Detailed Guide to Sweet Tea Cultivation: Planting Methods and Management Key Points

I. Growth Characteristics

Sweet tea sprouts new buds when the temperature stabilizes above 13°C in February to March, and new shoots grow from the perennial roots. The sweet tea plant has a clumping growth habit, with a relatively narrow crown and many upright shoots. In July, when the temperature in high-altitude mountainous areas is around 25°C and in low-altitude areas around 30°C, the plant stops growing upward, the branches and leaves basically take shape, and it begins to enter the leaf nutrient accumulation period and sugar conversion period. After November, when the temperature drops to 13-14°C, the leaves gradually turn yellow, then wither and fall, and overwintering mixed buds begin to form in most leaf axils of the lateral branches, and the plant enters a dormant state.

The new shoots that sprout from the perennial roots in the current year grow lateral branches in April to May. In February of the following year, the overwintering buds on the lateral branches sprout, send out new shoots, grow new leaves, and successively form buds and bloom. The full bloom period is in March to April. The fruit matures in June, is orange-red or red, and the fruit is sweet.

Sweet tea is a perennial plant, but the aboveground branches can only live for 2-3 years. Sweet tea reproduces and renews itself by sprouting new shoots from its perennial roots every spring, thereby extending its lifespan. Therefore, sweet tea only needs to be planted once, and the plants will become more and more numerous, the area will expand year by year, and it can be harvested continuously for many years.

II. Site Selection and Land Preparation

It can be planted in Guangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other places. However, when selecting a site specifically, check whether the local climate and geographical conditions conform to the above ecological environment.

Choose a slope facing east with its back to the west, with not too long sunshine duration and relatively thick soil. Plow in winter to let the soil weather and become loose, so as to reduce overwintering pests. In January, plow and harrow the field. There is no need to make beds; dig drainage ditches 30 cm deep and 50 cm wide along the slope direction. The distance between ditches depends on the slope and rainfall, and it is appropriate as long as the planting area does not accumulate water. After the land is prepared, dig holes at a row spacing and plant spacing of 150 cm x 150 cm. The holes are 30 cm wide and 30 cm deep.

III. Propagation Methods

1. Division propagation. In March to April, dig up the young plants sprouting from the branch roots of the mother plant and transplant them. At this time, the leaves of the young plants have not yet unfolded, but they have fibrous roots. When digging them up, make sure the young plants have branch roots about 10 cm long and relatively complete fibrous roots. The number of new plants obtained by this method is 3-5 times that of the mother plant.

2. Root division propagation. When the temperature rises in spring, many protruding white adventitious buds appear on the branch roots. Dig out such branch roots, cut them into root segments 10-15 cm long, and insert them obliquely or bury them flat in a sand bed, watering to keep them moist. After half a month, the root segments can grow into young plants.

3. Seed propagation. Harvest when the fruit is ripe and orange-red or red, take out the seeds and store them covered with sand. Or sow them in a seedbed with a row spacing of 20 cm and a plant spacing of 5-7 cm. Weed after sowing. After the seeds grow 2 leaves, move them into nutrient bags for seedling cultivation. The nutrient soil is made by mixing decomposed farmyard manure with soil and grass ash. Water the seedlings and apply slightly diluted fertilizer.

IV. Planting Methods

Dig pits at a row spacing and plant spacing of 1.5 m x 1.5 m. Apply base fertilizer mainly consisting of farmyard manure in the pits, 10 kg per pit. Then backfill soil and mix it evenly with the fertilizer, with the pit soil 20 cm higher than the ground. Plant the young plants, firm the soil, and water thoroughly. Seed-propagated seedlings can only be planted in the field in May.

V. Field Management

1. Cultivation and weeding. In the first year after planting, cultivate and weed 4 times, once each month. Cultivation should be shallow to avoid injuring the root system. For 2-year-old plants, cultivate and weed 2 times per year, the first time in early May, and the second time from late June to early July.

2. Topdressing. Apply topdressing 3 times to seedlings in the current year. It is best to apply concentrated human and livestock manure water, 1.5 kg per plant, applied together with cultivation and weeding. For 2-year-old plants, apply human and livestock manure water 2 times per year, 3 kg each time. If farmyard manure is lacking, compound fertilizer can be applied dry, but the last application must use farmyard manure to ensure the quality of sweet tea. If nitrogen fertilizers such as urea or ammonium sulfate are applied, it is easy to make the leaf flavor of sweet tea weaker and reduce its sweetness.

3. Watering. Apart from the necessary watering at planting, normal growth generally depends only on rainwater thereafter.

4. Pinching off terminal buds. Because current-year plants only have first-order lateral branches, and perennial plants also only have second-order lateral branches, the plants are in a state of few branches and sparse leaves. To increase yield, terminal buds need to be pinched off to grow more lateral branches. Method: from late April to early May, when the lateral buds begin to sprout, pinch off the terminal buds on the old main branches to promote rapid growth of lateral buds and form lateral branches. At the same time, this can weaken the growth momentum of the main branches and control the height of the main branches at about 1.7 m. For branches more than 2 years old, when the first-order lateral branches reach 1.2 m, use the same method to pinch off the terminal buds of the lateral branches to encourage more second-order lateral branches. Through bud pinching treatment, the yield is increased.

Sweet tea production areas are mostly in cooler mountainous areas, and no relatively serious diseases or insect pests have been observed.

VI. Harvesting and Processing

1. Harvesting. In a clump of sweet tea, because there are plants that sprouted and grew from branch roots in the current year, as well as plants 2 years old and older, the leaves mature at different times. It should be harvested in two batches. The first time is in June to July, when the leaves of plants 2 years old and older have matured and their sugar content has reached its peak, so they can be harvested first; the leaves of young plants grown in the current year only mature in October, so the second harvest can be carried out at that time. Generally, manual picking is used.

2. Processing. Put the leaves into a wok and stir-fry, then sun-dry. They can also be directly sun-dried and then pressed into packages for sale, and manufacturers carry out secondary processing according to their @#@136@#@ method.