Planting and Management of Tea Trees

The tea seed tree, also known as the oil tea tree , has a high oil content in its seeds. The tea oil extracted from its seeds is one of the important edible oils in China and has a high planting efficiency in China. Below, I will introduce the planting and management of tea seed trees. Let’s take a look.

1. Site selection and land preparation

Tea seeds should be planted in deep, well-drained, fertile, moist, breathable, slightly acidic sandy loam or light clay loam. However, try to avoid planting in non-water-retaining sandy soils with high sand content on the top of the mountain and in poorly drained land. Land preparation should be carried out in the autumn and winter of the year before afforestation.

2. Planting method

The planting distance should be appropriate. The soil layer on the top of the mountain is shallow and the trees are small, so they should be planted more densely. The row spacing can be 7×8 feet, and 107 trees can be planted per mu. The soil layer at the foot of the mountain is deep and the trees are large, so they can be planted more sparsely. The row spacing can be 8×9 feet, and 83 trees can be planted per mu.

3. Reasonable fertilization

Generally, basal fertilizer should be applied in winter, mainly farmyard manure, supplemented with a small amount of chemical fertilizer. The method of applying base fertilizer is to dig a 30 cm wide and 40 cm deep fertilizer hole at the edge of the tree crown and branches, mix the fertilizer with the topsoil and apply it into the hole, then tamp it down and water it. Top dressing can be done during the growth period of new shoots in spring, with compound fertilizer as the main ingredient. Holes or trenches 15 cm deep can be dug around the tree crown, and soil can be covered after spreading the fertilizer. During the growing season, pay attention to weeding or mowing the tree trunks, and do not let the grass grow too high, as it will compete with the tree for nutrients.

4. Shaping and pruning

In order to better promote the growth and fruiting of tea seed trees, shaping and pruning are required. The general principle is to keep the tree balanced, with many branches but not densely packed. For branches that are too large and too strong, you can replace them with branches behind them to make the heights of branches on the same layer similar. The overlapping branches on the upper and lower layers should be kept at a distance of 60 cm. If the distance is not enough, they should be thinned out. In addition, competing branches, inward branches, upright branches on the back, crossed branches in the inner chamber, overly dense branches and thin branches should be thinned out to allow the crown to be ventilated and light-permeable, so as to form more flower buds and produce more fruits.

5. Pest and disease control

If leaf-eating caterpillars, weevils, etc. are found on tea trees, spray them with chlorpyrifos or pyrethroid insecticides in time. With the arrival of the rainy season, leaf diseases will occur. You can spray carbendazim, flusilazole and other fungicides to prevent diseases.

The above is an introduction to the planting and management of tea seed trees. Tea seed tree planting must use good varieties and good methods to achieve high yields. During the entire tea seed tree planting and management process, you must master the above methods.