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Tea for me & plants...what the?

I sometimes pop a bit of cold tea (from the pot, of course), into my streptocarpus plants & they seem to love it. I wondered if anyone else does the same or has other tips for house plants. Also find other house plants benefit from a little bit of cold cha every so often.


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  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    I dump my cold green tea into various plants and never had any complaints. Water from a fish tank is the best way to water any house plant or container plant in the garden though
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • Unfortunately I don’t keep fish indoors, do have a pond with goldfish though. I was chatting to a guy from Dibleys, who specialise in streptocarpus, at one of the plant shows and he seemed horrified that put tea on my plants. Good to know I’m not the only one doing it.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,065
    People have thrown the dregs from teapots and their tea leaves on the garden for decades.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • I didn’t know that, I used to put teabags in the compost until I found out the bags had plastic in them.
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Especially beneficial of you have hard water. I now chuck in the contents of a couple of teabags to a watering can when watering roses, following a tip from our rose expert, Marlorena. Also for camelias when I am short of rainwater - which is often.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • My water is very hard, being near Cambridge, and soil is very light. If I can get a rose to grow here I’ll remember that for them. I tried
    2 rose plants and both struggled then they finally gave up.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,065
    You need to work in loads of manure and compost to beef up the soil as roses are hungry plants and also do well in clay soils.  Have you tried them in big pots with enriched compost?
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • barry islandbarry island Posts: 1,846
    My dear old mum had a clematis outside her front door and used to empty the teapot over it every day in dry spells and it thanked her for it.
  • I still hanker first some roses so will try again, particularly like Lady Emma Hamilton and Generous Gardener....not forgetting the manure!
    I’ll never buy Baby Bio again!
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,065
    Generous Gardener has the potential to become quite a large climber so you'll need a great deal of good compost and manure to keep it happy.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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