[LittleRedHen]

Hi All!  Yesterday, when I fancied a cuppa, I thought about all the tea bags that go straight into the compost bin and the stale water in the kettle being poured down the drain.  I put a funnel into an empty milk jug, stuck the used tea bag in it and then poured the leftover water from the kettle into it.  Lovely weak tea, just right as a tonic for mid-summer.  I put it on my  butternut squash plant, passion vine and two hydrangea.  By nightfall, they were all much perkier.  Think I might be on to something here!   

[Kleftiwallah]

There's those lateral thinking grey cells again.  It sounds good to me.

For a while I worked in an office(never again) give me the shop floor or a workshop any day.  One chap use to come in early and make the tea, untill we discovered he was just boiling the water that had sat in the kettle all night !     From that time on we all demanded "New water".   Cheers,    Tony.

[mumofstig]

By nightfall, they were all much perkier.  Think I might be on to something here!   

It may just be because they were watered after a long hot day. I don't know how much goodness there is in an old tea bag..be interesting to find out
I always water my plants with 'stale' water plus the water that comes cold from the hot tap till the boiler gets going 

[arugula]

I don't know about any more efficacy in old tea bags rather than freshly used, but as you say, they end up in the compost in many peoples' houses. As a child I recall hearing that some plants would benefit from a drink of tea - what was left in the pot as tea bags weren't used much by then. As such, my Mum used to pour the teapot leftovers out over the plants in the kitchen garden. The same for coffee grounds and the leftovers in the coffee pot.

[catllar]

I don't mind giving my plants some weak tea or a sprinkling of coffee grounds - however if they start asking for G&T with ice and a slice they'll just have to go!

[Trillium]

 

[sunshineband]

Mum always used to water azaleas with the 'leavings' as she called them, as they were a little acidic and 'they liked it' 

Thye grew well, so I guess they did 

[maxyboo]

I remember an elderly neighbour who always poured the pot leftovers over his plants. I can't remember what the plants where but they always looked good.

[compostqueen]

I always empty my lotty teapot onto my plants by the door, which are at the moment cosmos, carrots, spring onions and a lupin. They look very happy

[LittleRedHen]

LOL!  Great responses.  I think it has something to do with acidity.  Weak tea, coffee grounds, etc. are great for acid loving plants like rhoderdendron, hydrangeas, and camelias.  I poured a whole box to loose tea around my camelia this spring and let the rain do the rest.  Stopped the blackbirds from tossing the tea bags all over the garden!   

[maxyboo]

Would it be worth trying on blueberry bushes then? I bought one recently without knowing much about them but it was cheap. I know they prefer rain to tap water so would cooled boiled water harm the plant?

[Trillium]

Long as it's cool, blueberries will 'drink' anything.

[LittleRedHen]

I've grown blueberries for most of my adult life and they like acid soil too.  The tea tonic, coffee grounds, etc. would be great for them.  We have clay soil here, so I know that I need to add an acid base to the soil.