Why Gardeners Are Watering Their Plants With Chamomile Tea – And How to Do It

Chamomile has a secret power that many gardeners don’t realize. The herb is popular for flower beds, wildflower gardens, containers, and alternative lawns, and is commonly used in food, cosmetics, and herbal teas. What is less well-known about chamomile, though, is that it can be used as a homemade antifungal treatment.

Many gardeners who grow chamomile may pick flowers to brew a cup of soothing tea for themselves. Why not make some for your plants too? It might surprise you, but a diluted chamomile tea offers a natural preventative treatment for fungal diseases that may affect container plants and seedlings.

Chamomile is an easy herb to grow at home. A pack of chamomile seeds (you can get German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) seeds at Burpee) is a small investment for delicate, attractive daisy-like flowers you can use fresh or dried to brew to help you relax and sleep better and to make chamomile tea for plants to benefit from.

Harness the Natural Benefits of Chamomile Tea for Plants

Chamomile contains natural active compounds that have mild antifungal properties. Its tannic acids and compounds are most powerful when harnessed in essential oils. A herbal tea still contains them, albeit in a weaker form, but it can be enough to combat fungal issues that routinely damage plants.

The best way for gardeners to utilize the beneficial properties of chamomile tea for plants is to use it to prevent damping off. This common fungal disease affects seedlings and causes them to collapse and die. Damping off is usually common in spring, and you can quickly lose an entire tray.

Lightly watering seedlings with a weak brew of chamomile tea once a week combats the fungus that routinely causes damping off and keeps your seedlings safe. If you do spot the early signs of mold on seedlings, brew a fresh batch to stop the issue in its tracks and protect your early-season sowings.

Chamomile tea can also be used as a DIY natural antifungal treatment outside in the garden, especially when container plants transition from hot weather to large downpours.

Mark Dwelly, Head Gardener at Audley Stanbridge Earls, claims that container plants with dry foliage and roots are left ‘extremely vulnerable to fungal attacks’ when rain strikes, and brewing a chamomile tea can save them from harm.

‘Before predicted downpours arrive, brew a strong bucket of chamomile tea, let it cool completely, and pour it around the base of your potted plants,’ explains the experienced gardener.

‘Chamomile is a natural, mild fungicide rich in tannic acid; it acts like a stress-reliever for the root system, preventing damping off and root rot when cold rainwater suddenly floods the container.’

This quick job when preparing a yard for rain – a much-needed relief after summer heatwaves – is worth adding to a summer gardening checklist to prevent your potted plants from a nasty shock.

Growing Tips for Chamomile

German chamomile and common chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile) are the most commonly grown types of chamomile that gardeners cultivate to grow their own herbal tea.

German chamomile plants are taller with larger blooms, while common chamomile is lower-growing and has smaller flowers. However, common chamomile (also known as Roman chamomile – you can get seeds at True Leaf Market) is a perennial plant compared to the annual German chamomile.

You can sow seeds indoors in spring into pots filled with seed compost (you can get bags of organic seed starting soil at Burpee) and transplant the seedlings outdoors into a sunny spot after the risk of frosts. This can be in a flower bed, herb garden, raised bed, or in pots as part of a container garden.

To make a chamomile tea for plants, pick young flowers throughout the summer blooming period. By picking and deadheading blooms (use a pair of pruning snips like these from Amazon), you’ll encourage lots more flowers and more harvests. You can use these flowers fresh or dried to make tea.

What to Shop

Chamomile lawns have been around for centuries, but they are seeing a resurgence in recent years. More gardeners are starting to grow chamomile lawns as an alternative to high-maintenance turf to take advantage of the beauty that comes with a mat of fragrant foliage. Such a lawn also needs less water, no mowing, and supports lots of pollinators.

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