Summary
Phosphate fertilizer incorporated in the soil placed around tea plants when planted in the field produced a large improvement in the rate of growth of the plants, thus indicating that tea in acid soils had a demand for phosphate. Yield responses to phosphate fertilizer applied to mature tea were uncommon and the pattern of these confused. This work showed that mature tea will absorb phosphate and give positive yield responses when there is an undisturbed mulch layer on the soil surface. Within this layer phosphate is maintained in a more available form and many highly active roots are formed. These conditions are destroyed by manual weeding; the mulch forms naturally from tea leaves and prunings where no-cultivation herbicidal weed control is practised.
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Willson, K.C., Hainsworth, E., Green, M.J. et al. Studies on the mineral nutrition of tea. Plant Soil 43, 259–278 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01928491
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01928491