Land selection for tea cultivation

Prior to land selection it is important to consider the climatic requirements for tea cultivation such as 2500-3000 mm annual rain fall and 19-25^oC ambient temperature and most important soil requirement i.e. acidic soil of pH 4.5 – 5.5.

Why land selection is so important?

In order to ensure maximum return it is necessary to provide most conducive soil conditions for better establishment of plants and attain high yields. This is particularly important as cost of establishment of tea is so high. In addition, cultivars branded as high yielder demand best of soil conditions for it to perform well. These objectives are not realized if land selection is not done properly and all these efforts get wasted if we cannot get expected returns. This is only possible if optimum crop yields are realized. In order to achieve optimum yields it is imperative that most suitable land for tea cultivation is selected. This will no doubt result in good plant establishment that eventually cover the ground in double quick time protecting the soil well. This is vital as soil is rather exposed during plant establishment and it is considered as the most vulnerable period for soil erosion.

How to select a suitable land?

There are several criteria to consider in selecting a land for tea cultivation.

Slope

Slope of the land which has to be below 55 per cent however it has to be below 70 per cent % due to high vulnerability of soil for erosion in Mid Country.

Soil depth

Soil depth should be over 100 cm to support good root system.

Gravel & Boulders

Surface should not have more than 10% gravel and boulders

Soil profile

Soil profile or soil layer should not impregnated with more than 10% gravel

Next step or operation after land selection is land preparation. Land preparation involves clearance, adoption of soil conservation practices and soil rehabilitation prior to planting tea. In my next post I hope to go into these topics.

How can we maintain a good cover on soil?

In my previous post I have given an overview on soil protection.This post will help you to improve your knowledge on soil further...

There are so called recommended practices for growers to follow to protect soil, in the long run it would help them to enhance crop yields and also preserve environment. These are basically aimed at maintaining a good ground cover throughout the period. How can we have a good cover on soil? Let us see what are the ways and means of achieving this. Technically these are known as Agronomic and cultural practices. These are nothing but Good Agricultural Practices – so called GAP, one has to take care of in any form of farming or cultivation. First of all I would like to list them as follows;

Agronomic and Cultural Practices:

Land selection:
Contour planting of tea
Bush formation
Bush management (plucking & pruning)
Shade and green manure crop management
Weed management
Crop Protection
In-filling or supplying vacancies

I would like to elaborate all the practices listed above in my next post

Do you know that soil is the most valuable resource for tea cultivation

What do you know about soil? Well, soil is a mixture of particles derived from earths crust and humus or organic matter. Soil is vital to sustain very existence of plant life. Soil formation is such a so slow process that it takes about 1000 years to build 1 inch (30 cm) of soil. But, it can get lost in no time due to man’s activities such as cultivation of crops.

You know that soil anchor the plants and provide necessary nutrients for its existence. Therefore, to sustain crop yield it is necessary to protect and manage soil properly. For a crop like tea, situated mostly among sloping lands in Sri Lanka, caring and nurturing of this valuable resource is a must. Compare to other tea growing countries our productivity, Yield per hectare (YPH) is low. Why? I think we have lost most of the fertile top soil which got eroded over the years and deposited in reservoirs, lowering their capacities as well, consequences of which is a different issue no doubt link to poor soil protection.

In addition, there has been a widespread declining yield trend in most of the plantations. This is attributed to various factors like climate change, man management, crop management, recurrent droughts etc etc. but not on soil management until recently. Where lowering of soil fertility is the common topic for all the ills. It is no secret that to maintain soil fertility one has to protect soil.

With this introductory remarks, let’s see how we can protect our soil in tea plantations from from the beginning so to speak. To see how it is done, please await for my next post to be published in due course.