A tea tree has grown!

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 ?

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, ...)

How about shading ?

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

Best, Karsten [N 53°13' - E 7°46']

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.

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.

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.

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

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).

The soil in the Darjeeling district (mountain soil) consists of around

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']

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.

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.

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

Here's a place to start:

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 adventure: I say give us more! That, and best of luck.

/Lew