Tea (Camelia Sinensis) & ndash; perennial evergreen shrub with a taproot system. The leaves are alternate, short-leaved, leathery, shiny, oblong-elliptic, sharp-toothed along the edge, up to 7 cm long and up to 4 cm wide, dark green above, light green below.
The flowers are single or 2-4 together, located in the axils of the leaves on pedicels, white with a yellowish-pink tint, up to 5 cm in diameter, with a pleasant smell.
Fruits & ndash; three, four nesting woody cracking boxes. Seeds are rounded, dark brown, slightly shiny, up to 13 mm in diameter.
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Growing and collecting tea
Cuttings are planted (less often one- to two-year seedlings). In especially favorable conditions, tea can be grown even from seeds, laying them 4-5 cm deep and watering abundantly.
The first harvest of leaves is removed 4-5 years after planting. As a rule, tea bushes are actively trimmed (formed), preventing them from growing in height and stimulating the growth of a large number of lateral shoots.
Tea plantation usually consists of rows of tea bushes 1-1.5 m high with a width of passages between them also 1-1.5 m.
The largest mass of leaves grows on tea up to 50-60 years, although tea trees (in Assam) give an excellent harvest up to 90-100 years.
In favorable conditions, tea grows very rapidly (up to 100 cm per year!), But it is difficult to comply with these conditions.
The most important conditions for tea growth include:
- Warm summer and autumn (average daily temperature not lower than 20 & deg; C) - the most important condition for the normal growth of tea. At the same time, cold winters (the average daily winter temperature is necessarily below 10 & deg; C of heat and up to -3 & deg; C).
- Long daylight hours and plenty of sun. The concentration of, for example, aromatic substances in the tea leaf directly depends on the length of daylight hours and the abundance of sunlight. With a lack of light and sun, the taste of tea becomes grassy, tea becomes coarse, not fragrant.
- Moist soil, but well drained, should not be stagnant water. The soil should be quite loose, light and slightly acidic. Very often tea plantations are located & laquo; steps & raquo; on mountain slopes (terraces), which allows achieving optimal soil drainage.