Tea is a bushy and evergreen plant that is kept at a height of two meters during cultivation to use its leaves. Tea has a strong vertical root. Its flowers are yellow-white and 4-5.2 cm in diameter and have 7-8 petals. The leaves are 4-15 cm long. Fresh leaves have 4% caffeine.
Young and bright green leaves are suitable for tea production. The back of these leaves is slightly hairy. Older leaves are darker. Since the chemical composition of leaves changes during growth, the age of leaves can affect the quality of tea. Usually, leaf buds and two-three primary leaves are suitable.
Tea is usually cultivated in areas with 125 cm of rainfall per year and in tropical and subtropical regions. High quality tea is obtained when the plant is grown at higher altitudes (1500 meters). In these areas, growth is slow and the leaves taste better.
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Ecological conditions suitable for growing tea
Herbal tea is acidic and grows better at a pH of about 4.5-5.5. Because tea needs a lot of Aluminum and Manganese, it grows better in acidic soils. Tea prefers light soils rich in organic matter and needs a lot of soil moisture, and at the same time, soil permeability and proper drainage are important. The ideal texture for growing tea is sandy loam to loam.
Research shows that the net photosynthesis of tea leaves increases steadily with increasing temperature, up to 35 degrees and then sharply decreases and stops when the leaf temperature reaches 40 degrees. It has been proven that the temperature of the soil has an effect on the growth rate of tea and as a result the yield of tea plants. The ideal temperature of the soil in the area of the feeding root is 20-25 degrees Celsius.
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The climate is suitable for growing tea
The tea plant is one of the plants of the humid tropical regions, that is, in the regions where the heat usually never reaches zero degrees and the annual rainfall is around 1800 to 2000 mm. This plant is resistant to cold to some extent, and thus, if the cold is accompanied by snow, it can withstand up to 5 degrees of cold, so that the snow covers the bushes.
The only factor limiting the area of tea planting, besides the type of soil, is air humidity and the amount of annual rainfall in the planting area. The high humidity required by the tea plant is more in the humidity of the air than the humidity in the soil. In this sense, the ground must be moist. Heavy and swampy lands are not good for planting and giving crops. Excess moisture around the root causes it to rot and destroys the plant.
The soil is suitable for growing tea
The tea plant is a plant that escapes lime, so in terms of chemical reaction, tea should be planted in sour (acidic) soils. The soil acidity limit for this product is around 5.5, and whenever the pH exceeds or falls below this value, the soil acidity level should be increased to 5.5 with appropriate tools. When the acidity of the soil becomes more than this amount, they correct the acidity of the soil by giving alkaline fertilizers or mixing lime in the right amount.
Whenever the pH is higher than this value, by mixing some sulfur dust which may reach 600 kilos per hectare, they increase the acidity of the soil to the required level. The most suitable soil for planting tea is sandy and clay soils without lime or any other alkaline material that has a large amount of humus.
Tea plant fertilization
Nitrogen fertilizers are used more than any other type of fertilizers. In addition to nitrogen fertilizers, all nitrogen, phosphorus and potash salts are also necessary to strengthen the plant. Soil chemicals are also considered green manure. In addition to producing humus and giving a significant amount of nitrogen to the earth, green manure also protects the leaves of tea plants from burning in the sun in the summer when the sun is hot.
Planting tea in gardens and pots
Propagation of the tea plant is by seeds, laying branches, cuttings, or boils, but the best practical way to propagate tea is to plant seeds in the main place, especially in the treasury, and using other methods is almost not cost-effective. You have to be very careful in choosing tea seeds, just like the soil, because high-quality eggs have a great impact on having good seedlings.
In order to prepare good seeds, special plants should be trained and their leaves should not be picked because it is not possible to harvest both leaves and seeds from the same plant, and if they want to lay eggs, they should leave its leaves and if they want to pick leaves, they should He also gave up the egg. By following these methods, both the tea and the seed obtained will be good and flawless.
To prepare good eggs, you should do the same thing that is common in the countries of the world today. In this way, tea seeds are planted directly in the original place two meters apart from each other without planting them in the treasury first and then they are thinned so that the distance between the plants is 4-6 meters from each other and usually to The trees that are planted to produce eggs are not fertilized and they are not pruned.
Only once in a while, the ground is plowed and weeded until the plants are strong and the season of flowering and fruiting will come at the age of 8 years. Their flowers are usually large, and the trees will give maximum eggs at the age of 15-20 years, which is equal to 185 kilos.
It should be known that tree seeds from this age onwards are unhealthy and of poor quality and should be avoided. According to the experiments and tests that have been carried out, it is better to choose seeds from 10-12-year-old trees for sowing, and in order to know good seeds from bad, the best way is to put the seeds in ten percent salt water. In this case, good, healthy, heavy and seeded eggs will settle and those that are hollow and light will remain on the surface of the water, which should be thrown away and abandoned.
The spawning time depends on the temperature and climate of different regions. If in China it is from the beginning of January, in Assam it is December and in Ceylon it is April. But in Iran, egg laying is usually from the end of October to the middle of December.
Tea flowering
Unlike most trees, the tea plant flowers twice a year, one in the spring, when the fruits of its flowers ripen in mid-autumn and produce tea seeds, and the other in the fall, when the flowers fall without fruit.
Tea fruit
At first, the tea fruit is bright green and after it ripens, it turns green mixed with red, and at this time it should be picked and spread in a suitable place so that the skin of the fruit rots and the seed is separated from it.
They do not pile the seeds on top of each other, because in this case, it ferments and becomes rotten and becomes oily, and if it is not picked from the bush on time (Mehr-Azer-D), it falls to the ground and rots due to the absorption of moisture from the ground. Tea seeds that are inside the fruit for some time are stored in a place for a while before planting so that it ripens well.
The potency of tea seeds is not very high, and like the potency of dates, coffee, and cocoa seeds, it is very little and in a short period of time, it will be blown away and thin, so that it will no longer be able to germinate.
Tea seeds
Tea seeds cannot be cultivated immediately after being picked from the tree, and they should be carefully stored in a suitable place for a while, and because the vital force of tea seeds is preserved in a relatively humid place, therefore, in order to prevent the loss of the vital force, the seeds are put in special boxes and In the meantime, it is possible to protect tea seeds for up to six months. The tea seed to be planted must be healthy, strong and free from any disease and must be selected from strong healthy plants especially for seeds because as a result of choosing good and healthy seeds and according to many tests that have been carried out from a tea garden for a period of 30 to 50 years It can be used well.
Cultivation of tea in plains
The purpose of drainage is to maintain soil moisture to the level of balance and to direct excess water beyond the tea plant’s needs outside the garden area. Usually after torrential rains, existing drainage plays an important role in removing excess water. By means of drainage, the level of underground water can be lowered to a centimeter below the soil level, in this way the roots of tea are saved from suffocation due to high humidity. The best way of drainage in tea cultivation is to build and create open channels.
Drainage not only aerates the soil and increases the permeability and water holding power in the soil, but also minimizes the root depth. In plains areas, the land is divided according to its elevation and height, and they use level lines for cultivation. Crop rows should be from east to west. After the growth of the plant, their shade between the rows prevents direct sunlight.
Tea making in steep mountain areas
In mountainous areas, after ensuring the fertility of the land, the following necessary operations should be performed.
- 1- Checking the elevation and elevation of the land.
- 2- Prepare a map of the whole land and determine parallel lines.
- 3- Construction of small streams along parallel lines.
In order to remove excess water from the ground in order to prevent soil erosion, the distance between two streams should be about 3 meters. If the groundwater level is lower than cm. After determining the parallel lines and digging the streams, you should proceed to prepare rows of tea plantations. The rows should be built parallel to the streams but perpendicular to the slope of the land.
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