Seed Preparation

• To successfully grow camellia sinensis from seed, you should start with fresh seeds. Camellia sinensis has a very hard seed coat that needs to crack before the seeds will germinate. To prepare the seeds, place them in a cheesecloth bag and soak them in water for 24 hours. Using cheesecloth will help keep the seeds submerged. Once the seeds have soaked, open the bag and dump the seeds into the water. Remove the seeds that float with a strainer. The seeds that sink to the bottom are more likely to germinate.
  
  Spread the seeds on a tarp in the sun and keep them moist by frequently spraying them with water. After a day or two, some of the seed coatings will crack. Those are the only seeds you should sow. Although you can likely mist regularly by hand, setting up an automatic misting system will avoid having the seeds dry out through improper misting.
  
  

Seed Sowing

• Lay the cracked seeds horizontally to the medium with the hilium, or eye, facing up. Bury the seed under about an inch of medium. Although any medium with good drainage and ability to hold moisture is acceptable, coarse vermiculite often works very well. Keep the seeds in 80 percent shade and keep the medium moist. Your seeds should germinate in a month or two.
  
  

Transplanting

• Transplant the seedlings to 40 percent shade when they have developed three or four leaves. Add a few grains of slow release fertilizer and a half-dose of foliar fertilizer designed for acid-loving plants. Formulas for azalea, gardenia, camellia or rhododendrons often work well at half-strength. Slowly move the seedlings to full sun as they develop and transplant to their final location when the plants are about a foot tall.