Summer and autumn are critical periods for tea garden management. Strengthening summer and autumn tea garden production management is the foundation for ensuring high-quality and high-yield summer and autumn tea and the following spring tea. The Planting Industry Management Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, together with the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center, the Expert Advisory Group for Tea of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and the National Tea Industry Technology System, have developed the following technical guidance on summer and autumn tea garden production management and disaster prevention and mitigation.

Strengthening Tea Garden Production Management

(1) Tea Plant Pruning

– For year-round harvesting tea gardens, promptly perform the initial light pruning after spring tea harvesting, cutting off the top 5-10 cm of shoots from the canopy. During summer tea harvesting, it is advisable to allow some growth retention and use the Leaf-retention method or tip-picking method to maintain an appropriate leaf layer thickness. Harvesting should be appropriately stopped earlier in autumn to avoid affecting the yield and quality of the following year's spring tea. To cultivate a good picking surface, the second light pruning should be completed before mid-July, with the pruning height raised by about 10 cm from the previous cut. If there is high temperature and drought, pruning should be postponed. For tea gardens that need renovation, heavy pruning or deep pruning should be conducted after spring tea harvesting ends.

(2) Tea Garden Fertilization

– Fertilizer application typically involves fast-acting chemical nitrogen fertilizer as the main component, supplemented by phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. The amount of fertilizer used should take into account factors such as tree age, growth vigor, targeted yield, and Soil nutrient content.

1. Soil Fertilization: Before the start of summer tea growth, general production tea gardens can apply 15-20 kg of urea or 30-40 kg of tea plant-specific compound fertilizer per mu (1 mu = 0.067 hectares). High-yield tea gardens may increase this amount. It is recommended to use high-nitrogen, low-phosphorus, medium-potassium compound fertilizers and avoid applying too much phosphorus fertilizer. Typically, trenches are dug vertically downward at the edge of the tea plants, with a depth of over 10 cm, for fertilization. For row-planted tea gardens, apply fertilizer in rows; for clump-planted tea gardens, apply fertilizer around the clumps.

2. Foliar Fertilization: Foliar fertilization can be applied during the growth period of summer and autumn tea, after each tea season and before the emergence of new shoots in the next round. Apply once every week, preferably in the morning before 10 am, in the afternoon after 4 pm, or on cloudy days. Use electrostatic sprayers or agricultural plant protection drones for application, with the drone flying at a height of 1.5 m, and the foliar fertilizer application rate being 1.0 L per mu.

Water-soluble urea, amino acid water-soluble fertilizer, humic acid foliar fertilizer, and biogas liquid fertilizer can be selected and used at appropriate concentrations. Specifically, water-soluble urea-based foliar fertilizers should be used at a concentration of 1%-2% urea, amino acid-based foliar fertilizers at 50 mg per mu, and humic acid foliar fertilizers sprayed at a concentration of 2% active humic acid ingredients (15 kg per mu, generally diluted 600-800 times).

(3) Weed Control

1. Mechanical Weed Control: Use common portable power weeders or hand-guided multifunctional weeders available on the market. When weeding, keep the blade/trimming rope at a certain angle to ensure that the cut weeds fall near the tea plants. Maintain a moderate speed when using the weeder in the tea garden; if the grass is dense, reduce the weeding speed, and if it is sparse, you can increase the speed. During operation, the blade or trimming rope of the weeder should avoid hitting hard objects like stones, and regularly clean out the grass debris inside the machine or tangled weeds around the motor to ensure safe usage.

2. Manual Weed Control: Typically performed once a month from June to August. For shallow cultivation and weed control in summer, different approaches should be taken based on the age of the tea plants. For mature and aging tea gardens, cultivation and weed control should ideally be carried out before the flowering of autumn vegetation to reduce the occurrence of weeds in the following year. Young tea gardens should increase the frequency of cultivation and weed control in the tea garden.

3. Mulching to Suppress Weeds: For young tea gardens and production tea gardens with lower canopy coverage, weed control fabric can be laid between the rows of tea plants. There are two methods: full coverage and partial coverage. Full coverage means completely covering the soil between the tea rows with weed control fabric, requiring the fabric width to be 10 cm wider than the row spacing, laid flat, and close to the base of the tea seedlings, with stakes securing it every 2 meters. Partial coverage usually involves laying 40-50 cm wide weed control fabric on both sides of the tea rows, with a 40-50 cm wide strip of exposed soil in the middle of the tea row, primarily used in young tea gardens and can be combined with the “weed control with grass” technique.

4. Weed Control with Grass: In young tea gardens or production tea gardens with lower canopy coverage, white Clover, red clover, or ryegrass can be interplanted between the rows. Generally, these seeds are sown in the middle to late October, using 1-1.5 kg of seed per mu, with a width of 40-50 cm, maintaining a distance of over 20 cm from the roots of the tea plants. After sowing, 5 kg of nitrogen fertilizer per mu should be applied in early to mid-March of the following year to promote growth.

(4) Shallow Cultivation of Tea Gardens

– Shallow cultivation of tea gardens should be performed after the summer tea harvest. The cultivation depth should be 5-10 cm. For regions with significant autumn tea harvesting, another round of shallow cultivation should be performed in August to September. Small rotary tillers, micro-tillers, and other equipment can be used in mountainous tea gardens, while seated multifunctional cultivators, tracked self-propelled multifunctional cultivators, and similar equipment can be used in flat tea gardens. Avoid shallow cultivation during prolonged high temperature and drought conditions.

(5) Disease and Pest Control

1. Hemipteran Pests: Green Tea aphids and black scale insects cause severe damage in summer. Red and yellow double-colored insect-trapping boards can be used for trapping, suspended 20 cm above the canopy, using 23-25 boards per mu, placed for 2-3 weeks, preferably after tea garden pruning. When pest density is high, biological pesticides can be sprayed.

2. Lepidopteran Pests: June to September is the peak period for damage caused by tea looper and gray tea looper. Late June to July is the peak period for tea caterpillar damage, with adult emergence peaks in early June and August. Use insect traps continuously to trap adult insects, with the light source positioned 40-60 cm above the canopy, operating for 3 hours after sunset daily. Use pheromone traps to trap male moths, using 2-4 sets per mu, suspended 25 cm above the canopy, with pheromone core replacement every three months. When pest density is high, biological pesticides can be sprayed.

3. Thysanopteran Pests: Tea thrips and yellow tea thrips cause serious damage in summer, with the peak period in June. Use insect-trapping boards for trapping, suspended 20 cm above the canopy, using 23-25 boards per mu, replacing them when fully loaded, preferably after tea garden pruning.

4. Acarine Pests: Tea orange spider mites, tea short-bodied mites, and tea leaf-footed mites cause serious damage in summer. There are two peak periods for tea orange spider mites in summer; the population of tea short-bodied mites increases rapidly in June, with the peak period from July to September; the peak period for tea leaf-footed mites is July to August. Beneficial predatory mites, such as Phytoseiulus persimilis, can be released in the tea garden at the initial stage of pest infestation