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THE AUTHOR
 

TEA VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION THAT CHANGED THE FACE OF TEA GARDENS

This section - Tea Vegetative Propagation, tries to capture some of the most important points under my Web Page titled Tea Plants Nursery.

If you have visited a tea estate a few decades ago you must have definitely seen a mixture of ‘old seedling’-planted tea bushes and fields under ‘Tea Vegetative Propagation.’ You wouldn’t have failed to notice the vast difference in them in respect of growth, size of leaves and the sheer beauty between the two types of tea fields.

But today, you can see most of the island’s tea plantations have been replanted with ‘vegetatively’ propagated or VP tea plants, thereby the tea gardens have gained an entirely new look, beauty, lushness and splendor. Here’s how the transformation was made possible.

Consequent to experience gained after the arrival of the devastating Blister Blight, tea vegetative propagation firmly took root in the Tea Gardens of Sri Lanka and acknowledged as superior to the older and long-established methods.

Unlike other cross-pollinated plants, tea produces a mixture of good and bad qualities with many differences and shape of leaves, tendency to produce Banji shoots, length of nodes and resistance to diseases. These differences have influenced cropping capacity of the tea bush. It was discovered tea growing from seed did not produce progeny true to the type bearing identical characteristics of the parent bush or seed bearer.

As you are aware, tea seeds were brought into this country from different sources from the earliest times thereby tea areas have been filled with heterogeneous mixtures of hybrids.

A Clone is the progeny from a particular type of tree or bush grown by means of Tea Vegetative Propagation or VP. In this case, the mother tree is reproduced genetically in each member of the Clone.

Compared to the old system, Tea Vegetative Propagation is a simple process. Excellent results are obtained with reasonable care and interest.

Any old tea area will reveal certain bushes which are better than others with regard to yield, growth, vigor and resistance to disease. The type of tea bush best suited are selected as Parent Bushes and material from them used for large scale multiplication by vegetative means have proven amazing results. Yields were greatly increased and their vigorous growths were found to be greatly resistant to pests and diseases.

All good hereditary characteristics of the parent bush can therefore be fixed in the progeny by a simple process using ‘Internode Cuttings’ from the selected parent bush as material for propagation. The resulting Clones thus are endowed with the same genetical qualities of the parent bush.

Only small portions of plant material is necessary to propagate a large number of plants from the cuttings obtained from a single bush. This has made Vegetative Propagation enormously economical and revolutionized the Ceylon Tea plantations.

SELECTION OF PARENT BUSHES - AN IMPORTANT PROCESS IN TEA VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION

MOTHER BUSHES are selected using the following main criteria:

1 – Yield 2 – Resistance to Diseases 3 – Capacity to Withstand Drought 4 – Ability to Run a Longer Cycle

The initial selection of bushes are done by pruners, pluckers and the estate managers by discarding the following types:

- Types which suffer most from Blister Blight, Shot Hole Borer and other pests and diseases - Bushes with open plucking tables - Types which flower and seed freely - Bushes which grow upright and produce Banji freely - Bushes having poor spread and few plucking points - Bushes with shorter internodes - Tea bushes alongside roads and adjoining vacant patches

METHOD OF TAKING CUTTINGS

Shoots sufficient to produce the required number of cuttings are removed from the bush, placed in a bucket of water and taken to the nursery. Shoots are not tied tightly into bundles as this will damage the leaves. They are labeled for identification.

Cuttings are always handled under the shade. All soft and sappy portions, together with portions that are woody, where the bark begins to crack, are discarded. Damaged, diseased and infected leaves also are discarded.

Taking of cuttings from trees that have reached the flowering stage is avoided as cuttings from such trees develop more flowers than shoot growth.

Using a sharp budding knife or blade, a clean cut is made without mutilating any part of the cuttings. The cuttings are put into a bucket of water to prevent them from quick drying. Once the required cuttings are taken, they are planted in the nursery without any delay.

PLANTING OF CUTTINGS

The cuttings are inserted up to the axils of the leaves in rows across the beds, the stems being firmed with the fingers in an angle that places the lower leaf flat on the surface of the soil.

SHADING

All cuttings planted must be shaded immediately with bracken fern before any direct sunlight causes scorch resulting in poor rooting.

LABELLING

Cuttings are labeled using metal labels bearing Clone Numbers and Date of Planting. They are inserted between the cuttings of each Clone.

FROM TEA VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION TO TEA NURSERY