potassium and phosphorus in tea, plus tannic acid – which not all plants love. Tea contains aluminum, fluorine and manganese, too, which in high doses can slow plant growth.

This means that stewed tea could harm plant growth, particularly if they don't like acidic soil. Instead, used but drained tea leaves are best added to compost rather than soil or directly over plants. There, they will increase nutrient and oxygenation levels in the compost. 

It’s important to know that not all plants like tea leaves, whether poured over them directly or via compost you’ve made up – the tannic acid in them can lower the soil’s pH and increase its acidity.

So, if you are growing plants that like acidic conditions – there’s a list below – you can safely use tea leaves beneficially. But if you are growing plants that prefer alkaline conditions – again, a list below – you need to be careful. Keeping an eye on your soil’s pH levels is all important. Yellowing leaves can be a sign of acid levels being too high, so keep an eye on this.

Tea leaves are usually removed from tea bags and the bags discarded appropriately before being used in the garden. However, some gardeners like to use paper (compostable) tea bags, however, as a mulch or drainage layer.

See: Using coffee grounds in the garden – extraordinary ways to boost plant growth

Another thing to note: it is more harmful than beneficial to use tea with milk or sugar in it in the garden: sugar will make plants wilt, milk will encourage mold growth.

Finally, over-fertilizing plants isn’t good for them, so throwing tea daily over plants – even ones that like acidic soil – might not be beneficial. Instead, look to add tea leaves to compost, as just one of its many ingredients.

Using tea leaves in compost

Used tea leaves added to compost boosts nitrogen levels which helps break down other things you have added, and encourages decomposing bacteria. These can be added as loose leaves or as bags – assuming the bags are paper and don’t have staples or string attached to them. 

Using tea leaves for pot plants

As with garden plants, acid-loving pot plants will benefit from used tea leaves being added to their soil – although as we said above, we would add it to compost as part of a balance of ingredients. See below for a full list of plants that like tea leaves. 

Using tea leaves to prevent weeds

Tea leaves won’t prevent weeds, but use them in mulch (indeed use any mulch) and weeds are less likely to be able to establish.

Using tea leaves to deter pests and insects

If your garden plants are being destroyed by pests, there is anecdotal evidence that you can use tea leaves and tea to deter those that hate the smell – mice, cats and some insects – by either scattering the leaves around the roots of the plant or by spraying cooled tea on to the plant.

Using tea leaves to prevent fungus

Spraying cold tea on to leaves can help ward off fungal diseases that some plants can suffer from.

Which plants like used tea leaves?

You can use tea leaves in the garden on plants that do well with a higher level of acid in the soil. Tea leaves won’t do a better job than shop-bought fertilizers, and are often better added to a balanced compost rather than directly to the plant.  

This is a basic list of plants that will benefit from tea leaves in their soil: 

See: Using eggs in the garden – the natural remedy for transforming your flower beds

Which plants don’t like used tea leaves?

Plants that need an alkaline environment or neutral pH will not benefit from having tea leaves added to their soil. A balanced compost – that includes some tea leaves but other beneficial ingredients – shouldn’t affect these plants dramatically, but keep an eye on wilted plants and those with yellow leaves, and check your soil’s pH levels if you have any concerns.

This is a basic list of plants that won’t benefit from tea leaves:

7 Ways to Use Sleeping Tea in the Garden

If you are a gardener and drink tea regularly, you must have wondered at least once whether the spilled tea leftovers can be used in the garden. And we are talking not only about the classic leaf tea leaves, but also the remnants in used tea bags. In fact, the answer is simple: you need to use sleeping tea!

Tea bag on a saucer

Read on dacha6.ru:

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What plants do not like chicken manure

Just imagine how much tea a family of 2-3 people can accumulate during the winter? Of course, before storing tea leftovers, you need to dry them properly so that mold and fungus do not start on them. If you prefer sweet tea with sugar, then the tea residues will also need to be thoroughly rinsed before drying.

Content:

Use of used tea leaves in compost

This is probably the easiest option. If you live in a house with a yard, then you can immediately take out the tea you have drunk into the compost heap. The old brew contains a large amount of nitrogen, as well as tannins, which accelerate the fermentation process.

Do not forget to remove all synthetic and metal elements beforehand (metal clip on paper, some bags are made of artificial nets).

Fertilizing tea leaves

Drop old tea residues mixed with wood ash in the stem circles of cultivated plants. Nitrogen from such top dressing will be given slowly, and therefore the effect of the use of sleeping tea will be long-lasting.

Dried old tea leaves can also be added to planting holes. Tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and gladioli respond well to such tea dressing.

Sprinkled seedling tea

Used tea bags are a good alternative to costly peat seedling pellets. To do this, carefully open the top of the bag, pour a little universal soil there and plant the seeds.

At the time of picking, the seedlings are transplanted to a new place directly in bags, without injuring their fragile root system (for bell peppers that are afraid of transplants, this method is especially relevant!).

Soil improvement

If you have accumulated a lot of used tea, use it to improve the structure and increase soil fertility. It is advisable to add 500 g of used tea per 1 m2 (or infusion - 1 cup of dry tea per 3 liters of boiling water).

You can experiment and enrich 1 bed with used tea leaves, and then compare the results and draw final conclusions. Old tea neutralizes alkaline soil.

Rubbing houseplant leaves

Care of houseplants. Use used tea bags to wipe houseplants. So you will not only wipe off the dust from them, but also perform a kind of foliar top dressing.

A tricky way to sow small seeds

Mix 1 tsp. parsley, carrot, basil or nigella seeds with 1 cup dry tea leaves before sowing. As a result, seedlings will be more uniform, which means that you will have much less trouble with their subsequent thinning.

Welding as a mulch

This method is only suitable for open ground, which is ventilated and heated by the sun. Evenly distribute the dried old tea leaves over the surface of the bed.

This method is contraindicated for indoor flowers, mold and midges may appear (especially from sweet tea leaves).

Eco-fertilizers from tea

As you can see, a rational summer resident simply cannot throw tea leaves into a bucket. This also applies to many other wastes and in general to our whole life. And then we are surprised that the poor, and there is not enough money.

Look at Finland - they even use waste to heat their own houses and generate electricity, everything is in use. And we only grow landfills.

© Ilya Vladimirovich |

Brewing tea as a fertilizer: myth or reality

The use of tea as a fertilizer can be heard everywhere, although opinions on this matter are divided. Let's try to understand the current situation.

Beginner gardeners and gardeners are often advised by experienced neighbors to pay attention to fresh tea. There is an opinion that flowers, vegetables, and berries can grow several times larger if, from spring to late autumn, it is applied to the soil.

In household plots, tea is used as mulch and sprinkled under various plants. However, for this, during the winter period, it is necessary to collect a sufficient amount of used tea leaves, and this is the biggest difficulty.

Recall that mulching is the surface covering of the soil with a layer of mulch to improve its properties, using organic fertilizers and a variety of materials. Mulching has become widespread in most parts of the world.

Mulch fights weeds: a 5 cm layer reduces their growth by several times. Weeds do not receive enough light under the material and die.

Mulching reduces the evaporation of moisture from the soil, and its top layer remains loose. In heat and drought, mulch protects plants from death: it does not allow the topsoil to overheat. Mulching is also used in autumn to protect the soil from weathering and freezing. Mulching is one of the most effective ways to keep plants healthy.

As organic mulch, in addition to dormant tea, hay, straw, leaves, bark, sawdust, decomposed compost, as well as paper and cardboard are used. Inorganic mulch is also used: stone, gravel, sand. We do not recommend using rubber and plastic, as it is almost impossible to check their chemical composition. Recently, non-woven materials have also been used.

However, it must be remembered that sleeping tea as a mulch attracts insects, worms and birds that use it as food.

Of course, it is necessary to add dormant tea when planting outdoor flowers, laying it on the bottom of the pot, on the drain. Rotting tea leaves give plants additional nutrition. Rose bushes also like top dressing from sleeping tea, including diluted with water. Ferns, however, it is extremely necessary. The only thing to remember is that the tea leaves used as fertilizer should NOT be sweetened . Sweet tea leaves will be a bait for ants and various insects that do not benefit plants.

Drinking tea has many beneficial properties. So, for example, in the tea leaf there are tannins that are necessary for the full development of plants. These substances are acidic in nature and have a remarkable property of reducing the ability to rot. Using it for its intended purpose, you will undoubtedly be satisfied with the results.

The use of sleeping tea as a fertilizer is also evidenced by the fact that it makes the earth, especially clay, lighter. Added to the sand, it, like plant residue, enriches the soil. In addition, plant waste holds moisture well in the sand. The advantage of sleeping tea is the neutralization of alkaline soil. The downside is the creation of favorable conditions for the catastrophic reproduction of soil flies, although this applies mainly to potted crops.

However, many gardeners and horticulturists consider drunk tea to be a neutral substance that does not bring any benefit or harm. And they believe that sleeping tea cannot be called a fertilizer in the full sense. This is just an additive, a soil filler, its baking powder.

Use tea leaves as a fertilizer as an infusion (1 cup dry used tea leaves per 3 liters of boiling water). Gladiolus, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers respond well to dry sleeping tea - add to the wells immediately before planting. Before sowing seeds with tea, fertilize the soil at the rate of 500 g per 1 sq.

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