Temperature and Humidity
You’ll see the most effective progress when temperatures keep between 60 and 80°F.
These crops choose reasonable humidity however are adaptable to varied circumstances inside their hardiness vary.
Fertilizing
Feed month-to-month throughout spring and summer time with an acid-loving plant fertilizer.
Fertilize as soon as a month through the spring and summer time with an acidic fertilizer combine. Right down to Earth makes a great product with an NPK ratio of 4-3-6.
Right down to Earth Acid Combine
It’s made with cottonseed meal, fish bone meal, rock phosphate, and kelp meal.
You will discover one-, five-, and 15-pound containers accessible at Arbico Organics.
Container Rising
In case you dwell outdoors of Zones 7 to 9 or your native circumstances don’t swimsuit this species, it’s completely nice to develop yours in a container and transfer it inside or right into a greenhouse through the winter.
You’ll be able to be taught extra about rising camellias in containers right here.
Select a deep container to accommodate the plant’s taproot. Make sure the pot has good drainage, and use a well-draining, acidic potting combine.
Cultivars to Choose
The assamica selection, generally known as giant leaf, likes heat climate. It’s additionally pretty tolerant of drought.
C. sinensis var. sinensis, however, is extra cold-hardy, with smaller leaves. It’s the one that’s mostly used to make black and inexperienced teas.
Tea Plant
In case you’d like to provide it a strive, you may seize dwell crops in one- or two-gallon pots at Quick Rising Timber.
Dave’s Fave
‘Dave’s Fave’ is a var. sinensis cultivar with giant blossoms and a satisfying rounded form.
It stays pretty petite at eight ft tall and vast, and might tolerate Zone 6b with a bit of safety through the coldest durations.
‘Dave’s Fave’ comes from Camellia Forest proprietor David Parks, who bred the cultivar to supply spherical leaves on an especially bushy plant.
Korea
‘Korea’ is a sinensis selection that grows in Zones 7 to 9. It’s one I like to recommend for container rising, as a result of even when it’s mature, it solely grows to about six ft tall and vast.
This cultivar comes from a plant discovered on Chiri Mountain in South Korea and is a vigorous grower.
Rosea
Rosea isn’t a cultivated selection, it’s really a type of sinensis that was found in Japan in 1960. As a substitute of the traditional white blossoms, this one has pale pink flowers – and many them.
New progress is darkish burgundy and you may see hints of purple all through the plant. It makes for a placing decorative that doubles as an edible.
It was delivered to the US by Ted Stephens, proprietor of Nurseries Caroliniana, who planted it on the Clemson College Gardens within the Sixties.
He cultivated cuttings of the plant and launched it into the market within the US within the early Nineteen Nineties.
It’s a gradual grower, hardy in Zones 6 to 9, and can solely attain about eight ft tall and vast at maturity.
Silver Mud
Grown in Japan by botanist Dr. Masato Yokoi and delivered to the US by Nurseries Caroliniana, this can be a cold-hardy, petite sinensis possibility with leaves that don’t appear like every other camellia I’ve ever seen.
The younger foliage is nearly utterly white and because it slowly matures, the leaves transition to inexperienced with silver splotches and speckles of colour.
Hardy in Zones 6 to 9, it stays small at solely six ft tall and vast at most. Give it some afternoon shade, as full solar will burn the leaves.
Tea Breeze
A lot of the tea produced within the US comes from South Carolina.
Even industrial big Lipton operated within the state for many years till the plantations had been finally bought to Bigelow Tea Firm, which operates the Charleston Tea Plantation in the present day.
Tea produced within the US usually comes from ‘Tea Breeze,’ which is gentle and fewer bitter than many black tea cultivars produced abroad.
This sinensis cultivar grows to the harvest-perfect peak of about six ft tall and vast in Zones 6 to 9.
Upkeep
Younger camellias generally develop with a slight lean. If yours wants help, go forward and prop it up, however ensure to not tie it too tightly.
The stem wants room to develop, and a cosy tie may cause harm.
There are two predominant approaches to pruning, relying on whether or not you’re rising your plant as a decorative or for tea manufacturing.
