Six key technical points for spring tea management

Weeding and loosening the soil: After 4-5 months of rain and snow, the tea garden soil has become compacted, and some weeds have already grown. At this time, the soil temperature is relatively low. Therefore, weeding and loosening the soil before the spring tea harvest helps to loosen the soil, raise the soil temperature, eliminate weeds, and reduce the consumption of water and nutrients, which promotes earlier sprouting of spring tea. Weeding and loosening the soil is generally carried out from the end of February to early March, with a depth of 10-15 cm.

Applying bud-promoting fertilizer: The bud-promoting fertilizer should be applied early rather than late, with a trench opened 15-20 cm from the tea plant roots for application. Apply 30-35 kg of urea per mu or 30 kg of compound fertilizer or 2000-2500 kg of decomposed barnyard manure, then cover with soil after application. For tea gardens where trenching is not possible, urea can be broadcast on rainy days, and the tea bushes shaken with a bamboo pole so that the fertilizer falls into the soil.

Pruning: Pruning is best completed from the end of February to before Awakening of Insects, and no later than March 10. This is because after a winter of dormancy, the tea plants have stored more nutrients in their stems and roots, making it easier to restore tree vigor after pruning. In addition, as spring temperatures rise, the new branches that grow after pruning are less susceptible to frost damage, labor is not in short supply, and it is easy to manage. For production tea gardens, light pruning is generally recommended, that is, cutting off last year's autumn shoots (green stems), retaining the spring and summer shoots (red stems), cutting off about 2-3 cm. For tea plants whose crowns have been frost-damaged, pruning should be carried out according to the degree of damage. When pruning, the principle is to prune shallow rather than deep, so as to avoid cutting off branches that can still sprout. For tea gardens that have not been frost-damaged and are used for picking famous and premium teas, in order to advance the spring tea picking, spring pruning can be changed to pruning after the spring tea season ends.

Clearing trenches and draining water: There is more rain in spring. If the tea garden drainage is poor, the tea plants are prone to waterlogging damage and root rot, causing delayed sprouting of tea buds and reduced yield. Therefore, trenches should be opened in time for drainage, and drainage ditches should be cleared and dredged to ensure that the groundwater level is below 1 m, so that the tea garden is dry and free of standing water after the rain stops.

Supplementary application of foliar fertilizer: In early March, when the temperature exceeds 12°C, the absorption function of tea leaves can be used to apply fertilizer outside the roots, promoting earlier sprouting of tea plants, increasing yield, and improving quality. For root-outside fertilization, 0.5% urea, 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate, the multi-functional nutrient solution "Zhongcha Zao" and the hormone "920" can be used.

Pest control: During the spring tea picking period, which coincides with the early stage of outbreaks of pests such as aphids, tea caterpillars, and black citrus whiteflies, spraying should be done promptly after the Spring Equinox and before Qingming with a 2000-3000 times dilution of 20% fenvalerate for control.