We bring you the latest breaking news and information from Hibiki-an's tea farm in Ujitawara, Kyoto in summer season.
The Struggle with Harmful Insects and Disease:
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MAKI MUSHI (rolling insect) rolls tea leaves roundly and is resident in
it..
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Lime green color tea leaves, which are central part on the picture, are
damaged by UNKA (mosquito).
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MIKAN TOGE KONAJIRAMI on the underside of tea leaves. |
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| Brown color parts are damaged by TANSO disease. |
Tea leaves damaged by MOCHI disease. |
After rain, it is not unusual to see frogs at the tea farm. The frog eats many insects and is therefore very beneficial to the tea farm ecosystem.
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In Japan, the rainy season called TSUYU is in June and July. Harmful insects start buzzing around the tea farm, late in the rainy season. This is also a critical time for tea farmers to take care to prevent tea tree diseases.
Autumn is the season when the most amount of fertilizer is fed to the tea trees. If tea trees are not healthy in autumn due to damage by harmful insects or disease, the tea trees can't absorb enough of the nutrition of fertilizer, and unhealthy tea trees will not produce a good crop next spring. Therefore, farmers must struggle with harmful insects and disease in July and August in order to keep tea trees healthy. The work under the hot sun in mid-summer is terribly hard and sweaty labor, but necessary to keep the tea trees in good health.
It is said that there are a hundred or more kinds of harmful insects. They are divided into roughly three categories: MAKI MUSHI (rolling insect), UNKA (mosquito), and HADANI (mite).
It is said that tea tree diseases are caused by bacteria or viruses that attack trees and plants. TANSO and MOCHI are common diseases that we must avoid. As you can see in the images below, the diseases look quite bad, which is why we at Hibiki-an take great care to prevent them. Of course, these tree diseases are not harmful to humans.
Tea farmers frequently check their crops to see if any problem is developing, and if so, they must immediately take appropriate action. To prevent and exterminate harmful insects and diseases, farmers often use mild chemicals. Needless to say, because the concentration standard of residual agricultural chemicals in Japan is the toughest in the world, chemicals are strictly controlled and used cautiously and sparingly.
Much more strict management for preventing harmful insects and diseases is required for hand-picked tea which is the highest grade. As you know, tea trees for hand-picked tea and for machine-trimmed tea are grown in different ways, and tea sprouts of both types of trees grow differently.(For more information, click here.) If tea leaves of tea trees for hand-picked tea are damaged once, new sprouts will immediately appear from the root of the damaged tea leaves, and the sprouts will be a branch. Under ideal conditions, tea trees for hand-picked tea should grow straight upward without any branches. Therefore, farmers must check the tea leaves for hand-picked tea almost every day.
Above is one of the reasons why hand-picked tea requires enormous efforts by the farmer to create the excellent flavor.
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The Struggle with Weeds (at Organic Tea Farm):
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| The right side of the picture is the foliage of the vines entwining with
the tea trees. |
Felon herbs at the tea farm |
A type of fern |
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| Cutting weeds by machine |
Rooting up weeds around the tea tree by hand |
Rooted up weeds |
In the tea region of Uji during the long summer months, the sun is blazing hot and the air is damp with humidity. These conditions along with the plentiful fertilizer fed to the tea plants creates favorable conditions not only for the tea plants, but for weeds as well. For weeds, a tea farm in the summer season is a very comfortable environment indeed.
The pictures below are typical weeds that farmers must struggle with. The picture on the left side is a vine plant. It is a hassle to pluck vines away from the tea trees because long vines insistently entwine with the tea trees. The right side of the picture is the foliage of the vines entwining with the tea trees. To the right of that is a picture of a felon herb at the tea farm. Again, to the right of that is a type of fern.
It is said that weeding in the summer is the hardest work. Today many young farmers are not willing to weed. But here at Hibiki-an, weeding continues from July to the end of September.
Most weeding work is done not by machine but by hand. To prevent the weeds from absorbing nutrients from the fertilizer, weeds growing near the tea trees must be quickly rooted up. In order to do so, farmers must remain in a half-crouching position for a long time. The tea farm under the scorching sun is like a sauna. And in the early evening, when the hot sun finally begins to set, mosquitoes appear on the scene, adding to the plight of the tea farmer. As they say, organic farming is a struggle with mother earth, but a struggle with wonderful rewards.
Not only is weeding in summer the hardest work, but it is also the most expensive work. Modern non-organic cultivation needs little weeding, so much less than organic cultivation, and in general takes less time. From the perspective of modern cultivation, it can be said that it produced considerable improvement of traditional cultivation and brought the tea industry amazingly high productivity. It is definitely one of the contributions of modern agriculture.
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Beneficial Insects and Bugs (at Organic Tea Farm):
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| Tea farm having been changing to organic in July |
Non organic tea farm in July |
Organic tea farm on which tea leaves don't eaten by harmfulinsects. |
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| Spider's web among the tea trees on the organic tea farm |
Mantis on the organic tea farm |
Rampant weeds growing close together |
Bugs start to rush around with vivacity in June. The brown portions of tea leaves shown in the picture have been eaten by harmful insects. In contrast, the tea leaves on the right side picture taken at a non-organic tea farm at the same time have not really been eaten by harmful insects. These brown portions of tea leaf ruin the tea's excellent taste and aroma, so of course we do not use these portions in our tea.
But fortunately, spiders and other insects come to the rescue to prevent our special organic teas from being damaged. You can see a spider's web among the tea trees on the organic tea farm. Spiders, lizards, mantis, and ladybugs are natural enemies of harmful insects, and they carry out important duties on the organic tea farm. When a non-organic tea farm is changed to an organic tea farm, the natural enemies begin thriving in the area about 3 years later.
If you walk around at both an organic tea farm and a non-organic tea farm in the summer season, you will quickly understand that an organic tea farm lives together in the ecosystem and a non-organic tea farm tries to control the ecosystem. Meanwhile you will realize the advancement and the economic efficiency of modern cultivation.
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Nibancha Harvest:
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The second tea harvest of the year, Nibancha, is harvested from the end of June to the end of July in Uji, Kyoto. In Uji, tea leaves can be harvested up to Nibancha, the second harvest, though teas in Shizuoka or Kagoshima can be harvested up to Sanbancha, the third harvest or Yonbancha, the Fourth harvest. It depends on the climate.
Generally speaking, Nibancha harvested in June or July has a less smooth, mellow taste and subtle aroma than Ichibancha, the first tea of the year. In contrast, Ichibancha, which slowly and thoroughly absorbs the nutrients from the previous autumn and through winter until spring, tea leaves for Nibancha grow quickly just after the first harvest in May for only 1.5 months or so. Sanbancha, the third harvest grown in Shizuoka and Kagoshima, is much less flavorful. Like Ichibancha, there are many good quality Nibancha teas. To produce two tea crops, Ichibancha and Nibancha, the tea trees must be healthy and the tea farm must be properly managed.
June and July is rainy season in Japan, so the weather is extremely hot and humid, therefore the Nibancha harvest is not only difficult for tea trees but also for farmers. However, Nibancha is an important source of income for farmers.
And insects, who like eating tea leaves, swing into action in June. In rainy season the sun is blazing hot and the air is damp with humidity and the conditions along with the plentiful fertilizer fed to the tea plants creates favorable conditions not only for the tea plants, but for weeds as well. Farmers must struggle with weeds. Farmers must take defensive action to protect their tea trees, in order for the Nibancha tea leaves to survive the attack by insects in summer.
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Pruning:
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As soon as we finish harvesting the Shincha, we begin pruning the tea trees. There are two different ways to prune according to different needs.
The first way is in order for tea trees to stop growing and rest. In this case, tea trees are more deeply pruned. Most of the tea leaves are pruned, so the trees almost stop their photosynthesis and stop growing too. So the tree trees can rest. The benefit of this way is less strain on the tea trees and the expectation of a good harvest for the next season. However, in this case, tea leaves are harvested only one time in the year, so this is a luxury.
The second way is used for preparing Nibancha, the second harvest of the year. In this case, the tree trees are more shallowly pruned. It is possible to process these pruned tea leaves into premium grade Houjicha, which is made from Ichibancha, the first harvest of the year. Even Houjicha made from Ichibancha, premium grade Houjicha, can be made from tea leaves only after the harvest of high grade Sencha, which has an excellent refreshing aroma. Only about five percent of Houjicha is made in this way and can therefore be considered to be premium grade Houjicha. But Hibiki-an's Houjicha is premium grade and is made in this way. |
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