Growing Camellia Sinensis in the San Francisco Bay Area

Mar 11, 2009 1 Replies

I used to follow this group years ago, and forgot about it until recently.



I am growing two varieties of tea plant in San Francisco proper - an Indian varietal (var Assamica, three years old) and a younger plant from Guangzhou (two years old). Both flowered well in the late Fall through the first weeks of Winter; now I have some new leaves and buds showing.



This is my first year growing them - does anybody have advice on pinching the buds or other husbandry? I'd like to be able to harvest enough for a small stash of homegrown tea, probably trying to do a mix of white/green/oolong/black if I have enough to harvest and brew :-)



Side note: I couldn't find the newsgroup rec.food.grow.tea :-)



Dear Carlo

I too grow a few tea plants in my backyard in the UK to remind me of tea plantations when I am not travelling. Don't expect to get very much more than a taste from two plants if they are in pots - but with care and in the right soil in the ground you might get enough to process after a few years. In the commercial woyrld tea bushes mature after 5-6 years and each full grown bush - a yard across - will give about a pound and a half of green leaf - that's just 5 oz of made tea per year. I've been pruning tea bushes on and off for 30 years. Incidentally flowering is a sign of bad tea husbandry! - but If you let me have photo of your plants I'll gladly give you some guidance.

Nigel at Teacraft

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