Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
Recently I have been thinking about all the old tea leaves that I toss into the trash. I do compost vegetable waste myself; however I have been hesitant about composting old tea. I was wondering if there is anyone that has used tea leaves in compost or gardening, and did it appear to have a benefit? And did you just add the tea to the soil, or fully compost before adding the soil? I am looking to compost for vegetables.
Apr 20th, '17, 11:07
Adagio
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Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
Hey, there!
I'm going to move this from TeaWare up to Tea>Miscellaneous for you, since it'll probably get a better response in that section.
And don't forget to Introduce Yourself to TeaChat! We're happy to have you join our group of Tea Lovers!
I'm going to move this from TeaWare up to Tea>Miscellaneous for you, since it'll probably get a better response in that section.
And don't forget to Introduce Yourself to TeaChat! We're happy to have you join our group of Tea Lovers!
Apr 20th, '17, 11:36
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victoria3
Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
I place all my spent leaves around plants that enjoy moist soil outside. Some leaves are beautiful to display around fruit trees here in Southern California. Other people I know compost them resulting in nicely aerated soil during decomposition phase. Placing them inside around plants resulted in moldy leaves. I think HY Chen's dried roasted DongDing leaves are beautiful so I've saved some to use for a future project.
Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
I would suggest adding it to your compost heap and letting them break down fully with everything else.
Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
Yup I think tea works great in compost. Rich plant matter from rich soil around the world, nice addition to the compost bin. Leaves in general are supposed to be a good addition. There is something about the proper 'green' (nitrogen- most kitchen scraps) to 'browns' (carbon- shredded newspaper and dried foliage) ratio, I'm not sure whether tea leaves fall into the former or latter, but I'm sure Google would know.
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Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
What are 'HY Chen's dried roasted DongDing leaves' ? Also what would the future project entail?victoria3 wrote: I place all my spent leaves around plants that enjoy moist soil outside. Some leaves are beautiful to display around fruit trees here in Southern California. Other people I know compost them resulting in nicely aerated soil during decomposition phase. Placing them inside around plants resulted in moldy leaves. I think HY Chen's dried roasted DongDing leaves are beautiful so I've saved some to use for a future project.
Apr 21st, '17, 19:37
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Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
HY Chen aka Hau Yin Chen is a farmer in Taiwan who follows traditional farming methods and makes excellent roasted oolongs. I order from him on facebook 薪誠坊 Shin Cheng Fang/百年茶園/凍頂烏龍專賣店. My future dry leaf project might just be using them in photos or adding essential oils or...... not sure yetGenmaichange wrote:What are 'HY Chen's dried roasted DongDing leaves' ? Also what would the future project entail?victoria3 wrote: I place all my spent leaves around plants that enjoy moist soil outside. Some leaves are beautiful to display around fruit trees here in Southern California. Other people I know compost them resulting in nicely aerated soil during decomposition phase. Placing them inside around plants resulted in moldy leaves. I think HY Chen's dried roasted DongDing leaves are beautiful so I've saved some to use for a future project.
Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
I would definitely include tea leaves in your composting. Or feed them to your other plants.
And here's an idea, lol, I'm already laughing because it does sound a little nuts but I'll go for it.
When I used to juice, I would keep the pulp and make veggie burgers. What if you kept your tea leaves...and made Tea Burgers?!
And here's an idea, lol, I'm already laughing because it does sound a little nuts but I'll go for it.
When I used to juice, I would keep the pulp and make veggie burgers. What if you kept your tea leaves...and made Tea Burgers?!
Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
I put my tea leaves into my compost bin. I consider them like dried leaves (brown material.) No problem.
Apr 26th, '17, 19:55
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Re: Composting Old Tea, Y or N?
They're actually a green because they were picked when they were living - not like fallen leaves where most of the nutrients have time to leave before they drop.stevorama wrote: I put my tea leaves into my compost bin. I consider them like dried leaves (brown material.) No problem.