Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

I get the feeling that they're slowly building up tea in the pots. (and
I'd rather just throw it away and keep the place a bit tidier!)

TIA for any answers

Cheers
John

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

"John L" wrote in message
...
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

I get the feeling that they're slowly building up tea in the pots. (and
I'd rather just throw it away and keep the place a bit tidier!)

TIA for any answers

Cheers
John

If the plants are getting hyperactive or migraines it may be best to
consider decaffeinated tea.

mark

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

There are certain plants that I know people swear by feeding them tea.
Camelia, I think, is possibly the main one I'm thinking of. But I'm
not sure if it's any good for houseplants or not.

I used to feed the dregs of my (black) coffee to tomato plants around my
desk at work. They were nice buzzy tomato fruits. :-)

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

wrote in message
...
John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

There are certain plants that I know people swear by feeding them tea.
Camelia, I think, is possibly the main one I'm thinking of. But I'm
not sure if it's any good for houseplants or not.


ISTR reading somewhere that tea creates tannic acid as it cools. So it's
probably good for ericaceous use.

Steve

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

On 22/04/2010 12:28, shazzbat wrote:

wrote in message
...
John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

There are certain plants that I know people swear by feeding them tea.
Camelia, I think, is possibly the main one I'm thinking of. But I'm
not sure if it's any good for houseplants or not.


ISTR reading somewhere that tea creates tannic acid as it cools. So
it's probably good for ericaceous use.

Steve
We use used tea-bags as a mulch for Camelias around the garden.
Don

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

Donwill wrote:

We use used tea-bags as a mulch for Camelias around the garden.

In my experience tea-bags take an inordinate time to disintegrate.
I've stopped putting them in my compost-bin as they were still there
a year later.
The bags seem to be made of some rot-proof material.
I wonder if it depends on the make of tea-bag?


--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

Janet Baraclough wrote:
The message
from Timothy Murphy contains these words:

Donwill wrote:

We use used tea-bags as a mulch for Camelias around the garden.

In my experience tea-bags take an inordinate time to disintegrate.
I've stopped putting them in my compost-bin as they were still there
a year later.
The bags seem to be made of some rot-proof material.
I wonder if it depends on the make of tea-bag?

Must do; ours are always gone within 6 months (the usual turnaround
time for my heaps).
Our brands are Scottish Blend (Unilever) and Co-op Fairtrade Earl
Grey, if that's any help :-)


Today during my mystery euphorbia adventure, I fished another 4 teabags out
of the compost; they'd been there well over 2 years. They were soggy, but
still in one piece. Maybe it's just PG Tips.


Ian

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

On 22 Apr, 14:28, Timothy Murphy wrote:
Donwill wrote:
We use used tea-bags as a mulch for Camelias around the garden.

In my experience tea-bags take an inordinate time to disintegrate.
I've stopped putting them in my compost-bin as they were still there
a year later.
The bags seem to be made of some rot-proof material.
I wonder if it depends on the make of tea-bag?

I was once told to tear the bags open before putting them in the bin,
and always do so. At least you'll never be able to see the leaves :-)
but I never notice the bags either. I empty the bin once a year.

But I've never been able to compost eggshells. Presumably the compost
has to be acidic?

The one example of "compostible" food packaging I got never did
anything either.

Chris

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

Timothy Murphy wrote:
Donwill wrote:

We use used tea-bags as a mulch for Camelias around the garden.

In my experience tea-bags take an inordinate time to disintegrate.
I've stopped putting them in my compost-bin as they were still there
a year later.
The bags seem to be made of some rot-proof material.
I wonder if it depends on the make of tea-bag?

Pass.

But dry them out and use them as needed (damped!) for sowing mustard and
cress, etc.

--
Rusty

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

I get the feeling that they're slowly building up tea in the pots. (and
I'd rather just throw it away and keep the place a bit tidier!)

Too much tea may leave uncomposted residues in the soil and encourage
moulds and fungi.

--
Rusty

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:
John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

I get the feeling that they're slowly building up tea in the pots. (and
I'd rather just throw it away and keep the place a bit tidier!)

Too much tea may leave uncomposted residues in the soil and encourage
moulds and fungi.

Yes, but they won't do much harm to living plants.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

In message , Rusty Hinge
writes
Timothy Murphy wrote:
Donwill wrote:

We use used tea-bags as a mulch for Camelias around the garden.
In my experience tea-bags take an inordinate time to disintegrate.
I've stopped putting them in my compost-bin as they were still there
a year later.
The bags seem to be made of some rot-proof material.
I wonder if it depends on the make of tea-bag?

Pass.

But dry them out and use them as needed (damped!) for sowing mustard
and cress, etc.


Also, dry them out, spray them with an analgesic type pain reliever
(e.g. Deep Heat) and put them where you don't want cats to leave their
messages. They are extremely effective and remain effective for quite a
time - although I guess that a booster spray may be required after rain.
A lot of my young plants, seeds and onion sets have been messed about in
past years due to a neighbour's 5 cats. Not this year!
--
Gopher .... I know my place!

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

On Tue, 27 Apr 2010 22:11:43 +0100, Rusty Hinge
wrote:

wrote:
In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:
John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

I get the feeling that they're slowly building up tea in the pots. (and
I'd rather just throw it away and keep the place a bit tidier!)
Too much tea may leave uncomposted residues in the soil and encourage
moulds and fungi.

Yes, but they won't do much harm to living plants.

Maybe. However, the dissolved tea solids might deplete the available
nitrogen.

Good for camellias, blueberries, etc; anything which likes an acid
soil.

Pam in Bristol

Tea for houseplants - good idea?
 

Rusty Hinge wrote:
wrote:
In article ,
Rusty Hinge wrote:
John L wrote:
My wife likes to save all tea left in the pot and give it to the
houseplants. Is it really any good for them?

I get the feeling that they're slowly building up tea in the pots.
(and I'd rather just throw it away and keep the place a bit
tidier!)
Too much tea may leave uncomposted residues in the soil and
encourage moulds and fungi.

Yes, but they won't do much harm to living plants.

Maybe. However, the dissolved tea solids might deplete the available
nitrogen.

But tealeaves themselves are high in N. Does it stay in the leaf, or
dissolve into the liquor? I've never thought about the chemistry of a
cuppa before.

The baggy bit of a teabag is some kind of cellulose, and presumably
/would/ be a nitrogen robber.

--
Mike.