Today most new tea plants are grown from cuttings of mature or grown plants. New plants are grown in greenhouses where temperature and humidity are controlled so that they will grow quickly. After about six months, or when the plants are six to eight inches tall, they are transplanted to field.
Tea is grown as a bush that is allowed to grow about 1 meter high. This make it easier to pick. Regular programmer of manuring, weeding and pesticides application are carried on throughout the year.
The number of times the plants price new buds and leaves and the number of times leaves can be harvested varies depending on where the plants are grown.
The plucking of the young leaves – the famous ‘two leaves and a bud’ - talks place the year round in most of Southeast Asia.
Leaves are picked by hand every seven to fourteen days. Tea is grown in more than thirty countries.
The main tea producing countries in terms of area planted are China, India and Sri Lanka.
Camellia sinensis cultivation system
