How to grow tea at home?

Everyone knows how to grow vegetables and fruits in their garden. But it turns out that you can go beyond standard products of your own production and arrange a tea plantation in your yard or on your windowsill.

Many have already appreciated the pure tart taste of homemade tea, which cannot be compared with any of the purchased ones. Moreover, tea is a beautiful ornamental plant that gives a fresh and invigorating aroma, especially during the flowering period.

How to choose seeds

The main problem faced by everyone who wants to grow tea at home is the low germination rate. This feature is not associated with defective goods or improper collection of seeds. Therefore, in order to get a sufficient number of shoots, you need to plant not one, but several packs.

The most popular type of cultivated tea is the Chinese camellia, which is the most affordable to buy and the easiest to grow. If you want more exotic varieties, then look for seeds in Indian or Chinese online stores.

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How to plant tea

As a rule, you need to plant tea in the winter season. To start growing it, prepare a flower pot, soil for indoor plants, soil, sand, glass to cover the soil, a spray bottle, and seeds.

How to plant tea correctly:

• Sprinkle some soil on the bottom of the pot and then sand.
• Fill it 2/3 full with earth.
• Place the seeds.
• Add another 3 cm of soil.
• Place on the windowsill.
• Moisten the ground.
• Cover with glass.
• Spray water on the soil every 2-3 days to keep it moist at all times.
• Turn the glass over daily.

The first shoots will become visible in 2 months, maybe a little later. As mentioned above, they will rather die, but in their place new, stronger and more resilient ones will appear.

How to care for tea

Pay attention to the humidity and temperature in the apartment. The plant should not be too hot or cold. Optimally, if the room is 22-24 degrees. Avoid dry air, which will be detrimental to the plant. Spray it often and moisten the soil.

With proper care for the year, the tea tree should grow up to 20-30 cm and begin to bloom. When the petals appear, it is better to reduce the number of watering by 2 times, and then resume the normal regime. In winter, leave the plant in the light, and in summer hide from the scorching sun. Tea loves warmth - but only in moderation.

When the plant is strong enough and grows in height, it can be transplanted into a larger pot or garden bed. Do not forget to give the tree a beautiful appearance, this will not only add aesthetics to it, but also accelerate its growth. Trim any sticking out stems and twigs to create graceful shapes.

In warm weather, expose the indoor tea tree to fresh air. Do not be afraid that pests will attack him. One of the advantages of this plant is that midges and other insects do not like the tart smell and shy away from it.

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How to harvest

Harvest the first crop after 24-36 months. Gently tear off the leaves from the upper branches - they contain the most essential oils and nutrients. You should not prepare tea right away, it is better to dry it and let it reveal its entire flavor bouquet.

After the leaves are collected, feed the tree.To do this, purchase fertilizer for indoor plants and dilute according to the instructions. It is not worth feeding tea before harvesting, as the drink prepared from it will lose its original taste.

How to make homemade tea

To get a delicious and aromatic tea, you need to properly prepare the tea leaves. If you follow the tried and tested method, you will soon be enjoying an exquisite and unique home-grown tea.

How to dry the leaves:

• Rinse the leaves with water and dry.
• Roll them into tubes and remember lightly with your fingers so that the juice appears on the surface.
• Then put on a baking sheet, cover with cling film and leave for a quarter of an hour.
• Remove the foil, place the baking sheet in an oven heated to 130 degrees.
• Wait for the leaves to dry and remove them.
• Let the tea cool.
• Now you can leave the leaves intact, or chop them according to your taste.

You can drink pure aromatic tea. But if you add other cultivated herbs such as mint, lemon balm, thyme to it, then the drink will become not only tasty, but also useful for the immune system and the nervous system.

Tea is a plant, the properties of which have been known since ancient times. Having planted it at home, you will get a beautiful ornamental plant, from which you can prepare an invigorating and healthy drink of high quality.

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Did you know that tea can now be easily grown at home right on your windowsill? I will say more, it can play the role of a houseplant, which has excellent aromatic properties and great taste. But still, many do not know how to grow tea at home, so let's take a closer look at this.

Of course, before planting, you should know that the plant requires some care, but if you manage to grow tea, then it will delight you for a whole year.

To grow tea you will need:

• Pot;
• Water;
• Soil (you can take coniferous land and high peat);
• Drainage;
• Glass;
• Fertilizer (preferably liquid fertilizer);
• Tea seeds

Step-by-step instructions for growing tea at home

1. First you need to take tea seeds and place them in room temperature water for about two days. You can also add a growth stimulant, it will only have a beneficial effect on seed growth. For sowing, it is advisable to choose only hard, dark brown seeds.

2. Seeds that have sprouted should be planted in the soil to a depth of about 3 cm. Water well and cover with glass. The glass should be regularly wiped clean and periodically turned over.

3. You need to keep the soil moist at all times. The bush should be sprayed at least twice a week. It is worth noting that the plant grows best at room temperature on a windowsill.

4. Only after three months you will be able to see the first gatherings, but most often they die. You should not be upset, since the root system will give new fruits after a while.

5. In one year of cultivation, the bush will be more than 30 cm in height. If you take care of it correctly, then in about a year it will bloom. The flowers will give a pleasant aroma, after which small grains will appear, in the form of nuts.

6. In the warm season, the plant can be very elongated, in which case it will be necessary to cut it off. From time to time, you need to feed the tea bush, for this use ordinary fertilizers. It is worth remembering that you need to collect the leaves for tea before feeding. If your plant is already 4 years old, then it should be transplanted into larger pots.

7. After about two years, the tea tree will be large, so you can freely pick the leaves and treat your friends and acquaintances to tea.

The most delicious tea comes from the leaves that grow on the top of the bush, so you should pick them from time to time.

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Comments on news (5)

Did you know that tea can be grown at home on a windowsill? Recently, tea has become a popular houseplant, because the taste of such tea is excellent and there are many benefits from it. If you take good care of the plant, then the tea bushes on your windowsill will delight you all year round with their green hat.

Tea is a drink obtained by boiling, brewing or infusing a leaf of a tea bush, or Chinese Camellia (Camellia sinensis) - a plant of the Camellia genus of the Tea family. The species belongs to the genus Camellia (Camellia) of the Tea family (Theaceae).

Potted tea bush

Growing tea from seeds

It is better to start planting a tea bush in winter. The seeds are soaked for 3 days in water, those seeds that have not sunk to the bottom during this time should not be planted, they most likely will not germinate (or plant them separately from the main batch). We spread the drainage at the bottom of the pot and fill it with soil (coarse sand in half with sod soil). Plant a few seeds to a depth of 3 cm. The soil should always be moist, room temperature is suitable, so you can keep the seed pot on the windowsill.

Spray the bush with water twice a week. The first shoots appear in 2.5-3 months, so be patient. The first shoots may die, it's okay, after a while new shoots will appear from the living root system.

In the first year of life, tea usually grows up to 20-30 cm. And by the age of 1.5, tea can bloom. The aroma of tea flowers is unusual and original. When the tea bush has faded, fruits will appear on it, small nuts.

Tea, tea bush, or Chinese camellia (Camellia sinensis)

At the age of 3-4 years, the tea bush will need to be transplanted into a large container, further transplanting will be required every 2-3 years.

Tea bush care

The tea bush should be placed in an apartment in a sunny place, but on the hottest days, a little shading is desirable. For successful growth, the plant needs to have a sufficiently cool wintering period (10-15 ° C).

In summer, expose room tea to breathe in the air. Also at this time he will need regular and abundant watering. For this it is better to use soft water at room temperature. At the time of bud formation, watering must be reduced. It is recommended to spray the plant several times a week, reducing air humidity during flowering.

If the plant is too elongated, prune, the head of the tea bush is easily formed. You can feed the tea with standard fertilizers for flowers. You need to collect leaves for tea leaves before feeding.

From the age of two, the indoor tea bush becomes so lush and rich in foliage that you can easily treat your household to a drink of your own grown tea.

Making tea from a tea bush leaf

The best drink is obtained from the apical shoots, pinch off the shoot with two or three leaves, rub the branches in your hands - so that the raw material becomes sticky, and the leaves curl into tubes. Put tea shoots on a tray, wrap tightly with foil and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and dry the tea raw materials in the oven, at not too high temperature. The finished tea leaves are stored in a tight-fitting container.

Dried tea leaves

In manufacturing, making tea from a tea bush leaf usually includes:

• drying the leaf at a temperature of 32-40 ° C for 4-8 hours, in which the tea leaf loses some of its moisture and softens;
• repeated rolling on rollers, in which part of the juice is released;
• Enzymatic oxidation, commonly called fermentation, which allows the starch in the leaf to break down into sugars and chlorophyll into tannins;
• drying at a temperature of 90-95 ° C for black tea and 105 ° C for green tea, stopping oxidation and reducing the moisture content of the tea to 3-5%;
• cutting (except for whole leaf teas);
• sorting by size of tea leaves;
• additional processing and addition of additives;

Thanks to the excellent taste and great benefits of tea, many lovers began to grow it at home right on the windowsill. Of course, the plant requires good care, but if provided, the tea bushes will delight you throughout the year.

You will need:

- Pot;
- Water;
- Glass;
- Drainage;
- The soil;
- Fertilizers.

Step-by-step instructions for growing tea at home:

1. Take tea seeds and place them in room temperature water for two days. To help the seeds germinate faster, add a growth stimulant to the water. For sowing, choose only hard, dark brown seeds.
2. Plant the sprouted seeds in the soil to a depth of three centimeters. Water. Cover with glass. Place in a warm place. Wipe the glass regularly and turn it over. Ventilate the soil.
3. Maintain constant soil moisture. Spray the bush itself at least twice a week. The plant grows well at room temperature on a windowsill.
4. After three months, the first shoots appear. Most often they die, but you shouldn't be upset. Soon the root system will give new shoots.
5. In one year, the tea bush reaches 30 centimeters in height. By the age of one and a half, it usually begins to bloom. The flowers of the plant exude an unusual and peculiar aroma. When the flowering time ends, fruits appear on the bush in the form of small nuts.
6. In the warm season, put room tea on the balcony. If you see that the plant is very elongated, prune it. Form a hat on top. Feed the tea bush from time to time. Use regular flower fertilizers as top dressing. It should be remembered that the leaves for brewing should be collected before feeding. A four-year-old plant needs to be transplanted into a large container.
7. Two years later, when the room tea is covered with lush and rich foliage, it can be brewed and treated with a drink to family and friends. Pinch off the shoot with three leaves from the top. Rub it in your hand. It is necessary to grind until the raw material becomes sticky. In addition, the leaves should curl up into tubes.
8. Next, cover the shoots with foil. After 15 minutes, remove the film, and put the raw tea in a slightly preheated oven. Dried shoots are ready for brewing.

Surprise your guests with an unusual treat that they will love.