Effect of used tea leaves on plant growth

[YJ]

Used tea leaves can be made compost? and it is good for plant growth?lI'm just wondering if used tea leaves can really enhance plant growth as tea is acidic.i have read through some articles which say that the acidic soil will affect the absorption of nutrient by plants. Is it true? Actually i'm confused here..

[Teatime]

I don't understand the science behind it but we place the used tea leaves in our potted plants all the time and they thrive on it. Maybe certain plants can tolerate it while others cannot.

Teatime

[Messorius]

I dumped it on my tomatoes and cayenne peppers and they love it. Both of them prefer acidic soils. I'm also going to save them over the winter and see if I can tip the pH in the lawn to be more favourable to potatoes. ^^

[Edwin]

how tea leaves effect plants growth

[Guest]

[rabbit]

I use my old tea leaves as fertilizer for my camellia sinensis plant, I figure there couldn't be much better compost for a plant than it's own leaves.

[Joe]

off topic, but rabbit, where'd you get your camellia sinensis?

[rabbit]

I got 10 seeds on ebay for like $3 or something, I only planted one, but it started growing, I gave some to my friend to plant because I figure it's a flowering plant and it will probably need to cross-pollenate.

[Warden Andy]

I used to throw used leaves on a plant, and it started getting moldy, and got a lot of insects. We had a pretty bad insect problem in the house. I've actually had a few stupid bugs that decided to go for a swim in my tea, and ended up dying.

[H.M. Murdock]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but...

I've been using a combination of coffee grinds with tea leaves in blending my own soil for a wisteria I am trying to nurse into bonsai-hood. Thus far it is doing well.
The trick is to spread the leaves out and let them dry before you use them as compost. I am thinking of running my through a spice grinder or some such to get a rough powder (about like a tea bag) out of my leaves. It would be better for the soul, but also more of the oils and such that are useful in being compost would be released.
So far I have had the best success with oolong. Black doesn't really seem to help plants a lot, but oolong and green have given various plants on my property a nice boost.
Now, tea leaves and coffee grinds combined. One word sums it up: damn! Good stuff. I usually spread out a large batch of grinds (my family consumes about half a cup of coffee beans every morning- they're big on coffee, for some reason) and let that dry. Then add leaves. Mash it all up, crush it, squeeze it, moisten it, let it sit for a few more days and mix it into some soil a few days before planting something in the area. It is doing really well for me.

[cheeky72]

If you want the actual scientific reason you can go to this site:
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/20 ... .Bt.r.html