Tea Growing Guide

Pluck only the top two leaves and a bud (fine plucking) for quality tea — coarse plucking (3+ leaves) increases volume but drastically reduces auction prices.

Maintain the plucking table at 60-75 cm through regular pruning cycles — unpruned tea grows into trees and becomes impossible to harvest efficiently.

Tea requires strongly acidic soil (pH 4.5-5.5) — apply sulfur or aluminum sulfate if pH exceeds 6.0, as nutrient lockout occurs in alkaline conditions.

Establish shade trees (Grevillea, Albizia) at 8-12 m spacing to reduce heat stress and improve leaf quality — shade-grown tea has higher L-theanine and better flavor.

Apply nitrogen in 4-5 split doses aligned with plucking rounds (every 6-8 weeks) — tea responds to N more than any other nutrient, but excess causes coarse growth.

Pluck every 7-10 days during the growing season — longer intervals produce coarser shoots that reduce both quality grade and processing efficiency.