The following advice will assist you to successfully grow young, potted tea plants (Camellia sinensis). Older, established potted tea plants are not as fragile and can be planted straight into the garden if required (see below).
Propagating tea plants from seed requires a slightly different approach.
Propagating tea plants from seed requires a slightly different approach.
POTTED TEA PLANTS
- As soon as your tea plants arrive home, give them a good water to help them recover from their trip in the mail or car, and place in a semi-shaded position overnight.
- Place tea plants in a sheltered area that receives dappled light or partial shade. Do not place the young tea plants in full sun!! They require dappled light or early morning sun for at least a month while their roots recover and develop.
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- Regular watering with good drainage remains important.
- Tea plants can be successfully grown in large containers as small shrubs (they require at least six hours of sunlight a day and protection from frost), or eventually transplanted out into the garden and either kept as a shrub or grown into a tree.
PLANTING TEA PLANTS
- Your tea plants should be fine to transplant into the garden (if desired) after they are at least 50cm tall (excluding root ball), when their roots and vascular system are more developed. They must still be kept moist.
- Avoid transplanting in summer in hot areas as even with mulch, it is hard to keep the tea plants moist while they recover.
- Prepare the soil by digging in plenty of well-rotted cow, sheep, goat or alpaca manure to about 50-60cm deep. Dig a planting hole at least double the width of the pot and at least twice as deep, re-filling with the conditioned soil after centering the tea plant.
- Do not plant the tea plant too deep-keep the root mass about 5-8cm above ground level to allow water and oxygen to reach the roots, and cover with mulch.
- If planting a hedge, leave about a metre between plants. It will take at least two-three years to fill in so a better option may be to plant a staggered hedge, with two layers of tea plants to fill in the gaps quicker (and produce more tea for your family later on).
CARE AND MAINTENANCE
MULCH
WATER
MULCH
- Mulching is imperative-it provides moisture and temperature regulation and protects the roots, as well as inhibiting weed growth. Apply at least a 5cm deep layer of wood chip, pine bark or sugarcane mulch, hay or lucerne.
- Do not use alkaline products like mushroom compost or chicken manure, or fresh lawn clippings, which can heat up and release harmful ammonia.
WATER
- Tea plants develop extensive root systems close to the surface, and also send roots deep into the soil if possible-sometimes up to three metres down.
- Water newly planted tea plants well and keep them moist (well drained soil) until their roots develop and move into the surrounding soil, then a deep watering twice weekly should be sufficient.
- Established tea plants can withstand short periods of drought, but are susceptible to sun scald if there are extended dry conditions and sunny weather, so water tea plants regularly during dry weather.
- An adequate watering regime will ensure your tea plants produce healthy quantities of new leaf growth, flowers and seeds.
FERTILISER
PRUNING
- Fertilise two months after planting with a commercial preparation of Camellia/ Azalea food. DO NOT OVERFEED. More tea plants die from over fertilising (and over-watering) than neglect. Established tea plants can be fertilised immediately after flowering, usually late Winter or early Spring, which coincides with the natural growth spurts of the tea plant.
- If desired, a dose of a 12 month slow/ controlled release Camellia/ Azalea fertiliser could be applied in Spring, before new flower buds form and while fresh tea leaves are appearing. Reapply new mulch, mix the fertiliser in with it and water in well.
PRUNING
- Tea plants obviously respond well to pruning, since on a tea plantation the new leaf growth is removed every few weeks to process into tea. On a commercial tea plantation, the tea plants are cut back hard every three or four years, to the point they look brown and dead, and yet they produce wonderful new spring growth in just a few weeks.
- In a garden situation, tea plants can be pruned in winter to whatever height or shape is preferred, or not pruned and allowed to grow into large shrubs or trees.
PESTS AND DISEASES
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