TeaChat

Like most people on here, I go through a lot of tea. Even though I reinfuse until I get the most from the leaves, something about throwing them in the garbage at the end of the process just seems wasteful.

As far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong), tea leaves are only good for two things: making tea, and making fertilizer. I don't have a lot of house plants around, but I've been meaning to get a couple and make the place a little more green.

I know almost nothing about gardening/caring for plants aside from the obvious need of varying amounts of sunlight and water and the basic concept of fertilizer. I want to know what happens if I just take used tea leaves and dump them at the base of a plant. Is that instant fertilizer? Or do they have to be composted first? What is the difference between compost and fertilizer anyway?

I think you get the idea. How would I go about putting my leaves to use?

I used to run a little bonsai farm and classes so I can only vouch for a limited number of species, however the short answer is yes! Most plants/trees LOVE tea leaves!

Just be careful as too many can hurt it too!
For me, my gaiwans/pots were emptied into compost and every second lot of spent leaves went to the plants/trees themselves.

Another thing you can do is put spent leaves into buckets full of watering water then discard the leaves into compost and use that water for the trees!

I place all my used tea leaves in the garden, on top of the soil, and the plants love the extra nutrients. After a few weeks I toss the upper soil to mix it up a bit.

I use my wastewater to water the herbs in containers on my porch. My plants love it. I compost the tea leaves to use in the garden. They are high in nitrogen, so as compost, I find they are best mixed with other matter (shredded brown paper bags, for example).

What's the pH of waste water like, and what kind of nutrients does it contribute?