KALRO Tea Seedling

Establishing a tea nursery whether for sale or for own plantings requires meticulous planning so that the plants are ready for transplanting or sale at the right time. Lack of planning may result in plants being ready for transplanting in the off planting season, causing losses where transplants die or there are no customers to purchase the plants. Keeping plants unnecessarily in the nursery for an extra year or season is costly and should be avoided. It has been confirmed that proper nursery practices enhance the production of robust plants in the field. A good nursery, therefore, should target at least an 80% survival rate in order to recover the cost of investment. A high nursery survival rate implies that if one is operating a commercial nursery there are chances of making a good profit and building confidence among customers. Likewise, to a grower who wishes to establish his own nursery, high survival rate will result in higher returns and hence recovery of inputs in the long run. For a grower again it is cheaper to establish own nursery than to buy and transport seedlings.