The extreme high temperatures this summer had a significant impact on Tea gardens across the country. To promote the recovery of tea trees and ensure the yield and quality of Spring Tea next year, the National Agricultural Technology Extension Service Center recently issued scientific fertilization guidance for tea trees in the autumn and winter of 2025.

I. Fertilization Principles

Since July, southern regions of our country have suffered from prolonged extreme high temperatures and droughts, which had a significant impact on the growth of tea trees. Large areas of tea gardens were affected in Chongqing, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Henan, and other provinces (municipalities), while a considerable number of tea gardens also suffered damage in Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Sichuan, and other provinces. The tea trees showed symptoms such as withered leaves, inhibited growth of summer shoots, and the drying and shedding of branches and leaves. It is essential to seize the favorable opportunity in autumn to quickly restore the growth of tea trees and ensure the yield and quality of spring tea next year.

1. Strengthen management in autumn, and if necessary, combine it with canopy pruning and other measures to promote the growth of autumn shoots, prevent excessive growth of autumn shoot branches, maintain normal lignification, and enable axillary buds and leaves to enter dormancy in time, avoiding overwintering of tender shoots.

2. Apply base fertilizer appropriately earlier, increase the application of organic fertilizer, and apply well-decomposed organic fertilizer and fast-acting chemical fertilizer together, combining deep plowing with appropriate depth of application to stimulate root vitality. Combine base fertilizer with top-dressing, and appropriately increase the proportion of nutrients in the base fertilizer. Organic fertilizer, phosphorus-potassium fertilizer, and microelement fertilizers should be used as base fertilizers, while top-dressing should primarily use fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer, and the timing of top-dressing should depend on the growth of the tea tree and tea harvesting conditions.

3. Determine the total annual nitrogen fertilizer application based on the type of tea, yield level, and soil fertility conditions. Reasonably apply phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium fertilizers, reducing their usage in tea gardens with excessively high available phosphorus and potassium content in the soil. Sulfur-based formula fertilizers can be used to supplement sulfur nutrition, and zinc and boron fertilizers should be applied to zinc- and boron-deficient tea gardens.

4. Strengthen irrigation system construction in tea gardens and combine scientific fertilization with green cultivation techniques that increase yield and efficiency.

II. Fertilization Recommendations

1. For tea gardens with mild damage: After the drought situation eases, promptly spray amino acid water-soluble fertilizers or other nutritional foliar fertilizers to promote the recovery of the tea trees. For tea gardens with many scorched leaves, perform light pruning, then spray foliar fertilizers once the tea trees resume growth and new buds emerge at the stage of one bud and one to two leaves. Apply base fertilizer earlier, using 100–150 kg per mu of cake meal, combined with 2–3 kg of fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer (N) and 30–50 kg of formula fertilizer (recommended formula N-P2O5-K2O-MgO is 18-8-12-2). Mix organic and chemical fertilizers evenly and apply them in deep trenches 15–20 cm deep, covering them with soil afterward.

Mild symptoms of heat and drought stress in tea trees (left image source: Zhou Xiaofen)

2. For tea gardens with moderate damage: After the drought situation eases, trim promptly, removing dead branches and leaves, being careful not to over-prune but rather to prune lightly. Use the same types and amounts of fertilizer as recommended for mildly damaged tea gardens. Cultivate autumn shoots, and when the growth is weak, promptly spray amino acid water-soluble fertilizers or other nutritional foliar fertilizers to strengthen the tree canopy.

Moderate symptoms of heat and drought stress in tea trees

3. For severely damaged tea trees: After the drought situation eases, perform heavy pruning or cut back to the stump, simultaneously applying cake meal and formula fertilizers in trenches, or temporarily do not fertilize, waiting until the temperature stabilizes and rises in early spring next year to apply fertilizer. Use the same amounts and application methods as recommended for mildly damaged tea gardens.

Severe symptoms of heat and drought stress in tea trees

Pruning tea trees to the stump

4. For undamaged tea gardens: Apply base fertilizer between late September and late October, using 50–100 kg of cake meal or 150–200 kg of commercial organic fertilizer per mu, with the same amount of formula fertilizer as recommended for mildly damaged tea gardens. Apply combined with deep plowing, 15–20 cm deep. Note the rotation of different types of organic fertilizers from year to year.

5. For tea gardens with mild and moderate damage, pay attention to preventing overwintering of tender shoots. In late October or November, when the temperature stabilizes below 15°C, top the shoots to promote lignification of the branches for safe overwintering.

6. Top-dressing

For bulk Green Tea and Black Tea production tea gardens: For tea gardens producing less than 200 kg of dried tea per mu, apply fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer (N) 20–30 days before the start of spring tea harvest, after the end of spring tea (around mid-to-late May), and after the end of summer tea (mid-July), with respective applications of 4–5 kg/mu, 3–4 kg/mu, and 3–4 kg/mu. For tea gardens producing more than 200 kg of dried tea per mu, an additional top-dressing is given after the end of the third flush (mid-August), with respective applications of fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer (N) of 4–5 kg/mu, 3–4 kg/mu, 4–5 kg/mu, and 3–4 kg/mu.

For high-quality green tea and black tea production tea gardens: Apply fast-acting nitrogen fertilizer (N) 40–50 days before the start of spring tea harvest, before severe pruning after the end of spring tea, or at the end of summer tea, with each application of 3–4 kg/mu.

For tea gardens producing high-quality tea in spring and bulk tea in summer and autumn: Essentially the same as for bulk tea gardens, but the bud-st