It’s especially useful if you’ve got very young plants.

We’ve written before about how everything from a paintbrush to a pot full of water can help you look after your garden. 

And now, it seems a cup of chamomile tea may help those with seedlings and young plants.

It can save them from “damping off”, a wilting process which involves fungal pathogens like Pythium and Rhizoctonia. These can sometimes take out an entire tray of young plants in a matter of hours.

Chamomile oil has been found to have properties that could help to ward off unwanted fungi. And another paper found that the plant’s tea is antifungal too.

Per Gardening Know How, those benefits may help to keep damping off at bay.

That’s because, they explain, the drink is high in tannins and compounds like apigenin and chamazulene. 

These contribute to the beverage’s potential fungus-fighting power. And they mimic the same fungicidal process sulphur achieves in plants, but more gently, and in a way that’s delivered straight to the plant’s roots.

Additionally, the tannins could provide a slightly more stressful environment than usual for new spores without affecting your seedling’s growth. 

A word of caution, though. The strongest evidence-based results have come from chamomile oil, and not its weaker, harder-to-titrate tea counterpart. 

Glass Cup Chamomile Tea Surrounded by Fresh White Daisy Flowers on Wooden Background. Herbal Drink with Natural Blooms Creates Peaceful Wellness Scene. (Photo by: Natasha Breen/REDA/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Gardening company Vego Garden shared in a TikTok video that you should take the following steps: 

Brew some chamomile tea and let it cool, 

Spray the mixture over your seedlings to help protect them.

If you like, you can add some cinnamon to the mix, which may be helpful because it contains cinnamaldehyde.

This is another natural antifungal agent, though it might not be as suitable for very young plants, as it’s a little stronger than chamomile.