This Little Bag You Always Throw Away Is Actually A Better Way To Fertilize Your Plants Without Harsh Chemicals

It's quite remarkable the way that photosynthesis works, allowing plants to create their own food from what they take out of the air and water. For some plants, that's all they need. But if you have potted or heavy feeding plants, they might require a little extra food to provide them with all the nutrients necessary for healthy growth. There's no shortage of commercial fertilizers available, but some people prefer avoiding harsh chemicals, especially on edible plants. In this case, a homemade fertilizer made by repurposing kitchen scraps can be preferable and cost effective. Fortunately, if you're a green tea drinker, you have the solution in your used tea bag.

Even after brewing, green tea leaves contain some of the important macronutrients found in other fertilizers, such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Green tea is a good source of nitrogen in particular. The quantities aren't as high as other synthetic fertilizers, but tea bags are perfect for plants that just need a gentle boost, or those that can be damaged by too much fertilizer at once.

Burying whole tea bags next to your plants provides a slow release of these nutrients, as well as helping to maintain a balance of moisture in the soil around the roots. The only caveat is that you must make sure the bag itself doesn't contain any plastics or synthetic materials in the mesh. Look for the term "compostable" on the packaging. Otherwise, examine the tea bag itself — those that contain plastics often have a shiny appearance or slippery feel, and may have heat-sealed edges rather than a staple closure. Compostable bags will also tear easily, while those containing plastic won't.

Burying individual green tea bags can be a handy way to get rid of the trash after making your daily cup of tea, and easy enough if you're just fertilizing indoor plants. Should you want to give the whole garden a boost, there are some more efficient ways to make use of spent tea bags. For those composting at home, it's simplest to just add them to the heap. It won't reach your plants immediately of course, but it will improve the quality of the compost in the long term. Again, make sure that the tea bags are compostable and that you remove any strings or staples.

If the bags are not compostable (or if you're a fan of loose green tea), you can empty them from their steeping vessel and use the spent tea leaves as mulch on top of the soil around the plants. For this, you might want to save up your leaves until you have enough for decent coverage; in which case you should dry them out to prevent the growth of mold. Top dressing with tea leaves will add helpful nutrients, but will also make the soil more acidic, so avoid it with plants that need alkaline soils. This is the same reason not all plants love coffee grounds.

For more nutrient boosting, you can combine green tea with another everyday ingredient to make a powerful soil fertilizer. Add 1 tablespoon of oats and the contents of a tea bag to 2 cups of boiling water and let the mix steep for an hour, according to this recipe posted on TikTok. Once cooled and strained, it can be used as a liquid fertilizer.