Plucking consists of harvesting 2 to 3 leaves and a bud. It is the most labour intensive operation in a tea industry and also decides the yield and quality of made tea. Normally, a pluckable shoot takes 60 to 90 days for harvesting since its sprouting from the axillary buds. When the shoot is plucked upto mother leaf, it is known as light plucking and if it is plucked below mother leaf, it is called hard plucking.
Yield
Generally, in tea industry, a field which yields upto 2000kg of made tea/ha is considered as low yielding and 2000 to 3000kg as medium yielding and anything above 3000kg as high yielding field
