1. V.P. Nursery:
The purpose of vegetative propagation is to strike the nodal leaf-cuttings from the desired tea plant and put in a suitable rooting medium for raising individual plants having similar genetic constitution of the parents. For a successful nursery management through vegetative propagation, it is essential to maintain ready stock of mother tea bushes from which the nodal cuttings are supplied to the V.P. nursery. The mother tea bushes are selected either from the existing tea plantation or a separate Nucleus Clone Plot (NCP).
2. Seed nursery:
Tea seeds are collected from either general seedbarie or bi /poly clonal seedbarie. To obtained viable seeds, the collection of seeds that lay on the ground beneath the seed bearers is made daily or alternate day. After collection, seeds are preliminary sorted out according to the sizes, viz. small, medium or large, which may vary from jat to jat. Thereafter the seeds are passed through the sieve having 9-11 mesh to categorize the seeds for germination test.
3. Germination test:
All seeds that passed over the shifter are placed in a large receptacle full of water, about 15cm deep above the level of seeds that sink for about 24-72 hours. The true sinkers and floaters are separated. The true floaters are then spread on a large tarpaulin. The cracked or split seeds are picked by hand and put immediately in the nursery bed. Seeds which are cheesy, starred or damaged are discarded.
4. Seed Nursery bed:
The nursery site is selected near the plantation. The nursery beds are designed with proper drains, paths and roads. Beds may be of any length but the width of them should not exceed 1.5m. Generally abed 1.5mx30m in size, may accommodate about 37.32kg of seeds which is sufficient to plant as much as 0.08 ha area.
The seeds are put in triangular pattern, about 3cm beneath the soil and covered with loose soil light mulch. If the plants are to be lifted at 12th month, the spacing, 20cm is suitable, while 25cm is suitable if the plants are to be lifted after 18-24 months.
Proper shading and watering is necessary for the development and growth of seedlings. Beds may be constructed with or without shade. Green crops like Bogamedeloa, Tephorosia candida or Priotropis cytisoides or Crotalaria anagyroides are suitable. Green crops are sawn in lines by dibbling. These are regularly hedged or lopped and used as mulch. The loppings are thinly spread over the bed so that the young seedlings can easily push through.
5. Design of Nursery Unit
Nursery site
o It should be an open area
o Close proximity to accessible roads, tea plantation
o Requires perennial water sources (stream, pond etc)
o Well drained flat areas
Land preparation
o All stumps, roots are removed from the site
o Ploughed to a depth of about 15 cm.
o Level the area according to the topo-sequence and soil-texture, the paths, and drains
o Main drains dug up to a depth of 60 cm and sub-drains are 30 cm. wide and 15 cm. deep for the removal of access water.
Nursery bed preparation
Alignment: North-South (V.P. Nursery)
East-West (Seed Nursery)
Shade: The low shade primary bed is prepared; oval shaped in rainy season and slanting in dry season, 1.5 m. wide and 10 m. long. It is provided with bamboo splits/tarja at a height of 14-22 cm.
The high shade secondary bed is also made of bamboo splits/tarja at a height of 1.2 m.
Method of Planting and Propagation procedure
Special techniques has been used in planting the tea cuttings to get maximum number of (about 90%) rooted plants
Ø Preparation of rooting media
Ø Placement of the cuttings in the primary bed
Ø Polythene sleeve is done precisely
6. Maintenance:
A close supervision is required for the nursery plants. Shed must be remaining constantly and not watered directly on the cuttings. The cuttings take 4-6 weeks for callusing and 10-12 weeks for rooting. After 90 days, the shade may be removed gradually over a period of 10-15 days and expose for a short duration. Sudden removal of shade may not permissible. Weeding is done manually.
Hardening:
The young plants of 4-6 months are hardened by removing shade gradually over a period of 4-6 weeks for a few hours.
Nursery maladies and remedies:
Various maladies are encountered in tea nursery such as pest-attack, diseases, weed infestation, sun-scorch, water stress etc. So the pre-planting soil-sterilization, post-planting curative treatments has been involved.
