Growing tea in Siberia. Growing. Tea bush from cuttings

In this article, we will talk a little about the technology of growing tea and the best conditions for obtaining a high-quality drink.

There is not a single person in the world who has never drunk at least a cup of this magnificent drink. Now there are a great many varieties of it, but there are not so many classifications. The most popular are Puer, Oolong, Green tea, red, white and related. Each of these varieties is unique in its taste properties and effect on the body.

If you do not know where to buy Chinese tea in Moscow, visit our website and choose the drink you like. We offer high quality and at fairly low prices. We deliver in Moscow and other nearby regions.

So let's get back to the technologies by which tea leaves are grown for various varieties of tea. The first thing they do is plant cuttings (mostly semi-lignified, but one-year-old or two-year-old seedlings, usually expelled from seeds, can also be used). If the conditions are most favorable for growing tea, then the seeds can be laid at a depth of 4-5 cm, watering should be watered abundantly. The harvest of the first leaves can be removed only after 4-5 years, after the planting itself. Basically, the tea bushes themselves are actively pruned all this time (this is called molding). This is all done in order to prevent them from growing in height, but to stimulate an increase in the growth of lateral shoots. You can buy tea in Moscow grown on the best plantations directly from China from us.

The tea plantation looks like this: as a rule, these are several rows of bushes, the height of which is 1 - 1.5 m, between each row there is a passage, the width of which is also 1 - 1.5 m. The largest crop, the main supply of tea leaves, grows to 50 or 60 years old. But we also note that in some provinces bushes can produce leaves perfectly even up to 90 or 100 years.

Under the best conditions, tea can grow up to 100 cm in one year, conditions that are very difficult to create and maintain.

The most important condition for growth is warm summers and autumns, the average temperature should not drop from 20 degrees, as well as cold winters, with temperatures not exceeding +10 ... -3 degrees.

If such a regimen is not observed, then tea bushes will not only be exposed to many diseases, but will also lose most of their ability to actively grow, in other words, they will simply stop growing. All this is due to the fact that active vegetation in tea has a short period, that is, the time when new leaves and young shoots grow for the most part, if we talk about the duration of such a period, then this is no more than 4 weeks during the spring season. (Of course, if conditions allow, then tea can actively vegetate throughout the year, but the quality and quantity of shoots are not so high. In the germination of tea bushes, long periods of summer and winter hibernation are also noted. But unlike winter, during summer hibernation bushes can produce flowers, seeds ripen, and there is also a slight growth of shoots and their coarsening.

The concentration of such substances, for example, as aromatics, has a direct dependence on the duration of daylight hours and a sufficient amount of sunlight. If there is not enough light and sun, then the taste of the tea will most likely become grassy, and the tea itself will become coarser and not have a strong aroma.

Nowadays, it is enough to simply buy tea in Moscow, but not all sellers can guarantee the quality, but we work directly with the best Chinese producers.

The soil should be moist, and at the same time sufficiently drained, the water should not stagnate. Acidic, loose and light soil allows tea to grow with the highest quality. Most often, tea plantations have, so to speak, steps on the mountain slopes, this makes it possible to achieve the best drainage of the soil.

Equally important is the cleanliness and humidity of the surrounding air. Since tea bushes are very sensitive to various air pollution, in an unfavorable environment, the bush will start to hurt, the number of grown shoots will immediately decrease, the bushes will simply begin to bend.

Do not forget about the height at which tea plantations should be located. It has long been proven that it is impossible to grow high-quality tea on plantations located below 1500 m above sea level. In some experiments, it was proved that if there is a sharp temperature contrast in the mountains, then the vegetation process will proceed much more slowly. It will be possible to harvest two, sometimes three crops per year, but the aroma and saturation of the leaves will be higher. If we compare highland and lowland teas, then the advantage of highland teas is that they are more fragrant and of higher quality, while lowland teas turn out to be grassy.

High-quality varieties are not so easy to find in our markets, so we offer to buy tea in Moscow from our company, which has been cooperating with China for a long time, whose plantations are located high in the mountains.

If all of the above conditions are met, then the process will be much easier. All that remains is to cut the bushes (to prevent them from growing more than 15 m) and harvest. The bushes should be cut once every 1 - 3 months, yes, tea grows quite quickly.

Lower quality tea can be harvested every two weeks, but elite high-quality varieties - no more than 2-4 times a year. The tea of the highest category is considered to be the one that is made from the leaves of the first harvest, since the quality decreases with each new harvest.

The choice is yours! Do you want to drink a drink of good quality and having the best aroma and taste, or are you ready to be content with a simpler drink. We are glad to offer you only good tea and not at inflated prices. You can buy tea in Moscow or order delivery at any convenient time for you.

Despite the amazing variety of tea varieties, they are all obtained from the leaves of the same plant - Chinese camellia (Camellia sinensis). Back in 1843, the English traveler botanist Robert Fortune found that the difference between black tea and green tea lies in the processing technology of raw materials, and not in the use of different botanical tea tree species.

And yet, the question that tea has only one type caused a lot of scientific controversy at one time. In the 20s of the 19th century, thickets of giant tea trees were discovered in the Indian jungle, which outwardly differed greatly from the tea bushes growing in China. It was then that the theory of the existence of a single type of tea tree was called into question. The problem was helped to solve the work on the study of the wild flora of China. Chinese botanists managed to discover huge arrays of wild tea in the highlands of southwestern China - in the provinces of Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou.

In 1962, the famous Soviet biochemist K. M. Dzhemukhadze presented scientific evidence that tea comes from Yunnan and that the Yunnan variety of tea is the primary one. Thus, scientists were able to establish that tea has only one type (although under natural conditions it can have both a tree-like and shrub form), and tea thickets found in India and the countries of Indo-China are only the remains of wild trees that have survived from former settlements. This point of view is now generally accepted.

tea countries

Today, tea is cultivated on an industrial scale in more than 30 countries of the world, although Asia has been and remains the main tea-producing region.

Countries where world-famous tea varieties are grown:

China. The spread of tea around the world began with China. It was here that tea culture began to emerge several millennia ago: the Chinese were the first to discover the tea tree and the first to cultivate it. They used tea not only as a medicine, but also consumed it as a drink. It was in China that the very word “tea” arose, and here the most ancient monuments of material culture dedicated to tea were discovered. Known for its wide range of teas and exquisite collection varieties, China is still one of the largest tea producers in the world.
India. Probably, tea seeds were brought from China to India by Buddhist pilgrims at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia. However, on a large scale, the Indians began to cultivate tea only in the second half of the 18th century. Thanks to the British, the Indian colony eventually turned into a real tea empire.
Sri Lanka. The tea tree was brought from China to the island of Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon) in 1824, but the first tea plantations appeared here somewhat later - in 1867.
Japan. In Japan, the seeds of Chinese tea came at the very beginning of the 9th century - they were brought here by a Buddhist monk. At first, plants were planted only in Shiga Prefecture, and later - in the central and southern regions of the country.
Indonesia. Tea seeds were brought to the island of Java back in the 80s of the 17th century. However, industrial production of tea was organized here only at the end of the 19th century, when the Dutch began to cultivate tea plants from Assam in Java.
A number of African countries (Kenya, Malawi, Cameroon, Tanzania). In African countries, tea culture began to be cultivated by Europeans (English and German colonialists) in the second half of the 19th - first half of the 20th century.

How long does tea last?

Tea is a perennial plant that can be hundreds of years old. For example, in the Chinese province of Yunnan, on the territory of the Ailaoshan mountain range, the oldest tea tree in the world was found, whose approximate age is 2700 years. However, the lifespan of a typical plantation-grown tea tree is certainly much shorter. 4-5 years after planting, the plant enters a phase of active growth - this is the most productive period of its life. But with age, the vital activity of tea weakens: when a tree ceases to produce the required yield (on average, this happens after 50-70 years), it is uprooted, thus updating the plantations.
In order to maximize the productive life of tea, scientists have developed special agricultural techniques that include mechanisms for establishing plantations, methods of soil care (plowing, mulching, irrigation, top dressing) and tree pruning (pruning helps to form and strengthen the crown, stimulates the growth of young shoots). , rejuvenates old trees).

What climate does tea need?

Climatic conditions affect both the volume of the harvest and the quality of the tea itself. Among the natural and environmental factors necessary for the productive growth of the tea tree, the following can be noted:

Sunlight. Only under the action of sunlight, water and inorganic substances obtained by the plant from the soil enter into chemical processes. As a result, compounds are formed in the cells of the plant that promote the further growth of the tea tree and underlie the formation of the main properties of tea - its color, aroma and taste. That is why tea from the highlands, whose climate is characterized by an abundance of diffused sunlight, is of very high quality.
Temperature. Tea belongs to heat-loving crops. Best of all, young tea shoots grow at a temperature of 20-30ºC. Despite the fact that the tea tree is very hardy, in conditions of extreme heat or, conversely, sharp frosts, its leaves dry up and wither.
Humidity. An abundance of water is an indispensable condition for the life of the tea tree. The plant must continuously produce new shoots, which explains its increased need for moisture. Severe drought or, conversely, stagnation of moisture in the soil can not only reduce the quality of the tea crop, but also destroy the plant.
The soil. The quality of future tea directly depends on the characteristics of the soil on which the tea tree is grown. If tea grows on loose, air- and water-permeable soil, it develops a developed root system and a dense crown.

The direct connection of all these natural conditions with the quality of tea is proved by the fact that the best and elite varieties of tea grow on highland plantations.

The air temperature in the mountains is much lower than in the flat terrain. This affects the activity of enzymes and, accordingly, affects the chemical composition of the tea leaf. So, for example, scientists have proven that high mountain teas contain more amino acids and aromatic compounds. Amino acids make the taste of tea more pure and rich, and aromatic substances give it a pronounced thick aroma.

In addition, high-mountain plantations have rather high humidity. In such conditions, flushes retain their freshness for a long time and do not coarsen. It is from these soft and juicy leaves that the most valuable varieties of tea in the world are obtained.

The soils of high mountain plantations are well structured and rich in various nutrients, which also favorably affects the quality of the tea grown. Of great importance is the fact that mountainous areas, as a rule, are ecologically clean zones.

Tea is the most favorite and popular drink. But, pouring it into a cup every morning, few people think about how tea is grown. There is a great variety of tea varieties that grow in India, China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Japan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Krasnodar Territory. But - this is nothing more than camellia sinensis. It belongs to perennial plants, on average, a bush on a plantation grows up to 60 years. If tea is successfully grown on a plantation, the question arises of growing tea at home. Is it possible? How

Conditions for growing tea

Tea is grown on plantations, propagating it by cuttings, which are planted in previously prepared soil. The height of an adult tea tree reaches one and a half meters. Tea begins to be harvested when the tree becomes an adult, about five years pass before this time. Tea trees are disease and pest resistant, but certain growing conditions must be met or the plant will die. The main conditions include:

Sufficient amount of sunlight.
Compliance with the temperature regime. For the normal growth of the tea bush, a temperature of 20-30 ° is required.
Loose soil, the plantation is regularly plowed.
Moderate humidity, artificial irrigation is carried out for this.

Growing tea from seeds

Tea bushes can also be grown on a windowsill. With proper care, they will delight with their green crown all year round. You can grow a bush from seeds. For this, it is better to choose the winter period. Seeds need to be soaked in water for three days. Do not use seeds that float on the surface of the water, most likely they are empty and will not sprout.

You need to take an ordinary ceramic pot, the bottom of which is laid out with drainage and covered with soddy soil with sand (1: 1). Seeds are planted to a depth of no more than 3 cm. The pot can be placed on the windowsill. The soil must be kept moist. Twice a week, the bush must be sprayed with water at room temperature. Growing tea requires patience, because the first shoots will appear in two or three months. Often they die quickly, but you should not despair and throw away the pot. New sprouts will soon sprout from a living root system.

During the first year of life, tea can grow up to 20 cm and above. And bloom by the end of the second year. The aroma of flowers is peculiar and unusual. After flowering, small fruits in the form of nuts are formed in place of the flowers.

When the plant reaches the age of 3-4 years, it should be transplanted into a larger container. Then the tea bush will need to be replanted every 2-3 years.

How to care for a tea bush

The tea bush should be given the sunniest place in the apartment. On particularly hot days, a slight shading is necessary. In winter, the temperature should be cool (10-15 °), this contributes to the successful growth of the plant.

In the warm season, the plant must breathe air, so it is better to place it on a balcony or veranda. Abundant and regular watering is required. To do this, take water at room temperature. Watering is stopped as soon as buds begin to form. To maintain the necessary humidity in the room, it is recommended to spray the plant several times a week. During flowering, air humidity must be reduced.

Watching how the tea leaf grows, you can see that it is pulled up. Then pruning is needed. By carefully trimming the branches, you can achieve the formation of a tea bush cap. Feed the plant regularly with standard flower fertilizers. The tea leaf is very resistant to pests of any kind, so there is no need to fight diseases.

A biennial plant is already fully formed, it has rich and lush foliage, you can collect leaves to please yourself with tea grown by yourself. The collection of leaves should be carried out before feeding.

How to make tea

To brew tea grown on your own, you need to pinch off the shoot with the top two leaves. Lightly rub in your hands so that the leaves become sticky and curled into tubes. Shoots should be laid out on a tray, wrapped in foil on top and left for 15 minutes. Then dry the leaves in the oven at a low (50 °) temperature. Store the resulting raw material in a tightly closed container.

Industrial production includes several complex stages:

first, the tea leaves are dried for about eight hours, so that the leaf softens and loses some of its moisture;
the leaves are rolled on rollers so that part of the juice stands out;
the leaves undergo fermentation, as a result of which chlorophyll breaks down into tannins, and starch into sugars;
the leaves are dried at a certain temperature, depending on the type of tea. During the drying process, the oxidation stops, and the moisture content of tea is reduced to 3%;
all varieties of tea, except large-leaf, are cut;
tea is sorted;
if necessary, additives are introduced into the tea.

Growing tea in the garden

Homeowners often think about how to grow tea in the garden? Given the changeable weather conditions in central Russia, tea cultivation is not possible. Residents of the Krasnodar Territory can try to grow tea bushes, where the climate and soil composition are more favorable for this.

If you really want to grow tea, it is better to plant several bushes of Kuril tea. It is revered by the inhabitants of Siberia and the Far East, as it perfectly quenches thirst and improves health. Caring for this plant is simple, the bushes will undoubtedly decorate the site. They are very beautiful, come in different varieties, bloom with peach, pink, orange or white flowers.

Instruction

Prepare the soil for planting seeds. Put a layer of drainage on the bottom of the pot, put a layer of soil mixture on top. Loose is suitable for tea, so you can use a mixture of coniferous soil and high-moor peat or soil mixture for growing azaleas. Place the seeds in the soil to a depth of three to four centimeters.

In spring and summer, tea pots can be placed in the garden or on the balcony, turning to the sun in different directions. To prevent the soil from drying out, cover the pot with moss or peat. It is better to water the plant in the evening, and after every five to six waterings, the soil should be loosened.

Move the tea bushes indoors before the cold snap. For this plant, the optimum temperature is about ten to fifteen degrees. If there is a suitable place with such a temperature in yours, the usual one will do. Spray the bush with water from time to time, and pour half a glass of clean water into the pan to increase humidity every day.

From a three-year-old plant, you can try to harvest the first crop of tea leaves. This can be done after the leaves have grown back after the second pruning, between May and September. The height of the plant should be at least forty centimeters. If the bush does not look strong enough, postpone harvesting until next year. If you still decide to collect tea leaves, select a few shoots with five leaves and pinch off the top two from them along with the bud.

Four year old tea bushes should be transplanted into a larger pot. For planting, use the same acidic soil as for sowing seeds.

Sources:

Tips for Growing Tea at Home
how green tea is grown

The tea bush can be grown not only on special plantations, but also on your own windowsill. Not only does it make a great exotic houseplant, but it also allows you to breed your own variety of tea to serve to your guests.

The plant exudes a light and delicate smell, has lush foliage, adorned with many pleasant white flowers with golden stamens.

The tea bush will require a special loose soil mixture through which water seeps well. It will need to be watered frequently, as this plant is extremely moisture-loving and quickly fades from lack of water. Feeding the bush is best done from nitrogenous fertilizers. It is necessary to exclude lime in the soil, which is detrimental to this plant.

The tea plant can be propagated using seeds and cuttings. At sixteen to eighteen degrees, your seeds will germinate in less than two months. The ability to germinate in seeds lasts no more than seven to eight months. In appearance, they are quite large, about two centimeters in diameter, and have a chocolate color. Planting seeds in the soil is done with a scar down.

With proper care, the tea bush will be able to reward you for your care with a fragrant and tart drink for every morning.

Melaleuca is the most unpretentious type of tea tree. You can grow it both in summer cottages and in ordinary flower pots. It propagates by seeds or cuttings. For the manufacture of tea, you can use not only the leaves, but also the flowers of this shrub.

Instruction

When planting a tea tree, special attention should be paid to the soil. The ideal option for this plant is the usual flower soil, which is sold by almost every flower shop.

If you do not have special soil, then you can use a mixture of ordinary earth and sand. Please note that melaleuca loves acidic soil, so water the plant with water with a little lemon juice.

The main rule for caring for a tea tree is regular watering. The soil should always be moist, but you should not allow an excess of moisture. This can harm the roots of melaleuca. The plant must be watered daily.

The tea tree reaches a height of 50-60 cm. It can be propagated by cuttings. However, most often seeds are used to grow melaleuca. The planting process does not differ from the usual algorithm - the seeds are placed in pre-moistened soil to a depth of 1-2 cm. It is better to keep the pot in a shaded place for several days, and then put it in the sunniest place.

In open ground, it is better to plant plants that have reached a height of 5-10 cm. For the winter, the tea tree should be warmed as much as possible with foliage, dry grass or other methods.

The tea tree does not require special care. It is possible to provide ideal conditions for the growth of a shrub with the help of sufficient moisture and planting in sunny areas. Do not forget that melaleuca is a very heat-loving plant.

The first flowering usually occurs after the second year of the tea tree's life. Flowers outwardly resemble strawberry inflorescences - white rounded petals and yellow cores.

After flowering, small fruits are formed in their place, which look like hop buds. Inside the fruits are seeds that, when ripe, you can use to expand your tea garden and grow new tea trees.

note

Caring for a tea tree is not a hassle. The plant should, if necessary, be transplanted into new soil, remove dried shoots and leaves, and also monitor its appearance.

Useful advice

Before planting, tea tree seeds are best soaked in a damp cloth for a few days. If the seeds germinate, this can be regarded as a guarantee of their survival in the soil.

It is possible to grow a bush only in a warm climate, similar to tropical or subtropical. Different countries specialize in the production of different teas.

How tea grows

The technology and conditions for growing tea in a tropical climate are very simple. On the plantation, cuttings or one-biennial seedlings of the tea bush are planted. The first harvest of leaves can be harvested as early as 4-5 years after planting. Tea bushes are pruned many times throughout their life, thus forming a strong growth of a large number of side shoots.

A tea plantation usually consists of one and a half meter bushes planted in rows. The width of the passages between them is also 1-1.5 m. A large mass of leaves on tea grows up to the age of 50-60 years, but some varieties give yields of leaves up to 80-100 years. If the climate is favorable, the growth of the tea bush is up to a meter per year, but it is very difficult to comply with these conditions. An important requirement is a warm summer and autumn, and at the same time - a very cold winter. If this mode is not observed, tea practically stops growing, and it also becomes susceptible to a wide variety of diseases.

The period of active vegetation in tea is very short, the active growth of shoots and leaves lasts only about a month, and then this happens only in spring. At the same time, tea has two long dormant periods - summer and winter. Summer hibernation is not fully such, as the shoots are coarsened, their growth is insignificant and flowers are formed.

Tea bushes need a long daylight hours, since the concentration of aromatic substances in the tea leaf directly depends on the abundance of sunlight. With a lack of sunlight, the leaf becomes rough, non-aromatic, with a grassy taste.

An important condition in connection with which tea is grown mainly in the mountains is the presence of clean and humid air for the bushes, as well as the height above sea level. The tea bush will not grow in environmentally unfavorable environments because it is extremely sensitive to air pollution.

Where does tea grow?

Tea is cultivated in more than 30 countries of the world, but the main region for the supply of tea is Asia. The spread of tea around the world began precisely with China, as the tea culture began to emerge here several millennia ago. The tea tree was discovered here, and the Chinese used its leaves not only as a medicine, but also as a drink. Until now, China is famous for its exquisite collection varieties of tea and is the main tea supplier in the world.

From China, tea seeds or seedlings first came to India. But the cultivation of tea under the influence of the British began here only towards the end of the 18th century. The Indian colony then turned into almost a tea empire.

Then, in the 18th century, the tea tree was brought to Sri Lanka, which was called Ceylon. And by the beginning of the 19th century, the island was quite large.

Tea seeds were brought to Japan in the early 9th century. But this plant did not receive plantations and wide distribution here.

Do you know that tea can be grown at home on the windowsill? Home brewing is better than store-bought, because it will be free of dyes and various harmful impurities. The plant is rapidly gaining popularity. It tastes great and has a lot of benefits.

Training .

Tea seeds, like other planting seeds, must be selected. Make it easy. Seeds are placed in water for a day. The material that ends up on top is unsuitable for planting. It can be collected and thrown away. Seeds remaining at the bottom, transfer to a special saucer. Pour water into it and change every 6 hours to add moisture. Two days are enough for soaking, after which you can start planting. Tea can be grown not only by seeds, but also by cuttings.

Landing.

Drainage at the bottom of the pot is required. A layer of soil mixture is poured on top. You can take a mixture for growing azaleas, or a mixture of coniferous land. Tea loves loose, acidic soil. And what is very important - wet! Seeds are planted in the soil to a depth of 4 cm and watered. To create a greenhouse effect, glass is placed on top of the soil. From time to time it must be turned over and wiped.

Propagation by cuttings.

Unlike seeds, propagation by cuttings is much easier. Cuttings are best done in July, December or January. For planting, it is better to choose winter, because in July, a freshly cut stalk can dry out.

First, a stalk is cut out, which is surrounded by water along with sandy soil. Then landing is made to a depth of at least 5 cm. while the tree takes root, it can be covered with polyethylene to retain moisture.

Care .

When planting with seeds, the first shoots sprout after two months. If they die, do not throw out the earth - in most cases, new shoots sprout. A year later, the once small bush reaches 30 cm in height. In the hot season, tea pots should be placed outside and turned so that the bush receives the sun's rays equally from all sides. By the evening produce watering. Once a week, the soil requires loosening.

In winter, water is poured into the pot tray. This is done in addition to spraying the soil. A biennial tree must be cut to 30 cm. The second time when cutting, 35 cm are already left. A four-year-old tree requires transplanting into a larger container.

Drying.

When the plant reaches the age of three, you can harvest. If the tree has grown actively, then you can collect leaves without waiting for the age of three, but immediately after the second pruning, as the tea bush reaches 40 cm in height. For tea, only leaves are harvested, leaving stems and flowers on them.
The collected leaves in the form of a slide are laid out on a baking sheet and covered with polyethylene. Withstand 15 min. After that, the film is removed and the raw material is dried in an oven at a low temperature so as not to overdry the leaves. Tea leaves are stored in jars with lids.