Key cultivation techniques

Tea qualifies as organic only when active use of environment friendly techniques are employed and the system is approved by inspecting authority to be truly organically farmed. Since an organic unit should be a self-sustaining system, farm designing at the time of establishment of new organic tea plantation is crucial for optimum utilization of resources within the plantation itself. Topography of the land and varieties of tea to be planted determine the basic design of the organic farm at the functional level. Despite this, the estate must have trees, bunds, cattle shed, compost yard, store house etc to enable it to become a self supporting system within a reasonable time. The workers in the organic tea estates are encouraged to raise animals-primarily cows and poultry. The resultant slurry could be passed through a simple gas plant, which provides methane gas for use as fuel and organic manure in the form of slurry which is comparatively better in quality and cheaper source of fertilization. Important techniques required to be adopted to achieve sustainable production and productivity are described below.

Nursery and planting material

Genetically engineered seeds or planting materials are not used in the nursery of the organic tea estates as their use is prohibited in the organic field. Low input responsive clones or seed stocks having wide adaptability with tolerant to different stresses are only considers for new planting.

Insect pest and disease management
The basis of insect, disease and nematode management in organic farming systems is the reliance on the inherent equilibrium in nature: most insect pests have natural enemies that keep their numbers in check. Included in the natural enemies category are insect predators (insects that consume part or all of pest insects), parasites (insects that use other insects to produce their offspring, thereby killing the pest insect in the process), and pathogens (diseases that kill or decrease the growth rate of insect pests). Predatory insects on organic farms include lady beetles, lacewings, and spiders. Parasitic insects include wasps and flies that lay their eggs in/on pest insects, such as larvae or caterpillars (see biocontrol section under insect pest management part II)
On organic tea estates, emphasis should ideally be on the use of varieties resistant to pest and diseases. Neem-based pesticides produced from neem karnel extracts are used to repel pests. Spraying of diluted cow urine was frequently practiced. The extracts derived from the aerial parts (leaves and stem) of Artimisia vulgaris, Urtica dioica, Polygonum runcinetum and Eupatorium glandulosum (see biocontrol section under insect pest management part II) which are profusely growing in the tea plantations are used for their antifeedant action against some leaf eating pests. In addition, the extracts of lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus, C. nardus, and Tagetes patula are also used as repellant. These botanicals are being used carefully and infrequently. Horsetail (Equisetum arvense) (sometimes referred to as biodynamic preparation 508) is used as spray to counter fungal disease

Nutrient management

?Growing leguminous crops (shade trees, cover crops, green crops etc)
would be a good source for the supply of nutrients

? Nutrients are being supplemented using well composted poultry manure and farmyard manures, biogas slurry, neem cakes, lopping of green manures and shade tree droppings. Inoculation of bulky organic manures with culture of Azotobacter (10 kg ha-1) and phosphate solubilising fungi (Aspergillus awamori) before application into the field is also practiced in some tea estates.

? Organic matter is added through recycling of pruning litters. They are cut into small pieces, and then shredded fungal cultures of Trichoderma viridae, Trichurus spiralis, Paeciliomyces fusiporus etc @ 300 gm mt-1 of material was added. For best results, a 100% moisture level was strictly maintained during the initial period. To discourage the farm workers from using the pruning litter as fuel, they are provided with an alternative easily available fuel source and also made aware of the benefit of the mulch for their future generations.

Biodynamic preparations
These are used for enhancing and maintaining soil fertility
Cow horn manure (BD 500). Straw-free dung of a lactating cow was filled into uncovered cow horns and buried in the ground during autumn and winter months (Sept-Oct). The cow horns were procured from the slaughter houses or from bone meal centres. The horns are identified by being solid at the top and have characteristic lactatine rings at the base. The dung inside the horn undergoes a breakdown process due to various microbial activities. The horns containing dung are dug out in the spring (Feb-March).
The dung gets totally transformed into sweet smelling humus. Soon after removing the manure from the horn, it was protected from drying out by storing in suitable glass or ceramic vessel or mud pot covering by wet peat or sphagnum moss. This preparation is a soil bio-activator, encourages earthworm activity, helps the plant roots grow deeper and allows for better nourishment of plants. One set (35g) of BD 500 preparation in 13.5 liters of water for 0.4 ha of soil is the application rate. The recommended amount is stirred in a bucket of capacity 15 liters. Large barrel of 400 liters are used for stirring to spray a 10 ha-plantation

Horn silica (BD 501). This silica spray is based on a very finely ground quartz, or a silicate. The quartz is powdered by crushing it with a pounding stone, a mortar and pestle and finally ground between glass plates. The powder is made into slurry by adding water and packed into the horns and buried during the spring and summer months (March- April). The horns are dug out of the ground in Sept- Oct and stored in transparent glass containers near window sil.
One portion, enough for one acre, is about half an ounce. Application of this preparation enhances photosynthetic rate and crop growth. It was reported that it also increased resistance to plant diseases. One set (1g) of BD 501 preparation in 13.5 liters of water for 0.4 ha of soil is the application rate. The recommended amount is stirred in a 15 l bucket.

The six healing plant preparations (compost preparations) viz. Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) (BD502), Chamomile (Malricarja chamomilla) (BD 503), Nettle (Urtica dioica) (BD 504), Oak (Quercus sp) bark (BD 505), Dandelion (Tarxacum officinale) (BD 506), Valerian (Valeriana officinalis) (BD 507) are used in small doses. The six healing plants positively affect the fermentation processes of the compost, as has been proven by scientists active in biodynamic research.