I just recently purchased a home and as a cool bonus it has a small
greenhouse attached. I have been a grower of Bonsai trees for almost a
decade now, but I wanted to try my hand at some new things. So a while
back I was embarking on the process of attempting to grow my own tea
tree's (Camilia Sinensis). I planted four of the surprisingly large
chick-pea sized seeds and one has not only sprouted but is growing at
an amazing clip! I will follow with photo's because it is pretty cool
to see, once I get home from work today.

Now, I began thinking of all sorts of things that hadn't occurred to me
up till now. What type of soil should I grow it in, a large difference
in the taste of tea comes from environmental factors such as soil,
rainfall, etc. Any thoughts? I don't expect anyone to be an expert on
the growing side of things, but to hear some of the conditions where
certain tea is grown would help decide. I also figured with Karsten
being right at the source, I might be able to get some insight as to
things like fertilizers and whatnot... I kind of plan on not using any
chemical fertilizers as I tend to stay natural with my plants but again
any info would be useful in deciding balances.

I have about 12 more seeds still and if the germination rate is about
25% I should get 3 or 4 more trees to grow. Now I just need to wait a
few years and I can share some of the first flush.

- Dominic
Drinking: Numi Jasmine Green Pearls

I tried this a few months ago and it was a miserable failure. I still have some seeds though, so I may give it another go.

Bill

Tea Guy Speaks
http://wileng.blogspot.com/

Tea Industry News
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/teaindustrynews/

wrote:
Hey Dominic,
please let me know what kind of seeds you have and where they are from
(China, India, ...) ?
What altitude do you live at ?
How do you prepare the seeds for planting ? Ever tried soaking them in
diluted sulfuric acid before planting ?

I have not tried sulfuric acid, I will look into it though. I generally
grow from cuttings/nursery stock/or if by seed they are more normal
seeds than the woody large tea seeds. I live in Pennsylvania, near
Pittsburgh. I have carefully controlled growing conditions with a
fluorescant grow light and heat pad for indoor sowing. Once they are
hardened off they will go into the greenhouse. The seeds came from
seedrack.com, so I do not know their exact origin.

No need to use any fert., once your plants made it through their
nursery phase (~ 15-20cm tall) I´d go for a little compost (earth,
ashes, clippings, water) and wait what happens. After a while you´ll
see if there are any deficiencies (sickle leaves, yellowing, yadda
yadda, ...)

I was mainly interested in figuring out any special soil/fertilizer
that is used in key tea growing countries (such as Darjeeling). Even
just a basic analysis of how the soil there is, sandy, clay, loose,
hard, etc. It affects the taste of the tea to a small degree, so I was
aiming for a solution that would not adversely affect the flavor or
possibly enhance it.

one has not only sprouted but is growing at an amazing clip!
How about shading ?

It isn't growing spindly or weak, it is very stout and strong, just
growing very quickly with new leaves appearing often... it is just very
happy.

As soon as I´m back in Darjeeling I could send you some very special
seeds for your collection if you´re interested.

It would be greatly appreciated, and I would be happy to reimburse you
or barter for your troubles. I was not 100% satisfied with
seedrack.com, and while I would like to get more seeds I didn't want to
order more from them.

Thanks for the great reply, and maybe you can give me some inside
scoop... like when it would be appropriate to pick leaves, how many
years the tree needs to mature first, or any other tips.

- Dominic

Tea Guy wrote:
I tried this a few months ago and it was a miserable failure. I still
have some seeds though, so I may give it another go.

Bill

Hey Bill,

I'd give er another go. It took me a long time to become successful
with greenery, and in the process I took down a 30+ year old bonsai
that was worth about as much as my car and was like a friend. Not a
whole heck of a lot could be worse than that, so I wouldn't give up
yet.

From what I have read and researched, camelia is not that hard to grow.
The germination rate is a bit low, but other than that it shouldn't be
much more difficult than growing anything else. What went wrong for
you?

- Dominic

Dominic wrote:
It isn't growing spindly or weak, it is very stout and strong, just growing very quickly with new leaves appearing often... it is just very
happy.

Dominic, what do you want your tea plants to be like ? Let me name 3
extremes, productivity monsters (prune, prune, prune, like in
Darjeeling), natural grown monsters (no pruning, like in SW-China and
elsewhere) or bonsais ?
If you´re heading for productivity it´s maybe time for the the first
steps to stimulate lateral growth in that happy plant (debudding,
pegging, bending, blah).

I was mainly interested in figuring out any special soil/fertilizer that is used in key tea growing countries (such as Darjeeling).

The soil in the Darjeeling district (mountain soil) consists of around
30% clay (read aluminum), then comes fine silt, silt, coarse and fine
sand. It´s relatively rich in organic matter and nitrogen. The use of
fertilizers in the production of tea is a science of its own, but the
first step is the recycling of the prunings.

... like when it would be appropriate to pick leaves
I´d start to harvest the flush (2 leaves + bud) as soon as the plant
has been a bit "shaped"(see above), as it can help to promote lateral
growth, just leave the maintenance leaves untouched.

Karsten [N 53°13' - E 7°46']

wrote:
Dominic, what do you want your tea plants to be like ? Let me name 3
extremes, productivity monsters (prune, prune, prune, like in
Darjeeling), natural grown monsters (no pruning, like in SW-China and
elsewhere) or bonsais ?
If you´re heading for productivity it´s maybe time for the the first
steps to stimulate lateral growth in that happy plant (debudding,
pegging, bending, blah).

Somewhere between the first and second options. I do plan on creating a
few bonsai's for sale once I learn the species, but that will be a few
years off. I have had some interest expressed in that, and I would like
one also since it is very uncommon.

My understanding of the species is pretty small and it is pretty cool
to see tea in this new angle, but I have a lot of reading and learning
to do. The tree itself seems pretty gangly and more like a bush than a
tree. I was unaware that I am shooting for lateral growth, but it makes
sense.

The soil in the Darjeeling district (mountain soil) consists of around
30% clay (read aluminum), then comes fine silt, silt, coarse and fine
sand. It´s relatively rich in organic matter and nitrogen. The use of
fertilizers in the production of tea is a science of its own, but the
first step is the recycling of the prunings.

I figured it would be clay and sand for the most part, and I have
started the plants in a more compact seed starting mix so that no
oxygen gets to the roots... but I will be hardening them off and moving
them to a clay/sand/peat/coarse type mix since that seems reasonable.
Your help here is invaluable to me, and I really appreciate it.

... like when it would be appropriate to pick leaves
I´d start to harvest the flush (2 leaves + bud) as soon as the plant...

I was not aware of "maintenance leaves" but I will read up on that. I
figure a couple years will be needed at least before even attempting to
pick a few leaves for a very small cup. I did come across a couple
great websites with info on drying and processing tea into the
different types (oolong/green/black) and I'm sure there would be more
people to talk with if I were somewhere like CA where a number of
people grow them... but in PA I'm pretty sure I'm in very limited
company of tea growers

Your insight is wonderful, and I really appreciate it since I know this
is not *exactly* what this NG is for... but you are as close to an
expert as I am likely to find with first-hand knowledge.

Thanks a million!
- Dominic
Drinking: nothing yet unfortunately

"Dominic T." writes:

[...]

I was not aware of "maintenance leaves" but I will read up on that.

Here's a place to start:

http://www.dtrdc.org/cultivation.htm

There's actually a fair amount of technical literature on tea
cultivation. I picked up a couple of books in Calcutta last year, but
I don't know how easy it is to find this stuff in the USA.

Regarding the ontopicity of your tea cultivation adventu I say give
us more! That, and best of luck.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin /
http://www.panix.com/~perin/babelcarp.html