Can we Grow Tea in New Jersey?

My son and I have started an experiment to see if we can grow tea, Camellia Senensis, in New Jersey. This is a crop which, if you are producing leaf-tea, has a yield that we’ve read is quite high per acre. However, our climate is USDA Zone 7, and commercial growers I know of are further south in the USA. As an Englishman who primarily drinks coffee, and who lives in New Jersey, I find it amusingly ironic to attempt this experiment. Last year we planted two early growth bushes to see if they would over-winter in our region and now I am attempting to germinate 100 seeds. The procedure for the seeds involves an alcohol wash as a contact cleanse and then soaking in water for two days before allowing the hard shells to crack by a procedure of wetting and drying, and then planting in pots.

Will this work? We will find out. In our favour is the fact that tea is a “foothills” plant in China and India, not a tropical plant. Against us are the deer, so the plants are currently in the “demilitarized zone” defined by an electric fence around our kitchen garden.

Updated 03/02/2024: after a couple of damp/dry cycles in our basement, 114 seeds have been planted. I rejected 6 “floaters” and we got 120 in our order of 100.