What use are teabags?!

I remember years ago seeing teabags dotted about in my grandparents' garden. I haven't a clue what benefit (if any) they were to the plants and hope someone can enlighten me. I drink quite a few cups of tea a day and would hate to think I was wasting valuable food for my plants, if that is what they were for! Or maybe it is a pest deterrent. Please advise!

 

Hi
teabags are good for the compost bin, also I remember my mum putting tea bags around her roses etc. she also use to put coffe beans on the garden also along with eggshells and any cold ea she always if strong weakend it and fed it to the house plants.

 

I know coffee grounds are ment to discourage slugs, but not sure about teabags! Ours go on the compost heap, and I know my mum used to empty the tealeaves around azaleas etc. for the acid content.

Anthony

 

There's no harm in putting tea leaves on your garden (my grandparents and in-laws used to do it) but I don't think there's much benefit either! Sure, tea bags can go in the compost bin but to what benefit? The tiny fragments of leaf have been boiled to bits and sterilized.

And I know the theory that tea leaves are supposed to help acid loving plants but how much acid do they retain? More important, is tannic acid the right kind of acid? Lemon juice is acidic but would you put it on your rhodos? Vinegar on the heathers, anyone?

Old tea leaves look a bit like peat and that's the real reason folk put them on their gardens, I reckon. I think you'd need lorryloads of them to make any difference.

 

Hi Julia.

Have a look here http://www.gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=14802 :thumb:

 

Bah, I guess in the compost they do their little thing like all other little things from the kitchen. I put bread crumbles in the composter... not that they do ANYTHING special, but they can as well go there instead of the general rubbish. Can´t think of any specific purpose for tea leaves, but composting them is better then wasting them to the incinerator, imho.

 

I think tea does, over a period of time help acid loving plants.
Its the same as adding garden compost, its only dried camelia leaves after all.

Tannic acid is, to me, is a much more natural acid to add to the soil than sulphuric, which is what I presume you get when you use sulphur to acidify the soil.

As to vinegar, I have heard that a teaspoon to a pint of water when watering houseplants can compensate for the chalk buildup that occurs when using tap water.
Dont know if it works.

Also, dilute vinegar is supposed to be a substitute for hormone rooting powder.

Anyone else come across these strange ideas?

 

Nope.

Next.:D

 

Thanks everyone for your advice. I will now be using my teabags in the garden - just like my grandparents did years ago! :thumb:

 

My mum puts them in the compost bin - every little helps! They are after all, ex-plant life and fully breakdown in time.

Although, judging from this link, all may not be well in the teabag composting corner....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1568610/Nylon-teabags-set-to-let-the-flavour-flood-out.html

 

We are safe then...8p for a home cup of tea, you got ta be joking. I prefer the 300 for 50p variety...wish I could find some, heh,heh.

 

Don't put that rubbish on your plants, they will wither away!

 

Bit like me then.:D