How Many Years Until the Tea-Oil Tree Bears Fruit? A Detailed Explanation of the Fruiting Timeline

Oil tea (Camellia oleifera) gets its name because its seeds can be pressed for oil (tea oil) for human consumption. Tea oil is clear in color, fragrant in taste, rich in nutrients and resistant to storage, making it a high-quality edible oil; it can also be used as lubricating oil and anti-rust oil in industry. The oil cake is both a pesticide and a fertilizer, and can improve farmland water retention capacity and control rice-field pests. The fruit peel is a raw material for extracting tannin extract. So, how many years until the tea-oil tree bears fruit?

I. How many years until the tea-oil tree bears fruit?

Oil tea trees generally need to be planted for 3 years before bearing fruit; in the first 5 years the fruit must not be kept because the tree is still growing, and after 5-7 years they enter full production.

II. What varieties of tea-oil trees are there?

1. Huangpao wild tea seed, mainly distributed in Hubei and Jiangxi. The oil tea fruit is small in size and bright red; the inner shell of the oil tea seed is black in color and glossy, and it belongs to a late-maturing variety (the Start of Winter seed is even better). Its oil yield is high, and the oil quality and nutritional content rank first in the world (nearly 20 percentage points higher than olive oil). It is said to have been obtained by Lu Dongbin from Yaochi and scattered on Huangpao Mountain in Tongcheng, hence the name;

2. Common oil tea (also known as wild oil tea), mainly distributed in Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan and Zhejiang; its oil quality is second only to Huangpao wild tea seed, and it is the main species cultivated nationwide;

3. Small-fruit oil tea (also known as Menxizi), mainly distributed in Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian and Guangxi; its cultivated area is second only to common oil tea;

4. Soft-branch oil tea, mainly distributed in Guangxi and Hunan; it is a high-yield, fast-growing oil tea variety, but its oil quality is inferior to that of wild oil tea;

5. Vietnamese oil tea (also known as large-fruit oil tea), mainly distributed in Guangxi and Guangdong;

6. Red-flower oil tea, mainly distributed in Jiangxi; its oil quality is good and its flowers can be used as medicine. It is a good variety for courtyard landscaping and is suitable for promotion in high-altitude areas;

7. Multi-toothed red camellia (also known as Wantian oil tea seed), mainly distributed in Guangxi;

8. Tea pear (also known as eight-petal oil tea), mainly distributed in Tongcheng, Hubei, Longquan, Zhejiang and Longnan, Jiangxi;

9. Boda fruit oil tea (also known as Chibaizi), not suitable for planting in the central subtropics;

10. White-flower Nanshan tea, mainly distributed in Fengkai, Guangdong and Cangwu, Guangxi;

11. Nanrong oil tea, mainly distributed in Shaoping, Guangxi;

12. Golden camellia, mainly used for ornamental purposes;

13. Wrinkled-fruit oil tea, mainly distributed in Longsheng, Guangxi and Yongshun, Hunan; its yield is low and it is not convenient to promote.

In addition, oil tea is also an excellent winter nectar and pollen source plant; its flowering period falls in the flower-scarce season, from early October to December, when nectar and pollen are extremely abundant. Oil tea also has high application value in biomass energy. At the same time, oil tea is a tree species with extremely strong pollution resistance; it is highly resistant to sulfur dioxide and also has strong resistance to fluorine and chlorine absorption. Therefore, scientifically managing oil tea forests provides ecological benefits such as soil and water conservation, water source retention and climate regulation.