How to Germinate Camellia Sinensis

Fill a bowl with water.

Place the camellia sinensis seeds in the water. Leave them to soak for 24 hours.

Remove any seeds that float and discard them. These seeds are not viable.

Gather the seeds that sank to the bottom.

Line the bottom of a flat with a piece of plastic. Weight the flat down with a rock or something heavy so the wind doesn’t blow the flat away.

Place the camellia sinensis seeds in the flat and stick the flat in a sunny location.

Fill a spray bottle with water and mist the seeds occasionally. Keep misting the seeds until they crack.

Fill small pots or peat pots with moist vermiculite. Lay the seeds horizontally onto the planting medium. The lighter shaded spot on the seed needs to point up when planting. Push the seeds into the vermiculite, so they are an inch below the surface.

Find a shady area to place your pots. Mist the vermiculite often to keep it moist. It may take as long as 2 months for the seeds to germinate. Keep the seedlings growing in the shade until they have their third set of leaves.

Move the pots to an area that receives 40 percent shade.

Transplant the seedlings into a 1-gallon pot filled with potting soil when the camellia sinensis plant is 12 inches tall.