Temperature and Humidity
You’ll see the very best development when temperatures keep between 60 and 80°F.
These vegetation want reasonable humidity however are adaptable to varied circumstances inside their hardiness vary.
Fertilizing
Feed month-to-month throughout spring and summer season with an acid-loving plant fertilizer.
Fertilize as soon as a month throughout the spring and summer season with an acidic fertilizer combine. Right down to Earth makes 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 could find one-, five-, and 15-pound containers out there at Arbico Organics.
Container Rising
Should you stay 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 throughout the winter.
You may study 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, often called giant leaf, likes heat climate. It’s additionally pretty tolerant of drought.
C. sinensis var. sinensis, then again, is extra cold-hardy, with smaller leaves. It’s the one that’s mostly used to make black and inexperienced teas.
Tea Plant
Should you’d like to offer it a strive, you’ll be able to seize stay vegetation 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 lovely rounded form.
It stays pretty petite at eight toes tall and large, and may tolerate Zone 6b with a bit of safety throughout the coldest intervals.
‘Dave’s Fave’ comes from Camellia Forest proprietor David Parks, who bred the cultivar to provide 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 toes tall and large.
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 basic white blossoms, this one has pale pink flowers – and plenty of them.
New development is darkish burgundy and you’ll see hints of purple all through the plant. It makes for a placing decorative that doubles as an edible.
It was dropped at the US by Ted Stephens, proprietor of Nurseries Caroliniana, who planted it on the Clemson College Gardens within the Nineteen Sixties.
He cultivated cuttings of the plant and launched it into the market within the US within the early Nineties.
It’s a sluggish grower, hardy in Zones 6 to 9, and can solely attain about eight toes tall and large at maturity.
Silver Mud
Grown in Japan by botanist Dr. Masato Yokoi and dropped at the US by Nurseries Caroliniana, it is a cold-hardy, petite sinensis choice with leaves that don’t seem like every other camellia I’ve ever seen.
The younger foliage is sort of fully white and because it slowly matures, the leaves transition to inexperienced with silver splotches and speckles of shade.
Hardy in Zones 6 to 9, it stays small at solely six toes tall and large at most. Give it some afternoon shade, as full solar will burn the leaves.
Tea Breeze
Many of the tea produced within the US comes from South Carolina.
Even industrial large Lipton operated within the state for many years till the plantations had been ultimately bought to Bigelow Tea Firm, which operates the Charleston Tea Plantation at this time.
Tea produced within the US sometimes comes from ‘Tea Breeze,’ which is delicate and fewer bitter than many black tea cultivars produced abroad.
This sinensis cultivar grows to the harvest-perfect peak of about six toes tall and large in Zones 6 to 9.
Upkeep
Younger camellias generally develop with a slight lean. If yours wants assist, go forward and prop it up, however make sure to not tie it too tightly.
The stem wants room to develop, and a cosy tie could cause harm.
There are two important approaches to pruning, relying on whether or not you’re rising your plant as a decorative or for tea manufacturing.