How do You Feed Your Plants??
By Marja
@buenavida (9985)
Sweden
4 responses
@pureguitarfury (54)
• United States
1 May 07
I too use tea for my plants. I'm glad to see someone else does this, as I was hoping it wasn't something odd that I just did. I also use an organic fertilizer that I picked up from lowes.
My main food source however, is aquarium water. When I clean my fish tank, I use the water on my plants, the excess, I simply bottle and use later. This works out well, as I clean the tank once a week, and remember to water the majority of the plants that need it.
@buenavida (9985)
• Sweden
3 May 07
Thanks for the idea, have never thought about it. I have no aquarium but if I get one, I would definitely give the water to my plants.
1 person likes this
@pureguitarfury (54)
• United States
3 May 07
It's great for several reasons.
1.) Your not "wasting" water. By that I mean, your utilizing it for all it's worth. Once for the aquarium, and then secondly for the plants, thus saving your water bill.
2.) The water you take out contains nitrogenous waste from the fish, which will be converted to nitrogen in your plant pots by good bacteria that will then fertilize your plants, thus saving you again. (I still use a fertilizer though, as mentioned earlier.)
3.) The water is chlorine free, and free of other harmful metals. You've pretreated it with chemical remover when it was introduced to the tank, therefore it's "safer" for your plants. You don't have to worry about that white calcium, or the nasty brown build-up on the surface of your soil/potting medium because of the minerals in the tap water.
So all in all, it's a win/win situation. Been working for me for over a year now, and I sure wish I would have thought of it sooner! All my plants are really flourishing with this method.
Hopefully in time you'll have a chance to try it. If you have any other tips, I'd sure love to hear them!
1 person likes this
@buenavida (9985)
• Sweden
6 May 07
I can imagine your plants must love this sort of treatment. This idea could be published in plant books or on some homepage or blog about growing plants.
1 person likes this
@coolseeds (3919)
• United States
7 Mar 08
I use what ever. Left over coffee or tea goes on the flower bed. I'll make leaf teas during the summer. I have a compost area and a spot where I collect worm castings. Bloodmeal, bonemeal and green sand are 3 good organics items that I use available at most hardware stores.
I don't have a recipe and nothing it set in stone. I just add more of what is need such as nitrogen during the string.
Sometimes I use ammonia for nitrogen and add H. peroxide to the water to oxygenate it.
1 person likes this
@buenavida (9985)
• Sweden
8 Mar 08
Hi, cooseeds, you seem to have a lot of experience. I hope your plants will grow and flourish this spring and summer.
@squrrly26 (556)
• United States
6 May 07
I use some homemade plant food that I found a recipe for. The recipe is....
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon household ammonia
1 tablespoon epson salt
1 teaspoon salt
Mix this all up in a gallon of water.
This plant food does really well. My plants are really flourishing with it.
1 person likes this
@buenavida (9985)
• Sweden
27 May 07
That is interesting, at least it must be rather cheap plant food..:)
Wish you many beautiful plants this summer!!
@kevsgirlalways (5883)
• Malaysia
5 May 07
hehe you sound like my mom! she uses tea for our plants too. i use organic fertiliser lol...
1 person likes this
@buenavida (9985)
• Sweden
6 May 07
This is wonderful, I never thought this was so commonly used method.
