Tea

A balanced fertilization program for tea is essential to obtain a high yield of good quality and good storage properties

Basic Information

Tea is basically a rainfed crop cultivated commercially in humid zones of tropical, sub-tropical and temperate regions with alternating wet and dry periods, at altitudes from sea level up to 2300 meters, on well-drained soils preferably with a pH of 4,5- 5,0, although, in practice the pH ranges from 3,0-6,5.
Tea is grown under shade (most commonly grevillea, silver oak and albizzia) which allows 60-70 % penetration of sunlight. This reduces radiation damage at latitudes further from the equator, creates a favorable micro-climate during dry months and maintains a much lower leaf temperature in summer, particularly in low latitudes.

Detailed Description

The plants are trained into bushes by centering and plucking, and are harvested from the second year onwards at regular intervals of 7-20 days in the tropics and sub-tropics and at much longer intervals in temperate zones. The day length required for vegetative growth is 11h 15 min. In many tea-growing regions tea has an economic life of around 40-60 years.

For granular fertilization we recommend NovaTec^® Suprem. Foliar application are possible with Basfoliar^® liquid fertilizers. As biostimulants Basfoliar^® Kelp SL and Basfoliar^® Avant Natur SL are recommended.