Do you need to bury the tea bags in soil to help flowers grow or can I sprinkle dry tea bag on top?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “do mums like coffee grounds“
Do you need to bury the tea bags in soil to help flowers grow or can I sprinkle dry tea bag on top?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “do mums like coffee grounds“
Do you need to bury the tea bags in soil to help flowers grow or can I sprinkle dry tea bag on top?
First, remove the tea from the bag! Most bags are plastic or plastic composite materials which not only make tea taste incredibly nasty, but also leach toxins into your beverage. Same thing when you put them into the ground. So, start by purchasing a French press, I use this Mueller myself,
and make yourself some better tasting and healthier tea by eliminating the bags. Or, better yet, buy your tea direct from Sri Lanka and skip the old stale tea in toxic bags completely.
As for the plants, the tea (coffee grounds too) can be applied topically, but it’s best if they’re at least occasionally worked into the soil. – MarkKw
First off, you must determine if the flowers you’re planting are acid-soil loving plants; if they’re not, tea will kill them.
If they ARE suitable for acid soils, then anything acidic will help: tea (any kind, bagged or loose) or even pine needles.
If they aren’t acid-loving plants, then you need to add “lime” instead, or even something like baking soda, to make the soil LESS acid — exactly as if you’re trying to make grass grow — grass won’t grow in acid soil, but moss surely will!
Any product you use to help plants grow will have a much better effect IN the soil than ON it, where it could very easily wash away.
Tea bags help with water retention: Bury your tea bags near the root of your plants, flowers, and veggies to help the plants retain more water and stay healthier. Tea adds nutrients to the soil: Tea leaves contain tannic acid and nutrients that are natural fertilizers for a garden. As the tea leaves decompose, they release nutrients into the soil, creating a healthier growing environment.Burying your tea bags in the garden or tossing them in your compost pile helps eliminate excess waste.Used tea bags will help keep bugs away from your plants. The odor deters pests from chewing on your flowers and veggies. Sprinkle used tea grounds around your garden to keep cats from urinating on your favorite plants. You can do use this with indoor plants as well.Believe it or not, you can grow your own garden with used tea bags, seeds, a plastic tray, water and a paper towel. You’ll germinate your seeds with the tea bags and then plant them in the garden. If you use tea bags in your soil or compost pile, the acid in the tea can speed up the decomposition process of other things in the compost bin, which means you can use the compost faster.Worms can safely consume tea leaves. Once they digest the leaves, they produce a more “nutrient-rich fertilizer output,” making your soil healthier for growing plants.When you bury your tea bags in the garden, they can help impede the growth of weeds (which means less work for you!).
I gut the tea bags of their content. Lop off their folded necks with a single snick of the scissors, disposing of the staple + string ’n tag in the kitchen waste. The dried contents of brewed tea are shaken into a container to be carried to the compost bin.
Although, yes, you could shake them around your plants as some folks do with used coffee grounds. This step hasn’t had any gravity with me over adding to the compost heap as a dry brown addition. However, a growing group favors laying kitchen compostables right straight onto the veggie beds but I rarely have a lot of space around mulched plants once the growth is roaring at a prime size.
Oh yeah, I don’t compost all the tea bags. Plastic bags, of which I seldom purchase these higher name brands or a number of Asian teas, will not compost. But I love the staining on the paper bags which I carefully open, flatten, and smooth to dry completely. I wait until I have a stack and use them in mixed media … or fused/glued to fabric or open canvas for needlework backgrounds. The darker black teas or the deeply colored herbal teas (hibiscus, rooibos) are the most interesting. Not into upcycling into a creative pastime? Paper bags will still compost; and they can be decent worm food when shredded. You have choices!
I have never used tea bags for fertilizer or pest control. But I agree you are on a correct course in that soil conditioning is key to healthy plants.
I have little direct experience with tea bags…in the world you are discussing, my experience is more with USED coffee grounds, which nightcrawlers and other worms (used for fishing) just adore and turn into rich compost.
Extrapolating…
I’d say you should bury your USED teabags just under the surface around the roots of your plants. Used teabags…unused teabags will have less tannic acid…and as the tea and filter paper decompose/are…
If you bury the tea leaves they will compost faster Lisa, but you can also use them as mulch on the surface to help retain moisture. They will still compost on the surface as mulch, but just a little slower. Break the tea bags open. Use the tea leaves on your plants, & put the tea bags in the compost bin.
Keith.
Victor Allen’s
Unless plastic free is stipulated on the packet the bags contain 25% polypropylene. or similar plastic. these bags should be cut and emptied so the tea leaves can be used in your compost bin and the bags can be discarded. Just leave them to dry and cut or tear them open.
Teabags help with water retention. Bury your tea bags near the root of your plants to help the plants retain more water and stay healthier.
We use the insides of tea bags, (and also the used coffee granules from the espresso machine).
The original soil was ‘acquired’ from the park, and our (indoors) herb garden is very successful, despite the soil starting out at such an unpromising standard.
Tea and coffee waste really has helped to give the soil the nutrients for successful growth
I put them on top where esthetics don’t demand burial. They get turned under in the fall when the flower beds are put to sleep.
probably best as you ask to break open paper bags slightly then scrape a little soil away not too close to seedlings etc, and then tuck them in with the same soil’..
potential benefits for poor soil, dry soil in the sun infrequently watered..
while encouraging young plants, you might ask their preferences..
exhale gently, close eyes, listen for anything [plants can send info to other plants, such as when being eaten by insects etc,, you might perceive something..
Caffeine impedes seed germination and plant growth in general. You could do this, but there are a lot of other methods to improve soil water drainage and retention and provide nutrients. Would not recommend doing this unless you can do it at least 2 months before planting. In that case, it’s just as good as any other compostable fertilizing method.
That solves caffeine issues and also proliferation of decay on a developing plant. If you use a caffeine free tea, you still have the issue of active decay near the crown of the plant, it’s just using a caffeinated tea AND immediately planting is worse than using a non-caffeinated tea and immediately planting.
I don’t know the particular benefits of tea for flowers, but most non liquid soil additives do better when mixed in with the soil. Putting them on top can result in them drying out and/or being blown or washed away. It (putting additives on top of the soil) also takes longer for the usable nutrients to move into the root area below the soil. The darkness and moisture of the soil or compost below the top layers are also more decomposer (fungi, microbes, etc.) friendly environments.
The answers already given for this question are very good. However, tea leaves are acidic. Some places already have acidic soil. Make sure you add some lime (ground limestone) to your soil if you have natural acidic soil. Some areas have acidic rain and acidic soil. Fig trees love lime. I will have a great crop this year because I added last year before winter.
Mixing it into the soil will prevent scavenger birds from pecking at it. Mixing it in with compost is good, too.
It is best to tear the bag itself, since most of them do not decompose. As to the contents, you can simply trow them on top of the soil or add to compost. The tea will eventually get mixed in and enrich your soil. Or it can be put into a dug hole and covered with soil, it is more labor consuming, but also works. It is entirely up to you.
Best practice is to bury them near the root systems. If that is not feasible, open the bag and sprinkle the used tea leaves into the soil, scrabbling it under the top bit of soil, so it doesn’t just blow away. That is not as effective, but it is of some use.
On the surface, the bags will eventually leach some nutrients into the soil. If buried, they will do that and they will help the soil hold moisture.
It is best to mix the tea (tearing the bags), in the soil.
Also, it depends on the tea and how much you add.
Like any leaf clippings, the tea will decompose and add some nutrients to he soil.
If you bury tea bags or leave them on top of the soil, either way they will break down into organic matter in the soil. Burying them will speed up the process and will certainly give your garden a better appearance.
I add used tea bags to vegetable waste and grass cuttings in my compost bins.
Both! Neither method is necessarily wrong.
I would personally recommend burying the tea leaves below soil. Decomposing leaves seen as aesthetically pleasing as potting soil. You’ll get the benefits of the decomposing leaves without having to look at them.
That being said, you can absolutely sprinkle used tea leaves or coffee grounds on the surface of your soil and get similar results.
Hi, you can do either, some teabags contain a little plastic which will prevent complete breakdown of the bag.
My preference would be to split the bag and empty the contents onto the soil surface which will find its way into the soil. I compost tea bags but don’t rely on them for miracles as the only contain a minute amount of plant material that if it has been used the tea bag will be leached of most soluble components (nutrients) that have been drunk, that means the tea leaves are getting pretty depleted as a source of nutrients for other plants. However, they still have the leaf structural material that makes up some of the organic matter in the soil.
Happy tea drinking and recycling.
Thanks for the question. In my personal experience burying tea bags, and sprinkling tea leaves on the top of soil layers works in two separate ways.
I bury soaked used tea bags around the second layers for the soil in potted houseplants to help the soil retain water. While this is similar to mixing coco coir in the soil mix, tea bags also offers the added benefit of providing fertilization to the plant.
Sprinkling gutted tea bags as well as used loose leaf tea on the topsoil layer, especially around larger potted trees and garden plants, improves soil health and adds extra fertilization to your plants. However, remember to mix the soil with a garden fork now and then to prevent tea leaves creating a thick layer atop the soil.
Does your soil have earth worms? Earth worms love to eat things like leaves. Then they make earth worm poop to power the soil. Just cut the tea bag open and sprinkle it on the soil. They love coffee grounds too.
If buried they will decompose faster and release more nutrients into the soil. Sprinkled on top they will act more like mulching, which helps retain moisture in the soil and slow down weeds, which is also good. Either way you’d better get rid of the bags because they contain plastic fibers which decompose very slowly and add to the microplastic content in soil.
Eight O’Clock
Used tea and teabags are beneficial for a garden.
Like all plant matter, when we use it as a ground cover, it is mulch. Mulch protects the soil by inhibiting weed growth, managing soil temperature, and keeping the soil from drying out. It also decomposes slowly and adds nutrients to the soil.
When we bury the tea and the paper teabags in the ground, it adds fiber to the soil, and it decomposes more rapidly than mulch to release nutrients into the soil. The fiber helps with both water retention and with aeration.
For those of you who compost, tea and bags are welcome in any compost pile.
Finally, for those of you who have small gardens, you might want to try Micro-composting. Grind your food scraps with some water added in your blender. Dig a shallow hole, pour the slurry into it, and cover it up. In just a couple days, you will find that it has almost entirely composted — and with no odor at all.
The reason micro-composting works so well is that all decomposition starts on the surface of the plant matter and works its way in. By chopping it so finely, the surface area is hugely increased, and the particle size is very small.
Good luck with your garden.
Yes you can.
It can act as litre for the soil and can increase nutrients in small amount. But do not depend upon tea bag only. Apply other organic manures. Any way organic manures emit very low nutrients.
You can definitely sprinkle the dry tea bags right on top of the soil underneath the plant. The next time it rains the nutrients will go from the teabags down into the soil.
If you have the time you can mix it in the soil a little bit if you want. That will prevent it from blowing away are you on the strong Breeze comes by.
PS.. Lisa, can you please help me understand why this question just landed in my inbox an hour ago (At 11:30 AM on 10-3-20) when you already have 62 responses going back many months. Someone had to have resubmitted the question. Who was it? I need to understand how this happened, because it happens a lot with many people.
Don’t forget the bag bit of the tea bag may not be compostable if it contains plastic. I put tea bags in my compost heap and leave everything to break down over a year. However if you don’t have a compost heap, I would open the bags and use the tea leaves as a mulch.
Teabags help with water retention: Bury your tea bags near the root of your plants, flowers, and veggies to help the plants retain more water and stay healthier.
I’d tear open the bags and then compost them. Tea has a lot of caffeine in it and I’ve seen it really screw up plants. It actually makes the leaves screw themselves up. I have a tea caddy for loose tea, which I prefer, so composting is a snap.
Tea will add nitrogen to the soil. You need to either put the tea (without the bag) into the soil under the plant, or mix it into the soil.
I’m not sure how long it takes for the bags themselves to break down in the soil, so personally, I always tear open & empty my tea bags onto my garden soil, then get rid of the bags themselves. I drink a lot of iced tea, so I’m always doing this to help the soil.
I, honestly, have no idea that work’s. I tear open tea bags and compost them which is roughly what you do if you bury them in a flower pot. If it’s in the soil it’s exactly the same with all the beasties to enjoy the tea leaves – just as they would with any other leaves. My hanging baskets have just had the benefit of the coffee grounds rinsed out with water. It adds humus too, and maybe a few minerals are left too after the coffee making but I would guess not many, just like in the tea bags.
I wouldn’t waste good tea but it does no harm at all disposing of things in an environmentally friendly way like that.
IF you want the bag to disintegrate yes. If you are just adding vegetable matter to the soil, rip the bag and sprinkle, and throw away the bag.
I do both.
I suggest trying both options. But my guess is, you can just sprinkle the ta leaves on the dirt. Or instead, make tea, and pour it into the pants. That’s essentially what you’re doing, when you pour very strong cold tea on plants, to get rid of aphids.
Tea bags have little or no nutrients and do not help plants grow. They may add a tiny bit of organic matter that’s all. This is urban folklore.
Clearly you have some sort of preconceived misunderstanding about tea bags and plants, which you undoubtedly gained watching YouTube or flipping through tiktok like a complete zombie. One imagines perfect looking hands sprinkling tea leaves over a pot with seeds in it, accompanied by upbeat instrumental music, followed by a time-lapse of a beautiful flower growing to full size. “Wow! If I saw it on tiktok, it must be real!”! You think to yourself. Little do you know that mixing tea leaves with soil will do absolutely nothing to benefit the growth of flowers whatsoever. There is a difference between compost and dried up leaf bits. Tea bags contain dried leaf bits, whereas compost and fertilizer contain plant nutrients that aid in plant growth. Answer for in case you are too brain-dead to read this entire message: TEA BAGS DO NOT BENEFIT FLOWERS IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM.
The first option is acceptable if the tea bag that holds the spent tea is biodegradable. The second option is ok as well If one gently mixes the spent tea into the top soil without disturbing the plant roots !
No the paper is harmful to the soil, mix it in
Either way is fine.. In the tea factories, we scatter the tea dust back onto the tea fields.. and in our tea centre where we sell fresh cuppa teas, , the remaining teabags or leaves are first compost and then thrown out to the fileds.
Hi Lisa
You want to use tea leaves as an organic fertiliser. The best method is to apply used tea leaves on top of the soil after removing from the tea bag. Many tea bags are made of plastic fibres these days and will not compost. By adding the tea on top of the soil will act as a mulch and reduce water loss due to evaporation. You will need a lot of tea to produce good results. I have found other organic fertilisers to work better than tea. Surprisingly I have found rabbit manure to work really well. I leave the rabbit manure in a shaded cool spot and keep it watered. Keeping the manure moist allows fungal mycelium to grow through the manure and start composting it. You can mix it in the soil around the plants or leave it on top. I do both. Rabbit manure doesn’t burn your plants too.
Do you need to bury the tea bags in soil to help flowers grow or can I sprinkle dry tea bag on top?
As you can see from the answers here there are good reasons for burying tea bags.
Personally I tear them open and scatter the contents on the plants. I don’t always wait for them to dry out either.
I won’t throw teabags into the compost whole either as, in recent years I have found they don’t break down.
The best is to bury them near the roots. The tannin in tea gets in faster to enrich the soil and the worms too help. Decomposing is faster inside the soil. Make sure there is no plastic or polypropylene materials with it. Try it first to see the plant growth.
Either way the tea bags will brake down into the soil. I have a compost bin and put used tea bags and tea leave in it along with other kitchen and garden waste.
Truthfully, I use coffee grounds. I have sprinkled the used contents of my tea bags in to a plant or two. But mostly I use coffee grounds and eggs to help my flowers and edible plants grow.
Many teabags contain plastic so by directly adding them to your soil you are increasing your plastic waste in the garden.
So if you care about plastic waste and unless you use a plastic free teabag blend splitting the bag and emptying out the bags onto your garden is better for your garden. Of course the bags still go to landfill somewhere.
I usually just rip the side slightly and press it into the ground – my Mum did the same for years around rose bushes and was blessed with gorgeous blooms.
Either way works.
I sometimes will make compost tea out of tea leaves (without the bag) and other compostable materials.
I put the tea bags down under all the dirt before I even plant the plant. It helps with water retention.
You can use the bags of Tea as a Top coat or Mulch, but anything to improve the soil usually breaks down quicker to help the plants if buried…
Top is a mulch and you see the fungal event. Stirred into the soil, worms eat dead vegetation and leaf parts again modulate moisture. I use spent coffee grounds and egg shells as we are so poor for calcium on the soil here. I top dress this with good response.
Q . Do you need to bury the tea bags in soil to help flowers grow or can I sprinkle dry tea bag on top?
A . Sprinkle the tea or coffee grounds on top of the ground if plants are already in the soil. If you are making compost, mix the grounds and soil together. If your tea bag or coffee filter is biodegradable, drop the entire unit onto the compost pile and mix with a rake.
Personally, I don’t see much benefit from teabags in soil directly as tea takes a bit of time to break down. Maybe a couple used tea bags at the bottom of the pot for drainage, but I would sooner add them to the compost pile.
No you can break the bag and sprinkle the leaves over the dirt. Be careful with house plants to dry the bags out first, or you can start mold growth in the soil that can spread to the plant roots or into the house.
The benefit of tea bag to fertilize your soil in order to help the flowers to grow is by burying it, because if you only sprinkle it will not decompose fast and the tannic acid and nutrients from the tea bags could not be benefited fast by your plants to flower
Dunkin’
It’s better to just sprinkle the tea on top. Not all bags are biodegradable. Tear the bag apart, sprinkle the old leaves on top of the soil and throw the bag away.
Hi Lisa, Kind of depends which way you want the benefits.If too condition soil as a whole,assist in retaining moisture/nutrients throughout tear open bag,sprinkle contents and lightly dig torn up bag + tea into surface.. Or if preferring to be a little parcel of moisture/nutrient supply can be dug in whole..either way the bag will also decompose over time..Personally Ive always done first option as teabags available regularly and add to whole of vege patches,as i use all available space, rather than feed individual plants,this way it breaks down more readily without risk of moulds or mildews developing too,which as found out from trialling both, either way all plants benefit from the addition of tea leaves/bags..I also pierce open & empty all coffee pods adding same as first method by digging coffeegrounds in,this is an excellent pest repellent of subsurface grubs too,and plants really thrive from excess nutrients of coffeegrounds added.. Goodluck.
First take the tea out of the bag! Tea bags are almost always reinforced with polypropylene plastic – despite a huge amount of work being done to make them biodegradable.
Secondly; tea aka Camellia sinensis – Wikipedia has a lot of tannins in the leaf.
So, you can use it as a mulch, but be aware that it will do as good a job of inhibiting delicate plants as it will at keeping weeds down.
Composting strikes me as a much better course of action.
Tea bags can “help flowers grow” two ways:
If buried near the roots, they can act as pockets of humus, to hold water for the plant’s eventual use. They slowly break down and release nutrients.
If broken open and the contents are mixed with the top soil layer, they decompose faster into available nutrients for the plant, and also enhance the organic soil content, which promotes root growth.
You won’t hurt the plant either way.
It is better to put the leaves from the tea bag under a bit of soil. Otherwise the tea leaves can mold on top.
You can mulch with tea bags. You can rip them open, lay them end to end, bury them, whatever your heart desires. They are entirely compostable. They’ll do your flowers good, either way.
In most of my habitats, tea left on the surface of the soil tends to develop noticeable fungi, which is unsightly to some. It’s part of the recycling of nutrients. Buried, it’s more accessible to the worms that will eat them and recycle the nutrients for you. If you live in a windy area, the tea may blow away, which is undesirable.
Sprinkling the contents* of the tea bag on top of the soil will work just as well as burying the tea bag in the soil.
*There is no justification for leaving the tea bag on or in the soil.Throw the bag away-after sprinkling the tea leaves on the ground.
I’d say use a teapot and put your cut flowers in that with some water.. it’s for your benefit you don’t grow anything.. stick to cut flowers..
Mix them with the soil. They may, however, acidify the soil if used in significant quantities. You may wind up needing to add a little bit of lime unless you are talking about azaleas or acid loving plants. I usually use a higher nitrogen source initially along with humus and regular watering. Triple 12 is a good source. After the plants have grown up I use a side dressing with a higher phosphorus fertilizer such as 6-24 -24. This promotes blooming. Be careful not to burn the plants, since these have a lot of nutrients.
You can add them to your compost pile, or just sprinkle them on top of the soil. However, tear open the bags and just sprinkle the used tea leaves on the soil. Discard the bags in the trash.
Either way works but it is better to compost them. So, if you don’t have a compost bin or pile, do which ever way you feel like at the time.
I would not put tea bags around plants unless you are sure the bag is organic and will compost. A lot of tea bags are plastic. But you could open the tea bag, scatter the used tea leaves on the soil, and throw the bag in the trash. No need to work the tea leaves into the soil, “Mother Nature” does not usually do that. The latest research is to avoid tillage of all kinds as much as possible. Soil disruption hurts the threads of fungi, (kills much), kills earth rooms and sorts of natural processes. Plus the introduction of more oxygen hastens oxidation of the carbon organic matter that returns the carbon the atmosphere faster as carbon dioxide. Note that all organic materials put on the soil surface will eventually compost and slowly add the nutrients to the soil, exactly as Mother Nature does. Sure it is slow composting but it is much easier than building a compost pile.
Peet’s
I always sprinkle the tea or coffee grains on top. When it rains the benefits will soak in.
My grandmother used to tear them open scatter the leaves. She particularly made sure that the hydrangeas were well supplied. The acid in the leaves affects the flower color.
You do not need to do either of those things. Adding small amounts of dried tea leaves to soil is not likely to noticeably affect the growth of plants.
I would think sprinkling toe contents on top of the soil as burying teh tea bag can disturb the plant roots
Generally speaking, the tea and fabric will decompose faster if you shred them and mix them in to the soil. This increases the surface area of the tea and bag which are in contact with the soil. As the tea and bag decompose, nutrients will be released that your garden plants can use. However, sprinkling tea or leaving a complete tea bag on the surface will do no harm. It will just decompose more slowly.
Burry them.
Unless you burry organic materials they won’t decompose to release nutrients and convert into useful products for roots.
The beneficial way is to actually mix it in with the soil. I hope this answers your question and good luck on growing your flowers I hope they have nice blooms!!just remember your mind and body is stronger than you think it is stay safe and happy
I personally would add the tea bags to my compost bins and wait until they have decomposed and then add that to my flowers. Depending on home many tea bags you produce it would look unsightly to have all your teabags on the surface of the ground and burying too many around the base of the plant can create problems with drainage and/or root development.
I would not do either. I would empty the tea bags and sprinkle the dry tea on top. I wouldn’t do it much, tho, cuz the soil will become acidic very quickly. Really, you should just go to a nursery and talk to them about using tea in the garden and what advice they have.
Break the tea bags and use only the tea inside
bury if you can, otherwise sprinkle on top. It will decompose with time, just taking a bit longer.