Over the years we have had to master getting our tea seeds to germinate. The below process has worked for us consistently throughout the years and should help you grow new tea plants from seed. Steps to getting your tea seeds to germinate. Plant the seeds in a container, you will need to place them half way in, half way out of the soil. Wet down the soil and cover with something like plastic wrap. The seeds need to be kept in a warm place while they germinate. If you notice the soil drying up, add more water. The goal is to keep them consistently moist but not soggy. Note: Tea seeds do not require light to germinate Can...
When you are looking to plant a number of tea plants, does the origin of the tea seed really matter? As it turns out, yes it does! In March of this year we planted some seeds from Taiwan. This means we now have seeds from Georgia, Nepal, India and now Taiwan on our US tea farm here in Brookhaven, Mississippi. Although they are all Camellia Sinensis each seed performs differently. Each seed is bred for different conditions with a different mother plant. Having a wide variety provides us with varying growing habits and potential flavors. It is also disease protection, to keep us from being a "monocropping" situation from direct cloning. If a disease comes in and wipes out a plant,...
Every fall we collect a large number of seed pods from the tea plants to process them for spring. Starting new plants from seeds is the best way to develop new tea plants as they will develop a long tap root. Tea cuttings will create new plants, but they will not establish the long taproot. The longer the tap root the more drought tolerant the plant is and with every tea plant being an investment of time and product, it is important to develop the healthiest of plants. Tea plant seeds start out with a very tough outer shell. We will collect a large number of tea seeds and then set them out in the sun for a period of time...
