Growing Tea (camellia sinensis); am I on the good track ?

Hello,

Gradually getting more and more addicted to gardening, one of the many plants I want to grow next season is Tea (camellia sinensis), the one you drink (not to be confused with tea tree, Melaleuca alternifolia).

From what I've read, the plant love slightly acidic soil (at least between 6 and 6.5 pH), can have roots several meters long...

At first I planned to plant them in a square garden bed, on my terrace. Having started to harvest ashwagandhas grown the same way, and having one root going deep into said terrace, I'm thinking that maybe having a tree inside my terrace (and I rent by the way, so it's technically not mine) is not a good idea, no matter how medicinal it is. The tree, not the terrace.

So I'm looking at other options to grow tea. Can it be grown and still provide a decent harvest if grown in big pots ?

I'm thinking about putting that square garden in the actual garden, so that if roots go in the soil, well I won't have to demolish a house to remove the roots. The problem is, if in the first place I thought about growing tea in a container, it's because my soil is clay, and probably more on the alkaline side (as plants like blueberries do not like it). Would that work, if I fill that container with acidic soil ? As the root would probably break out of the container and reach clay/alkaline soil, the tree might not like it...

To simplify my question: can I grow camellia sinensis in big pots without issues and still be able to get a good harvest of tea (if so, how much plants could do it ? for one or two person) ? Or can I grow it in a container, which has clay/alkaline soil underneath ?

Thanks.

maybe really big pots. until a tea bush is pretty big, you don’t get more than a couple cups (of liquid tea, not leaves) worth out of a harvest. i currently have 7 plants in the ground (and a bunch of seedlings that are about ready to be planted) and my first flush harvest this year didn’t fill a half-pint jar.

if you’ve gotta do pots, i’d go as big as possible within reason (assuming you’ll want to move them when/if you move).

You may be better off in pots because Camellia Sinensis is also quite a tender plant. If you can get hold of Camellia sinensis sinensis that is a bit more hardy, but Camellia sinensis assamica is quite tender.

From The Ferns Website

The var sinensis can tolerate winter temperatures falling occasionally as low as -5 to -10°c, and grows best in the warm temperate to subtropical zone, whilst var assamica is less cold tolerant and is found from the subtropics to tropical areas.

They also need a fair amount of rain consistently, which may be a bit tedious in pots....Commercially they grow them in hedges, so they can be kept quite compact and still be happy. If you think of them as tender blueberries they need similar acid aerated damp soil conditions. Mine died due to water logging and salt winds I think. I will try again in my new bluieberry patch which is a bit more sheltered.

There are a few threads on Permies discussing tea : try these : https://permies.com/t/166182 https://permies.com/t/39239 https://permies.com/t/65667 https://permies.com/t/60478

Good morning! I grow camellia sinensis also. I live in zone 8b and my plants have shrugged off temps down to 15 degrees with no problems. Once you put them in the ground they grow very fast. Camellia Japonica and Camellia sasanqua are slow growers by comparison. Greg is right. 1 or 2 bushes won’t give you that much yield. To make tea - gray, white, green or black - you only want to harvest the tender most growing tips. The more you harvest, the more they produce. That’s why they are usually grown in rows - easier and better harvest. You’ll be better off, yield wise, if plant four or more. If it’s your soil you are worried about, just acidify it. Buy a ph test kit, to determine your soils ph, and simply add iron sulfate, aluminum sulfate or elemental sulfur until you’ve reached you desired ph. They’re all fairly cheap and can be picked up online or at the big box stores. Also, you don’t need to acidify you whole yard - just the area where you wish to grow your tea plants. Also, you want to test your soil yearly and acidify the soil when needed. Use pine straw mulch (if you can find it) under your plants and this will help keep your soil acidic. I hope this helps and good luck!

i grew camellia sinensis in a relatively small pot for years but ended up killing it due to underwatering