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Soil, Compost & Mulch

Is it enough to just throw teabags on top of soil?

6 years ago

Am I correct in thinking that you don’t need to bury teabags if you want to fertilise the soil, or do they need to be buried?

I have a compost bin but would rather use the teabags straight on the garden, so I often empty them out after use on the garden, or sometimes just throw them whole onto the garden hiddden between the plants.

Thanks. Peace.

Featured Answer

floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK

6 years ago

last modified: 6 years ago

It's entirely up to you. If you can live with the appearance of old tea bags on the surface that's fine. Personally mine go on the compost heap with the rest of the contents of the kitchen compost bucket. Here's another thread on the same topic.

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Comments (13)

Paul Jenkins
Original Author
6 years ago
There are that many plants and flowers in the front garden you couldn’t see them if you looked for them. Haha.

Peace
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floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
Well, in that case chuck away. Why make work?
kimmq
6 years ago
Whether that would work depends on how good the soil is. If the soil has an active Soil Food Web those wee buggers will digest the tea bags fairly quickly. However, if thers is little microbial activity in the soilo the tea bags could sit there for a long time and add nothing to the life of the plants.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
The OP says the garden is bursting with plants so there is unlikely to be any problem. A soil would have to be very dry and practically sterile for a teabag not to rot down.
armoured
6 years ago
Whatever works for you. I put teabags in the compost, loose tea swish out the teapot direct onto garden or yard.
toxcrusadr
6 years ago
Watch out for the plastic mesh ones. And even the paper ones, nowadays some of them have plastic fiber mixed in. You'll know when the paper doesn't fully break down. The string, tag and staple should go though.
theparsley
6 years ago
Most teabags have a polypropylene reinforcing mesh under the paper. It doesn't break down and will eventually form into permanent linty balls of gunk. I'm not fond of putting plastic in the soil, so I've switched to loose leaf tea.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
Can't say that 'linty balls of gunk' have featured in my garden despite years of tea bag usage. The box actually tells me to compost them. They don't have tags, string or staples.
blue_skink
6 years ago
Sometimes the tea bags don't break down, or at least some kinds take a good long time. My soil is nice, lots of worms, microbes I'm sure, etc., so there must be some plastic or who-knows-what in there. So, after I make tea and the bags have cooled down, I cut them open and dump the contents into the kitchen waste bucket.
toxcrusadr
6 years ago
I've been throwing them in for years and haven't seen any residues, but we don't drink all that much tea either.
theparsley
6 years ago
https://quartzy.qz.com/1210650/most-of-britains-tea-bags-contain-plastic/

https://www.countryliving.com/uk/create/food-and-drink/news/a3291/plastic-tea-bags-environment/

There is a lot more information available about plastic in tea bags for UK brands, because (1) the UK is much farther along than the US in awareness of plastic waste as a widespread environmental problem and (2) obviously they drink a lot more tea than we do.

In fact, this news just yesterday:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/apr/18/single-use-plastics-could-be-banned-in-england-next-year

It's not immediately apparent to me whether plastic in tea bags is included in this proposed ban. What is apparent is that UK tea brands have been experiencing much more consumer pressure than before and have had to respond to the issue, although some with markedly less enthusiasm than others.
floral_uk z.8/9 SW UK
6 years ago
Yes, there has been recent comment on the very small amount of plastic in teabags but it isn't ever visible in my garden. And the boxes do tell us to compost them. However, Things are changing

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