Where can tea plant seeds be bought, and what are the seedling raising methods?

The tea plant is a tree with high economic value in rural areas, grown for the purpose of harvesting tea seeds to extract tea oil. To grow tea plants, you can buy tea plant seedlings, or you can buy tea plant seeds and fry them yourself; the second option costs less. So if you want to raise seedlings from tea plant seeds, where can the seeds be bought? What are the seedling raising methods? Let's find out below.

Where can tea plant seeds be bought?

There are many channels for buying tea plant seeds. You can go to local seed shops and farmers' markets, where they are generally sold. You can also choose to buy online, but if you buy online, choose official online shops with a good reputation and high credibility, as tea plant seeds from such shops are more reliable in quality and come with better after-sales service. When buying seeds, select seeds that are plump, highly glossy and free of wormholes. High-quality seeds can raise the emergence rate and help reduce costs as well as manpower and material resources.

What are the seedling raising methods for tea plant seeds?

1. Sowing time

The suitable sowing period for tea seeds is mostly from November of the current year to around March of the following year. Generally, winter sowing, that is, from November to around mid-December each year, makes the tea seeds emerge 10~20 days earlier than sowing in spring from February to March. In general, the winter sowing method is recommended. If sowing is postponed until after April, the emergence rate of tea seeds will be affected to a certain extent, with an overall low emergence rate, and the seedlings are easily affected by high-temperature heat damage, resulting in a low survival rate.

2. Soaking tea seeds

Soaking tea seeds is a key means of raising the emergence rate. First, soak the tea seeds in clean water in a special container for 2~3 days, changing the water about once a day. When soaking, remove the tea seeds floating on the surface and choose the good tea seeds that sink to the bottom for sowing. Experiments show that tea seeds sown after soaking can break through the soil about 10 days earlier, and the emergence rate can also increase by about 12%~13%.

3. Sprouting tea seeds

After the soaking process, they cannot be sown immediately; they must go through a sprouting process first. The specific steps for sprouting are: first select fine river sand, and after screening and rinsing, disinfect it with 0.1% potassium permanganate. Then place the soaked tea seeds in a sand tray, with a thickness of about 6~10 cm being suitable. Place it in a greenhouse or a plastic film shed. According to the weather conditions, heat it to between 20~30 degrees, and sprinkle it with warm water 1~2 times a day.

If sprouting is done in winter, control the time to about 20~25 days. If sprouting is done in spring, control the time to about 15~20 days. This is because the higher the temperature in spring, the faster the sprouting time. From the perspective of the germination rate, generally when about 50% of the tea seeds show their radicles, they can be sown. Tea seeds sown after sprouting have a sprouting rate more than 20% higher than tea seeds that are not sprouted.

4. Shallow sowing and dense sowing

When sowing with tea seeds, the seeds germinate and the fat is converted into sugars by water, which requires sufficient oxygen. Also, the cotyledons of tea seeds are relatively large, and their ability to push through the soil is weak, so when sowing, do not cover with thick soil; it should be slightly shallow, with the most suitable depth being about 3~5 cm.

Regarding the sowing density of tea seeds, if directly sown in the field, sow 3~5 tea seeds per hole. If raising seedlings in a nursery, use hole sowing with a row spacing of 15~20 cm and a spacing of about 10 cm, sowing 5 tea seeds per hole. When sowing, dig the furrows and holes in advance according to the sowing depth, and after sowing, cover with soil and press it appropriately firm. Doing so can effectively raise the sprouting rate of tea seeds and the survival rate of the seedlings after sprouting.

In short, raising seedlings from tea plant seeds is a planting method chosen in many regions. During the planting process, in order to effectively raise the seed germination rate, we must do well the key points of the several methods introduced above. Regarding raising seedlings from tea plant seeds, is there anything else you would like to add?

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