EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE TEA (CAMELLIA SINENSIS L. KUNTZE) PROPAGATION AND NURSERY SYSTEMS IN THE PIEDMONT REGION OF GEORGIA By Jeffrey McConnaughey1 Under the Direction of John Ruter ABSTRACT In order to identify efficient methods of producing field-ready tea (Camellia sinensis) liners in the southeastern U.S., studies were undertaken to measure the growth of young tea liners under alternative propagation systems and their respective costs of production. Single-node tea cuttings were rooted in three rooting substrates in containers in a greenhouse as well as in native soil and a layer of sand in-ground under shaded low tunnels with or without biofumigation treatments. Strike rates, biomass, and root length were measured 20 weeks after sticking. Rooted liners were then transplanted from the ground or containers to pots or left in situ under 20% shade. Survival, biomass and leaf area were measured 27 weeks later in late May. Marketability rates were determined in September. Production costs for each system were then accounted and estimated across variable scales of production for cost-volume-profit analysis and the NPV of purchasing liners rather than propagating them on-farm for prospective tea growers. INDEX WORDS: Camellia sinensis, Tea, Vegetative propagation, Strike rate, Organic, Marketability, Cost of production, Field nursery, Container nursery, Cooperative, Cost-volume-profit analysis, Net present value EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE TEA (CAMELLIA SINENSIS L. KUNTZE) PROPAGATION AND NURSERY SYSTEMS By JEFFREY PHILIP MCCONNAUGHEY B.S. Warren Wilson College, 2010 A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF SCIENCE ATHENS, GEORGIA 2013 © 2013 Jeffrey McConnaughey All Rights Reserved AN EVALUATION OF ALTERNATIVE TEA (CAMELLIA SINENSIS L. KUNTZE) PROPAGATION AND NURSERY SYSTEMS By JEFFREY PHILIP MCCONNAUGHEY Major Professor: John Ruter Committee: Forrest Stegelin Matthew Chappell Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia May 2013 DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my wife and children who have always stood by me and dealt with all of my absence from many family occasions with a smile. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It would not have been possible to write this master’s thesis without the help and support of the kind people around me, to only some of whom it is possible to give particular mention here. Above all, I would like to thank my wife Jennifer for her personal support and great patience at all times. My wife, son, and daughter have given me their unequivocal support throughout, as always, for which my mere expression of thanks likewise does not suffice. This thesis would not have been possible without the help, support and patience of my principal supervisor, Dr. John Ruter, not to mention his advice and unsurpassed knowledge of woody plant production and propagation. The good advice, and support of my second committee member, Dr. Matthew Chappell, has been invaluable, for which I am extremely grateful. The support of my third committee member, Dr. Forrest Stegelin, has also been instrumental in the completion of this work, for which I am most thankful. I would like to acknowledge the financial, academic and technical support of the University Georgia and its staff, particularly in the award of a Graduate Research Assistantship that provided the necessary financial support for this research. The library facilities (notably the Science Library) and computer facilities of the University have been indispensable. I also thank the Department of Horticulture for their support and assistance since the start of my graduate work in 2010, especially the graduate coordinator, Dr. Marc W. van Iersel and the head of department, Dr. Douglas Bailey. I am most grateful to Gene and Debbie Odom for providing me with plant material for this project and sharing their knowledge and of tea cultivation and propagation with me. Last but not least, I would also like to thank UGA Technician Suzzanne Tate for her support and technical assistance, without which the project wouldn’t have been possible. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.........................................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES.....................................................................................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES.......................................................................................................................................................x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 1.1 PRODUCTS OF THE TEA PLANT .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 RATIONALE AND PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY ............................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................... 8 2.1 BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................................................ 8 2.2 AGRONOMY OF TEA .................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 COMMERCIAL POTENTIAL OF TEA IN THE UNITED STATES ................................................................ 25 2.4 PROPAGATION ............................................................................................................................................. 44 CHAPTER 3 SUBSTRATE AND ROOTING LOCATION INFLUENCE THE ROOTING AND SUBSEQUENT GROWTH OF SINGLE NODE TEA (CAMELLIA SINENSIS) CUTTINGS .......... 53 3.1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 53 3.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ...................................................................................................................... 59 3.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ........................................................................................................................ 67 3.4 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................................................. 74 3.5 TABLES .......................................................................................................................................................... 76 3.6 FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................................ 79 vi CHAPTER 4 TEA NURSERY ECONOMICS: AN ANALYSIS OF THREE PRODUCTION/DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS ..................................................................................... 86 4.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 86 4.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS ...................................................................................................................... 91 4.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..................................................................................................................... 115 4.4 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 120 4.5 TABLES ....................................................................................................................................................... 123 4.6 FIGURES ..................................................................................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................. 134 5.1 CONCLUDING DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................... 134 5.2 FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH .................................................................................................. 136 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................137 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1: Commercial tea cultivars currently maintained in the United States. Location Key: 1 = Coastal Botanical Gardens at the Historic Bamboo Farm in Savannah, GA; 2 = Atlanta Botanical Garden, Atlanta, GA; 3 = Lyon Arboretum and Botanical Garden, Manoa, HI; C = maintained by commercial nurseries. Note that a handful of ornamental cultivars are omitted in this list...............................................................................44 Table 3.1: Weekly delivery (g/plant) of macronutrients, March – June................................................................................................................................................................76 Table 3.2. Average maximum, minimum, and overall air temperatures in experimental rooting locations. Weather station statistics (GAEMN, 2012) are included for comparison.................................................................................................76