Tea for tannins

[FarmerDave]

Can one use green tea for tannins to increase the color of their sarrs?
What about just soaking a bunch of maple or oak leaves? Or pine needles?

 

[b.t.]

I think it has to be black tea. But all processed tea contains other chemicals to clean the tea for human consumption and treat it , which might not be so good for CPs.

 

[FarmerDave]

I know that pine needles are acidic so if I were to line the bottom of a minibog with it would that aid in supplying tannins and acidity?

 

[Not a Number]

Green tea is low in tannins. Black tea is made by crushing the fresh tea leaves and oxidizing (usually called fermenting but it is not a fermentation process) for several hours and then dried. The leaves turn black from the tannins. Uncrushed leaves yield...green tea.

There should be no additives with good quality tea. Decaffinated is a different matter.

I don't know if pine needles etc are high in tannins.

I think the experimentations by other forum members indicate "peat tea" seems to yield the most noticable results. Do a forum search on "peat tea".

 

[Av8tor1]

Oak is very high in tannic acid, it use to be the main source for the tanning of leather

tea tannins vs. tannic acid


Av

 

[Firerock]

Hi,
Look for my article at the top of the page under Sarracenia it may help.

Regards



GROWLIST

 

[Not a Number]

Thanks for the clarification, Av8tor1.

Speaking of clarification I should mention the tannins in black tea are formed during the oxidation process.

And it appears that peat bogs can contain tannic acids - not from the Sphagnum itself but rather trees surrounding or in the bog areas. In the case of Volo Bog in Illinois, these come from the needles of the Tamarack or American Larch trees ("THE Larch... THE Larch..." for Monty Python fans). Whether or not all pine needles contain tannic acids I could not say.

http://jove.geol.niu.edu/faculty/fischer/429_info/429trips/volo_bog/Content/Site 2.htm

 

[Av8tor1]

I believe there is a whole family of closely related tannins.... they may all work equally well. However, it seems like the ideal source would be from the indigenous flora that normally makes up the organic matter in the CP's native environment

probably more complex then any one individual chemical or trace nutrient


but then again I dunno

 

[b.t.]

Green tea is low in tannins. Black tea is made by crushing the fresh tea leaves and oxidizing (usually called fermenting but it is not a fermentation process) for several hours and then dried. The leaves turn black from the tannins. Uncrushed leaves yield...green tea.

There should be no additives with good quality tea. Decaffinated is a different matter.

I don't know if pine needles etc are high in tannins.

I think the experimentations by other forum members indicate "peat tea" seems to yield the most noticable results. Do a forum search on "peat tea".

The only difficulty I find with brewing peat tea, is once you are done, the peat has been leached and it's not so useful anymore for the cps. What do you do with that sort of peat then?

 

[Clint]

Add some perlite and Osmocoat. Boom, you have those fancy pre-made mixes for houseplants.

 

[mabudon]

Up North of where I live, in S.purpurea ssp. purpurea country, there are lakes and rivers where the water is literally stained brown from Tannins released from Tamarack trees, mostly, might be a good ingredient in such a "tea" if you had access to them