It is difficult to find a person who does not like and does not drink tea at all. It is even more difficult to find someone who knows how to grow it at home. Could something bring more pleasure than a hand-grown plant, beautiful at all stages of its existence: from the first sprouts to the last sip. Many are interested in what tea seeds look like.
Chinese camellia
The original name of tea is Chinese camellia. On average, the height of plants ranges from 4 meters. Some very rare specimens of some varieties turn into trees up to 18 meters. You can’t grow this in an apartment, so it’s about bush options that will be enough for a comfortable existence of a flower pot. It is not difficult to grow tea: it is unpretentious, unattractive for pests, almost not sick.
Landing Features
The easiest and most win-win option for planting - seeds. It is necessary to treat their choice correctly, to acquire specimens of brown color, without visible damage.
The first step is to soak the tea seeds in water. On this Wednesday they are placed for three days. Next, you must adhere to the following algorithm:
- Drainage is placed in a pre-selected container and prepared soil is poured.
- Tea seeds are deepened into the ground by no more than three centimeters. After that, water them.
- Immediately after water procedures, glass is placed on top of the pot. This is necessary to create a greenhouse effect.
- Throughout the growing period, you need to carefully monitor and maintain soil moisture. She must not dry out.
The first seedlings grateful for leaving will appear in 2-3 months. The first shoots may die. But this is not a reason to fall into despair. They will surely be followed by others. Every year, the bush will become stronger and higher. Three years later, it will require more spacious accommodation. The capacity will have to be changed. By this time, the plant will become quite large.
How to care for a mature bush of tea
The plant should be placed in a bright, but not sunny place. From the point of view of temperature, tea calmly withstands +15 degrees. And in the summer he will be quite comfortable growing outdoors.
One of his few “weaknesses” is humidity. Tea should be regularly and abundantly watered, and sprayed during flowering. For feeding, the most common fertilizers are suitable, which the housewives send in flower pots.
When it seems that the bush has nowhere to grow, you can begin to regularly trim it, giving the foliage crown a beautiful shape.
Harvesting and preparing a drink
The first leaves suitable for brewing can be picked from the bush two years after planting. A cup of homemade tea can be prepared from the top three leaves and a kidney. To do this, just rub them into the crumb with your palms.
For different types of tea, different procedures are applicable. The collected green tea leaves are infused with hot steam and then dried. No fermentation. Thanks to a simple procedure, homemade green tea is in stock.
Black tea is fermented. This procedure involves drying the leaves for 12 hours, followed by twisting and placing in a warm place. You should also cover them with a damp cloth. Some time will pass, and the tea leaves will darken. This means that it is time to completely dry them, after which they will be ready for use.
You can make red tea at home. The fermentation process is the same, but shorter in time. Leaflets are considered ready before they darken to a classic dark state.
Useful properties of tea
It is believed that green is one of the most useful types of tea. This does not mean that black does not have beneficial properties for the body. This alone is enough to install on your windowsill a pot with a bush, from which this noble drink is prepared. Many do not know how to choose tea seeds. The feedback from experienced gardeners will help you make the right choice. The benefits of drinking tea in moderation:
- prevention of many types of oncology;
- beneficial effect on immunity, its strengthening;
- lowering blood cholesterol;
- maintaining vigor and tone;
- body support during weight loss by exposure to certain alkaloids;
- antibacterial, antimicrobial effects on the body.
In addition, high-quality green tea perfectly enhances the protective function of the body. If you add a spoonful of natural honey to a warm drink, then tea will turn into a storehouse of vitamins. With a rather extensive list of beneficial effects, tea is not recommended to everyone. Moreover, for some categories of people it is contraindicated for use, or its intake is limited to the minimum daily doses:
- The drink increases the acidity of the stomach. Therefore, its presence in the diet for peptic ulcers is undesirable.
- The caffeine contained in each cup of tea constricts blood vessels and promotes the formation of blood clots - enemies of people suffering from hypertension and atherosclerosis.
- For the aforementioned reason, you should not use it for those people who have trouble sleeping.
If there are serious diseases of the internal organs, then before taking tea, you should consult your doctor. Tea as a plant is very unpretentious. Growing it is interesting and exciting. Upon reaching the first noticeable results, it also becomes a wonderful green decoration for the home. It does not require much attention, material investment and labor.
The opinion of gardeners
Planting tea with seeds is the best option. It is not necessary to plant it in order to enjoy the taste of brewed leaves after ripening, you can treat tea as an indoor or garden plant, enjoying the contemplation of the results of your work, and even take it as an object of pride. Especially if this is the first garden experience in life.
In conclusion, we can highlight an important detail. From the point of view of growth, maturation and other factors, the most comfortable season for planting green and black tea seeds at home is February. This is the point of view of gardening experts.