Pruning of Tea
The young tender shoots of tea plant constitute the economic yield of the tea crop. Therefore, the tea plant, which is a small tree or a shrub by habit, under cultivation, is trained to form a low bush from early years to form a table for convenience for harvesting the young tender shoots for plucking.
This has already been discussed and you have learnt how the young tea plants are trained to form a low spreading bush. Mature tea bushes are pruned at intervals to renovate the branch system for harvesting the maximum possible vegetative growth (shoots).
Tea plants, under cultivation, are kept low forming a spreading bush with a flat plucking surface so that the young tender shoots can be harvested conveniently. In some countries, the plucking surface is made domed shaped also. Tea being a perennial plant, unless controlled artificially; its vegetative and reproductive phases proceeds side by side, the former continuously and the latter according to the seasonal rhythm. For tea production, the practice of bush management is directed towards keeping the plant continuously in the vegetative phase so that more and more shoots can be harvested. This paramount purpose is achieved by pruning. Thus, pruning is the most important cultural operation in commercial tea production.
