As a tomato gardener, you’re always looking for ways to boost your plants’ health and yields. And if you’re an avid tea drinker, you may have heard that used tea bags can benefit tomato plants. But is this fact or fiction? Let’s explore the potential pros and cons of using tea bags on tomatoes.
The Pros: How Tea Bags Can Help Tomato Plants
There are a few key ways that tea bags can provide advantages for tomato plants:
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Soil acidification – The tannins in tea can help lower soil pH, which tomatoes prefer slightly acidic in the 5.5-6.5 range. Many soils are too alkaline.
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Nutrient release – As tea bags break down, they slowly release nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that are vital for healthy tomato growth.
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Moisture retention – Tea bags can help keep soil moist, especially during dry periods. Wet tea leaves act as a mulch.
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Pest deterrent – The smell of tea may help repel some insects and animals like mice or cats from nibbling on plants.
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Anti-fungal properties – Compounds in tea may suppress soil fungi that cause diseases like damping off.
When used correctly, tea bags seem to offer some real benefits for tomato plants in terms of soil properties, nutrients, moisture, and pest protection.
Potential Drawbacks and Risks of Tea Bags
However, there are also some potential downsides to be aware of when using tea bags on tomato plants:
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Over-acidity – Too many tea bags can make the soil overly acidic, which tomato roots don’t like. Use minimally.
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Nutrient imbalance – Excess tea bags and nutrients may encourage more foliage growth rather than fruit production.
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Pest attraction – While deterring some pests, tea bags can lure others like ants to the garden.
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Waterlogging – Too many wet tea bags may keep soil soggy, which tomato roots detest.
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Chemical residues – Non-organic tea bags may contain pesticides or additives that you don’t want in your vegetable garden.
The key is moderation. Tea bags should be an occasional supplemental fertilizer, not the sole nutrient source for tomatoes. And be sure to use only organic tea bags to avoid any chemicals.
How to Use Tea Bags on Tomato Plants
There are a few easy methods for applying used tea bags in the tomato garden:
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Bury 1-2 bags adjacent to each transplant’s roots at planting time.
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Place 1 bag atop the soil surface near established plants monthly as a fertilizer.
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Brew a mild tea solution to use for watering tomatoes occasionally.
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Mix dried tea leaves into potting soil blends for seed starting.
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Scatter dried tea leaves around plants as a mulch before watering.
Always use tea bags in moderation to avoid over-fertilizing. And stick to organic tea bags from reputable brands to prevent any contamination.
Top Tea Bag Tips for Tomato Success
Follow these tips to maximize benefits and minimize risks when using tea bags on tomato plants:
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Choose organic black or green tea bags – avoid “flavored” types.
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Limit tea bags to 1 or 2 per plant per month.
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Bury bags just under the soil surface when applying.
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Monitor soil pH – don’t allow over-acidity.
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Use dried tea leaves sparingly in potting mixes.
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Scatter leaves as mulch before watering for slow nutrient release.
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Remove any moldy looking bags immediately.
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Never use tea bags as your sole fertilizer source.
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Complement with balanced organic fertilizers as needed.
With prudent use, tea bags can be a helpful supplement to boost tomato plant health, not a cure-all replacement for proper care and feeding. A few bags monthly is plenty. Pay close attention to your plants and soil, and enjoy the benefits of tea time in your tomato patch!
Q: I am planning to make a small bed and plant two lilies and a banana plant there. All are fairly small. Could I layer the top layer of soil with wood chips or something to give it life? Also, what type of flowers would go well with lilies and the banana plant?
Putting Sea Soil or compost on top of the bed would do a great job of giving your soil life. If you dont have your own compost, garden centres sell bags of commercial compost. A bag of one or the other would be sufficient.
On top of whatever nourishment you choose, bark mulch suppresses weeds very well. It’s easy to pull weeds out of bark mulch when the seeds finally blow in on the wind and they start to grow.
My top choice for planting under your banana tree would be sempervivums. Their leaves are rosettes in various patterns and shades: reddish, blue-grey, green with red tips, etc.
These plants form a carpet so dense weeds seldom germinate.
In summer some of the older rosettes produce thick stems with flowers. After flowering, the old rosettes die, but new rosettes quickly fill in. Sempervivums are extremely drought-resistant.
Cranesbills are another possibility. My top choice would be the deep purpleblue flowered Rosanne. This stays blooming for a very long period. Its dwarf and spreads into a wide, low mound.
A pretty, mat-forming annual, which is also a great bee plant, is Sweet Alyssum.
This is available in mauve or white forms. Theyre covered with flowers all summer and are very sweet smelling. They die in winter, but re-seed themselves abundantly in spring. You might like the perennial Oriental poppies if you like plants that grow taller. In late May, they have huge, beautiful flowers that are red, orange, white, or pink. These seed themselves around if you leave the seed capsules on the plants.
If you prefer spring flowers, the perennial Hellebore orientalis flowers give pleasure for many months. Buds pop up in late January, followed by cup-shaped, long-lasting flowers, then interesting spiky seedheads. All year, hellebore leaves stay green. But in late winter, they need to be cut back to make room for new growth and flowers the following year.
Anne Marrison is happy to answer garden questions. Send them to her via [email protected].
Q: I was wondering what tea bags, coffee grounds and eggshells do for plants and could you apply them to any type of plant or only specific plants?
All three are generally good for the garden. The beneficial elements in them are slow-release and present in relatively small quantities. So you dont have to keep any of them away from any specific plants.
Allowing them to break down in the compost is one good way of using them. Another way is to mix them into the soil around different plants without putting too much of one type in one place.
The tea in tea bags contains nitrogen. So do coffee grounds. The coffee grounds also have trace amounts of phosphorous and potassium.
Eggshells provide calcium to the plants they are placed near. Calcium is especially valuable for tomatoes.
Eggshells are only bad because most people just crush them (potato mashers work great for this). But crushed eggshells take a long time to break down in the ground.
Ground-up eggshells release calcium much faster. An old blender might do this job.
Are tea bags good for tomato plants?
FAQ
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