Fine grained planting techniques for tea trees

This article introduces planting techniques to improve tea quality, increase yield, enhance economic benefits, and save resources. It also proposes suggestions for refined tea cultivation and planting paths from the perspectives of site selection and planning, tea seedling selection, refined management, disease and pest control, and green and pollution-free planting, in order to provide reference for relevant tea tree planting personnel.

1. Site selection planning

Choose suitable cultivation sites and scientific tea garden planning schemes, including layout, roads, irrigation systems, etc., to provide the best growth environment for tea trees. The ideal tea garden should be located in mountainous or hilly areas with mild climate, abundant rainfall, and frequent clouds and mist, away from pollution, sufficient water sources, and conducive to irrigation and climate regulation.

Reasonably plan the layout of tea gardens, adopt contour lines or terraced planting, reduce soil erosion, and improve land use efficiency. Construct supporting facilities such as roads, irrigation, drainage systems, and protective forests to enhance management efficiency and production benefits.

2. Choose high-quality tea seedlings

Choosing high-quality tea seedlings can improve yield and quality, taking into account climate and soil adaptability to ensure healthy growth. Varieties resistant to pests and diseases can reduce pesticide use, improve tea safety and quality. Considering market demand and consumer preferences, choose popular varieties to enhance economic benefits and competitiveness. When purchasing, prioritize selecting suppliers with good reputation to ensure reliable tea seedling sources from legitimate seedling cultivation bases. High quality tea seedlings should grow robustly, have strong green leaves, developed root systems, be free from pests, diseases, and mechanical damage, have uniform specifications for management and harvesting, and be inspected before planting to avoid mixing of varieties.

3. Refined management

Tea trees require high nitrogen, low phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers. The amount of fertilizer should consider tree age, growth, yield, and soil nutrients to avoid excessive phosphorus content. When fertilizing, make a ditch at the edge of the tea tree, with a depth exceeding 10cm, to promote root absorption. During the summer and autumn seasons, foliar fertilization such as water-soluble urea and amino acid fertilizers can be applied to improve the quality of tea leaves.

Sprinkler irrigation saves water resources, adapts to different terrains, evenly moistens the soil, and promotes the growth of tea trees. Attention should be paid to timely and appropriate irrigation during high temperature seasons, and the irrigation intensity should be adjusted considering soil permeability. Tea trees need to be pruned three times, and the pruning time and length should be determined based on their growth. Sharp tools should be used to minimize damage. After autumn tea, lightly prune and deeply prune for 3-5 years. Aging tea trees can be pruned and rejuvenated. The timing of picking affects the quality of tea. Spring tea is harvested around Qingming Festival, while summer and autumn tea are adjusted according to the climate. There are manual and mechanical picking methods, which are precise but time-consuming, and have high mechanical efficiency and low cost.

Hand picking is the main tea picking method, which requires tea pickers to move quickly and proficiently to reduce damage to tea trees. Splitting and cutting are suitable for different tea trees, and attention should be paid to the strength to avoid damage. After picking, tea leaves should be immediately screened and spread to dry, removing unqualified leaves and impurities to reduce water loss. During processing, control the temperature and time to ensure the quality and taste of the tea.

4. Strengthen measures for disease and pest control

During the seedling selection stage, choose tea tree varieties that are resistant to diseases and pests to reduce their occurrence. Artificially kill or remove obvious target pests such as moths and moths. Utilize the phototaxis of pests and install insecticidal lamps to lure and kill them; Using chemotaxis, set up color swatches to lure and kill. Use biological control methods, such as predatory mites, sand flies, parasitic wasps, birds, and other natural enemies, to control the number of pests. Plant derived pesticides such as matrine, azadirachtin, tea saponin, etc. are recommended due to their non-toxic, harmless, and non polluting nature. When serious pests and diseases occur, chemical control can be used, selecting highly efficient, low toxicity, and low residue pesticides, strictly controlling the amount, concentration, and cycle of application to ensure safe use, and adhering to safety intervals to avoid affecting tea quality.

For example, 2.5% rotenone emulsion or BT formulation can be used to prevent and control false eyed green leafhoppers, tea geometrids, tea leaf rollers, etc. during specific periods, with a safe interval of 3-5 days.