BASICS OF TEA

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Plucking in tea is synonymous to harvesting in other crops. It is also described as picking in

some countries. The tender apical portions of shoots consisting of two to three leaves and the
terminal buds are nipped-off in plucking. These tender portions of the shoot constitute the
economic yield of tea. During plucking, recurrent checks and stimulus are provided to the
bush by continuous removal of vegetative organ at frequent intervals. In tropical and
subtropical belt where dormancy period is absent or short, plucking is done throughout the
year or for major time of the year. However, in some countries like Japan, harvesting is done
from March to November as the tea bushes remain dormant for the rest of the year. Plucking
encourages regeneration of shoots on a tea bush. In this operation a delicate balance must be
maintained between immediate gain and the capacity of the bush to generate new shoots for
harvest.

TEA LEAF PLUCKING IN SOUTH INDIA

In south India, there are three types of plucking viz., light plucking, hard plucking and level
plucking. In light plucking system, shoots are plucked above the mother (or first) leaf. It is
also known as mother leaf or step up plucking. Plucking is described as ‘hard’ when shoots
are plucked below the mother leaf and above the fish leaf. It is referred to fish-leaf plucking.
In level plucking system, plucking to any leaf above pre-determined level is done. Plucking is
done throughout the year. The optimal plucking round is about 7-10 days in growing season
and 12-15 days during lean season (cold and dry months of December to March).

OBJECTIVES OF PLUCKING

The main objectives of a good plucking policy in a tea garden are:

i) To harvest  maximum shoots for manufacture
ii) To achieve a sound mix of yield and quality of the harvest.
After pruning or skiffing, new shoots develop from the dormant buds on the sticks
(the portion of the new wood left in the bush after the light prune is called stick). The new
shoots which develop from the dormant buds on the stick are called primaries. The primaries
are decapitated or tipped at a predetermined height leaving some leaves below this level to
make a flat plucking surface or table. Some of the primaries may become dormant before
reaching the height. However, some of such primaries may throw out a new flush and come
above the plucking level.

After a primary shoot has been tipped new shoots (laterals) arise from the axillary buds and
these shoots are harvested or plucked when they grow above the tipping level. While
plucking, normally a small piece of stem (stub) containing the janams are left behind on the
bush. Plucking of the laterals again stimulates the production of new generation of shoots of
the next higher order from the axils of the janams and the process continues. The process of
harvesting the shoots above the table is called plucking in tea.

Plucking of tea in different countries differ with regards to the plucking system, plucking
round, plucking period, plucking methods etc. You will be acquainted with these now.

TIPPING

When the shoots (primaries) grow in a tea bush after pruning or skiffing, they are tipped or
decapitated at a predetermined height parallel to the ground surface. This operation is called
“Tipping”. Essentially the initial few rounds of plucking are called tipping.

By tipping a flat plucking surface is established for convenient plucking. It also helps to
stimulate the axillary buds below the level to grow and form the plucking table.
 Growth of Primary Shoots After Pruning

TIPPING HEIGHT

Tipping is done at different heights for different types of prune or skiffs. The best tipping
height from the point of view of yield is the natural banjhi horizon of the shoot system on a
pruned bush. What is a banjhi horizon? It refers to the average height at which most of the
primaries arising from a pruned bush enter dormancy (banjhi) for the first time.(you refer to
the growing habit of tea plant). This height in a normal bush is 20 cm which corresponds to 5
leaves on an average. However, the average height of 5 leaves may vary between 15 cm and
30 cm depending on the type of tea, its vigour and the thickness of the wood on which
pruning is done.

 In N.E. India, the Tipping Heights for different types of Prune/Skiff are as follows:
 Height of tipping

Type of Prune/Skiff Tipping Height over the last Number of Leaves Retained
Pruning/Skiffing Mark in new lateral/Primaries

Light prune (LP) 20-25 cm 5

Medium prune (MP) 30 cm 5-6

Deep skiff(DS) 7-10 2-3

Medium skiff (MS) 4-5 cm 1

Light skiff (LS)/Level- off- Same level Nil  (pluck to janam)

skiff (LOS)/ Unprune

A Light Pruned Tea Bush Showing the Maintenance Leaves and Tipping Height

Tipping of the shoots is done whenever the shoots reach the tipping level and carried out till
the plucking table is full. In practice, tipping is started when about 30 percent of the bushes
are ready for tipping and carried out selectively at green semi hard wood. For the Assam and
Assam hybrid plants, tipping-in-material

(i.e. the shoot that is removed at tipping) should be of an average four leaves and a bud
irrespective of height of pruning. Thereafter, plucking is done in regular round. In light
pruned and deep skiffed bushes measuring sticks should be used to tip the shoots in correct
height.
PLUCKING SYSTEM

Among the different system of plucking followed in different countries, the three systems of
plucking are -Janam Plucking, Fish-leaf Plucking and Plucking to a leaf or Single leaf
Plucking.

Janam Plucking means, in this system, shoots are plucked above the janam.  This system of
plucking is followed in N.E. India.

  In fish leaf plucking, shoots are plucked leaving the fish leaf, while in single leaf plucking it
is done leaving the janam, fishleaf and one single foliage leaf. Outside N.E. India, Fish leaf
and Single leaf plucking are the normal practices.

PLUCKING ROUND

Plucking round is the time interval in days between the successive plucking operations. It
varies form 4-14 days, though 7 days round is the most common practice. Plucking should be
adjusted to the time interval between unfolding of successive leaves on a growing shoot i.e.
leaf period. If the leaf period is 4 days, then a shoot with one leaf and the growing bud (1+
bud shoot) of today will become a shoot with two leaves (2 + bud) within next four days and
a shoot with three leaves (3 + bud) within eight days.

During the main growing season in N.E. India, the mean leaf period is four days in the
population of seed grown tea. Based on this, a plucking round of 7 days has been adopted in
N.E.India as the normal plucking round. In most of the tea estates tea bushes are plucked at
weekly intervals from April to December and there is a marked dormant season during winter
when practically no crop is harvested. Normally towards the end of the season when the
growth rate declines the plucking round is extended.

Longer rounds of plucking increase the coarser leaf and banjhis both affecting the quality
adversely. Normally, most of the shoots when they become larger with four leaves or more,
go banjhi.

Here is the example how a longer plucking round affects the types of  harvested shoots. The
types of shoots that will be available for plucking on a bush at different plucking rounds are
shown below:

Type of Shoots Available at different Plucking Rounds

 Types of shoot left on Type of shoot harvested at different plucking rounds
bush  4 days 8 days 12 days

Bud One leaf and the bud Two leaves and the Three leaves and
bud the bud

One leaf and the bud Two leaves and the Three leaves and the Four leaves and
bud bud the bud

Two leaves and the bud Three leaves and the Four leaves and the Five leaves and
bud bud the bud
Plucking round has effects on both yield and quality of tea. Although adjustment to leaf
period is the only rational method for working out the most suitable plucking round, but leaf
period varies from place to place as well as    within the same locality at different times of the
year, if the climate happens to be seasonal. The leaf period become short under high and long
under low ambient temperature. Again, under the same set of environmental conditions, leaf
period differs from clone to clone. However, to get maximum return in terms of both crop
and quality, a suitable plucking round is desirable.

The following points bear importance in working out the plucking round:

(i) Plucking round should be worked out based on leaf period

(ii) Plucking rounds should be short under high or long under low temperature

(iii) Plucking rounds of shorter duration than the optimal reduce crop

(iv) Longer plucking round may increase the gross weight of harvest, but it will contain a
high proportion of coarser shoots.

It is not practical to switch over from one plucking round to another according to changing
growth rate of shoots.However, in order to maintain a reasonable standard of the leaves, a
somewhat shorter than the optimal plucking round should be followed.

In some countries like Japan where the shoot growth is slow and plucking is done only for 3-
4 times in a year by plucking machines, all shoots on the plucking surface are harvested and
these are sorted out into a number of grades and manufactured separately for making green
tea of different quality.
 

Illustration of Different systems of Plucking

STANDARD OF PLUCKING

Standard of plucking denotes the type of shoots harvested. Or in other words, it refers to the
fineness or coarseness of the harvested shoots. Depending on the length of plucking round or
type of shoots harvested there are five standards of plucking recognised in N.E.India.These
are- fine, standard, medium, coarse and black.

However, only two standards of plucking are generally followed viz., black and standard. In
black plucking, almost all types of shoots above the plucking table are plucked while in
standard plucking small shoots with one leaf are not plucked and are allowed to retain on the
table. The types of shoots plucked under the two plucking standards are as follows:

Types of Shoots Plucked in Black and Standard Plucking

Plucking Standard Types of Shoots to be Plucked

Black Plucking All  one leaf and a bud shoots; all two leaves and a bud 
shoots;  all three leaves and a bud shoots ;and single banjhies

Standard  Plucking Large one leaf and a bud shoots; all two leaves and a bud
shoots ; small  three leaves and a bud shoot; and single banjhies
 
As a long term policy, standard plucking is considered to be superior to black plucking for tea
in the plains of N.E. India. 

CREEP AND BREAKING BACK

Undue rise of the plucking table results in loss of crop. The rise in the plucking table during
the season due to continuous plucking is unavoidable. To avoid undue creep, it is advisable to
pluck close to janam. Some amount of creep is bound to take place in the cropping months.
However, the creep should not exceed the   limits   under normal conditions. In N.E. India,
the permissible creep is as under:

 Type of Prune/Skiff Permissible creep

By end July By end August By end October/November

Light Prune 2.5 cm 3.5 cm 5.6 cm

Deep Skiff 2.5 cm 3.0 cm 4.5 to 5.0 cm

Medium Skiff 2.5 cm 3.0 cm 4.0 cm

Unprune 2.5 cm 3.5 cm 4.0 cm

Breaking Back

Breaking back is generally a wasteful and expensive operation. It is an operation of removing

the thick or knotted stems (stubs) to level off the plucking table. Longer rounds because of
shortage of labour, improper supervision, etc. lead to undue creep. When this happens,
breaking back becomes necessary.

Breaking back is also done to maintain the quality of green leaves. If the size of the shoot is
large, then the shoot is plucked close to janam and the lower portion of the shoot is thrown
away keeping the desired portion of the shoot.

In unpruned and medium skiffed teas, the effect of improper plucking can lead to more loss
of crop. If the situation warrants, a very light ‘airy skiff’ to remove just the
topmost banjhis can be given. Banjhi shoots above the plucking table or surface present a
special problem. If they are not plucked, they tend to make the bush surface uneven. If a
single banjhi is left on the plucking table until the bud starts to grow again, this shoot is
normally to be plucked at a higher level since the stem of such a shoot generally becomes
very hard.

MECHANICAL PLUCKING

In tea cultivation, plucking which is carried out at 7 to 14 days intervals almost thorough the
whole year, is one of the most important practices and it accounts for 15-20 per cent of the
cost of tea production. Further, plucking alone involves about 60-70 per cent of the total
labour force making the tea cultivation a labour intensive one. This apart, the heavy rush of
leaf during main cropping months sometimes throws plucking schedule out of gear. Plucking
intervals becomes longer and the standard of plucking falls leading to deterioration of the
quality of made tea.

Hand plucking is a common practice in some countries like India. However, mechanical
plucking is becoming popular and has been used in a large scale in many other countries like
Japan, Mauritius, Russia, Argentina, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi,
Australia Papua and New Guinea etc.

Harvesting shears, hand-operated or driven by a small motor, are used by many countries like
Indonesia, Turkey, Malawi etc. A number of plucking machines like self-propelled selective
plucking machine have been developed in USSR. In Japan, plucking is mostly done with
powered plucking machine or tractor mounted plucking machine. Cutting knife,portable
plucking machines, Riding machines, Rail tracking system etc are different devices for
plucking tea in Japan.For convenience of mechanical or machine plucking, the plucking
surface of the tea bushes in Japan and Russia is made hemispherical.

Mechanical Plucking
The mechanical aid for plucking prevents or reduce the wastage of leaf, leaving plucking
schedule undisturbed thereby ensuring better standard of plucking and hence quality of made
tea. Mechanical plucking has been tried in many other countries also. A major difficulty in
mechanizing plucking process is the steep and irregular slopes on which tea is very often
grown.

Shear Plucking in Assam