Time for coffee and tea
Soil nutrition for tea growth
The wide variety of soil types leads to many different textual and structural properties, resulting in many different soil properties. The alluvial soils of Assam, and soils derived from the Kenyan rift valleys are derived of stones. Soils such as Bheel and assam grey clay flat soil have little coarse sand faction. these soils are so fine that when dissolved in water hey will pass directly through filter paper.
Loams are also dominant in the tea growing regions, but as there are many sandy soils in which tea is grown it is a fallacy to think that light soils are unsuitable for tea growth. Indeed in many studies carried out in east Africa, no correlation has been found between mechanical composition and field soil properties.
Few satisfying conclusions can be drawn from the data of nutrient concentration of soils that has been accumulated. When used in conjunction with the available cropping data from manurial experiments, the nutrient data is more useful, but soil nutrient levels alone are not an effective guide as to the quality of tea that will grow on soils.
Generally most tea soils are of moderate fertility, this as a consequence of serious erosion and leaching. They tend to be low in bases and phosphorous, and have great variability in their nitrogen concentrations.
There is no distinction that can be made between forest and grassland soils in comparable localities, especially if tea has been long established. The closed nutrient economy of undisturbed forest does not offer a reflection of the nutrient status as high as the growth of vegetation may suggest. When land is opened up from forest, the destruction and disturbances involved often lead to a wastage of valuable fertile top soil. Therefore, it is thought that the greater fertility found in forest soils is a consequence of easier penetration of roots as opposed to an increase in levels of soil nutrients.