Teabags are a great organic alternative for gardeners seeking ways to improve their soil and eliminate pests. Although many people throw out steeped tea bags, the bags can be put to good use in the garden once they have been soaked.
Soggy tea bags can be recycled in various ways, making the garbage the last place they should go. For example, gardeners use tea leaves as natural fertilizer because of the tannic acid and other nutrients they find in them. It’s also possible to reuse the teabag. The resulting weak tea can be used as a natural liquid fertilizer for houseplants.
Composting the bags and leaves adds nutrients to the soil, making it a perfect growing environment. Many gardeners also use them adjacent to the roots of their plants because they assist to retain water.
To keep pests from devouring and damaging your garden, use used tea bags and coffee grounds. Teabags can be buried in the soil, and coffee grounds can be sprinkled on your plants as a fertilizer.
Alternatively, you may reuse the tea bag and make weak tea to spill over the leaflets and around your plants. This will help to keep them healthy. Mice, spiders, beetles, and even cats are scared off by the natural scent.
Which plants enjoy the tannins found in tea leaves?
Plants that thrive in acids, such as tomatoes and roses, can benefit from the use of old tea leaves sprinkled around their bases. Aside from trace minerals, tea leaves contain all three major nutrients (NPK) in relatively high concentrations. Also, tea leaves can be composted alongside other organic waste.
Do Tea Leaves Deter Slugs and Snails?
The presence of slugs is unavoidable in most gardens. Slugs are an inevitable part of gardening, so prepare yourself for the possibility of losing a few plants to the voracious gastropods. Unfortunately, you’ll never be able to eradicate slugs from your garden completely.
Since caffeine is believed to be a poisonous chemical for slugs and snails, several gardeners consider using caffeine-based products. Aside from coffee grinds, used tea leaves are also placed in the hope of deterring these garden pests.
Plant spraying with a caffeine solution has been proven effective in killing snails, but there’s no proof that tea leaves have the same effect. Furthermore, since tea leaves lose most of their caffeine after they are brewed, the amount of caffeine to kill slugs is substantially smaller.
While tea leaves are not the best deterrent for slugs and snails, you can still consider mixing old teabags with your garden soil. After all, tea leaves can accelerate nourishment transfer in plants since it helps on its composting process.
Before adding teabags to your garden soil, you might consider checking your soil’s nutrient content. Nitrate aids in leaf growth, although only a tiny portion of the nitrogen in tea is available to plants. Liquid plant fertilizers developed for balanced development do not have nearly as much nitrogen as tea leaves do.
Other components in tea have the potential to be hazardous. For example, tea leaves may contain aluminum, fluorine, and manganese that can come in large concentrations. While these metals are safe for humans, particularly strong or stewed tea might stunt plant growth.
What Keeps Slugs Away?
There’s nothing like seeing your garden taken over by slugs. Not only can slugs munch through all your seedlings in minutes, but they can also destroy your favorite Hosta or delphinium in days. Besides, they devour our prized flowers and produce, making them a tremendous nuisance in the garden.
Gardeners often complain that getting rid of slugs is a time-consuming and frustrating process. But, even if using slug pellets to get rid of these slimy pests is the most effective technique, it isn’t for everybody.
For those who have a slug problem in their yard, there are several natural cures and solutions available:
- The fragrance of beer attracts slugs; thus, it makes an excellent lure for a slug trap. Fill two-thirds of your container with beer and bury it halfway in the dirt next to your plants. It’s important to remember that this home treatment will only work if you have a minor slug infestation. The cost of eradicating a significant infestation is high because the beer must be refreshed regularly.
- Copper is also thought to be an effective slug treatment because of its conductivity. Since the mucus they secrete reacts with copper and produces a slight electric shock, copper is a naturally repellant slug. To keep slugs away from your plants, wrap the rims of the pots in copper tape. To keep copper tape effective against slugs, wipe it with vinegar regularly.
- Citrus is a favorite food of slugs. Fruits like grapefruit, for example, can be used to build homemade slug traps. Fill two grapefruit rinds with water, then place them upside-down on the ground so a slug may get inside. Slugs can find food and shelter in the grapefruit rind. Dispose of any slugs you see in the morning after you’ve left them overnight.
What Smells Do Slugs Hate?
Pest management is strict with slugs because of their destructiveness and inability to ingest decomposing stuff. In addition, they have an insatiable appetite, feeding almost exclusively at night and consuming twice as much food as they do in a single day as they usually do.
While teabags are deemed unhelpful in deterring slugs, they aren’t your only choice. Slugs don’t like some types of plants, so plant them in places where they won’t be eaten. Plants that have a bitter or offensive flavor or odor are included in this category—as well as hard-to-chew plants like those with leathery leaves or gnarly stems.
- The heavy geranium leaves, elephants’ ears, and London pride are too thick for slugs to sink their teeth into.
- Flowers like scabious’ showy bells, fuchsia’s delicate bells, and golden rod’s vivid yellow panicles grow on stiff, woody stems, so they’re off-limits to slugs.
- The bitter, milky sap of spurges and the toxic blooms and stems of foxgloves are not liked by slugs for apparent reasons.
- Slugs also hate lavender, fennel, and rosemary. These herbs and florals are considered effective deterrents against slugs.
- Another option to consider is called “companion planting.” This means that you need to prepare plants that slugs love to provide a ‘barrier’ against your entire garden. Protect your prized flowers by surrounding them with slug favorites such as Hosta and primrose.
