I am jumping into trying my own tea. I love caffeine and coffee, but am as hooked to the sugar and cream as much as the caffeine w my coffee. Tea seems to go down ok neat, so I am trying that more in the morning.
So my brain does this with any plant product I have to buy, can I grow it myself? I have a sinensis and a Camellia ptilophylla. Anyone growing their own tea with tips. Thanks for looking and happy growing. 
Never tried or cared for tea. Thought about growing tobacco but I’m in a very high altitude climate.
If you want to grow actual tea plants it will take you quite a while. Not a lot of people grow them outside their natural environment. I was going to do this but seeing it takes years and may or may not survive i decided not to.
Now if you want to grow herbs to make tea from like chamomile then yes, you can do that.
I have about 30 strains of tobacco. They can be grown indoors like we do cannabis. Youd want to find a shorter plant seed. Some get massive others not so much.
I do not mind the wait. I actually spent the extra money (birthday gift card to the nursery) to get the large over priced specimens. Plan to let them grow grow grow until the spring flush. They will be chilling in my greenhouse till then. I plan to air layer them and make some clones. Outdoor hedge is in my future. I am zone 8b and they are supposed to take that with grace.
I have about 45 different fruit types. Waiting for trees to mature is part of the fun. I graft hundreds of whips to sell here every spring. Frankenstein Prunus trees and Malus trees. Don’t sell the whips till year 3 and all 3 grafts are well taken.
My greenhouse has a Khaffir lime, haus lime, clementine mandarin, Italian lemon, meyers lemon, caladamin (yuk) orange, blue Java banana, 3 different types of avocado, pineapple, arabica coffee, chocolate plant, Oxypetalum midnight orchid, yellow and red dragon fruit, Italian honey fig, Negrone fig, turkey fig, and now, tea plants.
Would you like another cup of tea? Maybe in a few months. I think they grow a lot faster than the arabica coffee plants. Ha
That’s pretty cool.
I actually follow someone who grows some tobacco. They are cool looking plants. I have thought about growing them to make my own pesticides. lol
Here is a link to their thread.
Nicotine makes a great pesticide.
That awesome! Quite jelly I might say. I can’t wait to get a homestead in the next few years if there is anything left by then haha.
@Myfriendis410 I would love to be able to grow tobacco. I think @CoyoteCody was at one point. I want to age and roll my own cigars.
@Serf , There is always someplace out there. It’s all about how bad you want it and how much work you want to do. Good luck!
I was in the cigar biz for many years. Probably gonna need a significant amount of leaf to properly age the wrapper. Usually they stack them about 4’ high.
Bet you can roll a mean fat joint. It is not a skill I posses.
Well, I can but it’s because I rolled cigarettes for decades.
Zoiks. Probably be better just buying the leaf.
I can roll anything lol.
It’s illegal to grow tobacco here. Government doesn’t want us selling to people and undercutting their 95% taxes they put on the stuff you buy at the shops. You go to prison for the same time as growing weed, maybe longer.
The average price for a pack of ciggies is $40-50 here. Most of it is taxes.
That price will sure make someone stop smoking. I’ve worked in tobacco fields as fare as you can see few times hard work years ago got tobacco poisoned to from not wearing gloves make you sick as hell. They still grow alot here in ky