Key Points for Initial Management of Tea Seedlings After Winter Planting

In our province, tea seedlings are mostly planted from November to February of the following year, but this year rainfall has been low since the start of autumn, making a continuous drought through autumn, winter and spring highly likely, so attention must be paid to managing newly planted tea seedlings.

1. Drought relief and seedling protection

During the initial period after planting (within one month), keep the nearby soil moist. Because the weather has recently been rather dry, water once a day, and make sure to water thoroughly each time. Since midday temperatures are currently high, do not water at noon; water in the afternoon or evening each day instead.

2. Proper shading

Because tea seedlings adapt poorly to light, after planting you can build a shade shed or use branches and leaves for shading.

3. Straw mulching

Mulching a tea garden with straw can prevent soil erosion, conserve water, prevent drought, suppress weed growth, stabilise soil temperature, improve soil fertility and increase the survival rate, achieving many benefits at once.

4. Remove weeds

Newly planted tea gardens have small canopies and weeds grow quickly, so weeds should be pulled out by hand early on, to avoid the weed-pulling loosening the soil and damaging the young trees' roots once the weeds have grown large.

5. Apply light fertiliser frequently

Two months after the tea seedlings are planted, when the young plants begin to recover their vigour, start applying 20% decomposed human urine diluted in water once a month.