With persistent high temperatures, what should tea gardens do?

Due to high temperature and drought, tea trees will face severe tests of drought and heat damage, which includes drought damage, heat damage, and drought and heat damage.

Drought damage is the harm suffered by tea trees due to soil water shortage, resulting in water deficiency and physiological metabolic disorders;

Heat damage is caused by intense sunlight, high air temperature, and low humidity leading to burns;

Drought and heat damage refer to the phenomenon in which tea trees experience discoloration, withering, shedding, withered branches, and even whole plant death due to prolonged exposure to high temperatures, drought, and strong light.

Classification of Drought and Heat Damage

Mild damage – only some leaves on the tea tree canopy have dried up and turned red, while the branches and buds are still green.

Moderate damage – the upper leaves of the tea tree canopy dry up and turn red or fall off, but the branches and buds are still green.

Severe damage – all tea tree canopy leaves wither and fall off, and some or all branches die.

How to prevent drought

1. Irrigation

Irrigation in tea gardens is the most direct and effective measure to prevent drought and heat damage. Tea gardens with sprinkler irrigation, drip irrigation, or watering conditions must be thoroughly irrigated before 9:00 am and after 4:00 pm.

2. Shade:

It can reduce direct sunlight, effectively avoid or alleviate the burning of tea leaves, lower the temperature of tea gardens, and reduce water evaporation. It should be noted that it is not advisable to directly cover the tea canopy with a sunshade net. Instead, a frame should be erected to provide shade, and the sunshade net should be kept at a certain distance from the surface of the tea tree canopy. The shading degree of the sunshade net should be around 80%.

Post disaster recovery measures
Timely application of topdressing -1. Ditch and apply topdressing: After the soil drought in the tea garden is completely relieved, apply quick acting nitrogen fertilizer as soon as possible to promote the growth of new shoots. High nitrogen compound fertilizer 15kg~20kg/acre or urea 10kg~15kg/acre. 2. Spraying foliar nutrient solution: Spray foliar nutrient solution once to twice, with a 10 day interval between each application.

Proper pruning – lightly damaged tea gardens do not require pruning. Moderately damaged tea gardens do not require pruning if the branches and buds are still in good condition and do not affect germination. If the upper fine and weak branches are damaged and affect the germination of new shoots, then the fine and weak branches should be cut off. Severely damaged tea gardens should be pruned to 1cm to 2cm below the dead branches.

Pay attention to disease and pest control – prevent tea anthracnose. After the recovery of tea tree growth, attention should be paid to the outbreak of tea leafhoppers and tea geometrids.

Apply autumn base fertilizer again – increase the fertilizer application by 10% to 20% compared to normal years.

To identify the cause of the damage – tea gardens with poor drought resistance, it is recommended to focus on the soil of the tea garden (soil layer thickness, soil waterlogging, root growth depth) to find the cause, implement targeted measures, eliminate hidden dangers, and fundamentally improve the drought resistance of tea trees.