Olive Growing Will Result In Delicious Olives To Consume!

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To get the best olives possible and a beautifully structured tree, correct olive growing techniques are very important. Anyone interest in olive growing can expect to see some ripe fruit within a few years of planting so long as they look after it.

Olive trees have been grown for thousands of years by people who appreciate the wonderful grey-green leaves and the delicious fruits it can produce. These evergreen trees have been known to live for as long as 500 years with the average height of a mature tree approximately 50 feet.

The majority of olive tree varieties are self-pollinating. However specialised olive growing is required for most olive trees to maintain their health and proper growth patterns. So what can be done to provide the most suitable growing conditions for olive trees?

Well to start with it helps to prepare the soil prior to planting, ensuring that it is kept moist but not waterlogged. Olive growing will be more successful when you feed the soil with a high nitrogen content fertiliser. This helps give the olive tree a helping hand.

It is critical to avoid planting olive trees in diseased soils. Digging the soil over thoroughly and feeding it will help prevent diseases such as olive knot disease and verticillium. Another way to avoid spreading infections is by keeping any pruning tools clean.

Olive growing generally requires less crop fertiliser than many other fruit trees but nevertheless it is still acceptable to treat them occasionally. Much depends on the climate they are being grown in. If plenty of rainfall occurs then fertilising can be done every other year, whereas in drier conditions it may be necessary to apply it annually.

Part of olive growing involves pruning, which can be done annually to maintain a good shape although if you have a large grove you may want to prune every two years. However, pruning will encourage growth and hopefully a better yield of fruits. The best time to prune is generally between winter and flowering although in mild conditions it is possible to prune in the winter.

Clipping branches at the leaf node will encourage fuller growth and it is always sensible to start from the top and work your way downwards. If you are cutting out large branches that are diseased or dead then it is a good idea to wear goggles and protective headgear.

When pruning and you prefer to have a single trunk, take out the growth below the desired branching point. You may be looking to create the gnarled appearance of several entwined trunks. This can be achieved by staking basal suckers and lower branches to the desired angle and allowing them to twist together.

Given the size and delicate nature of the fruits they generally have to be handpicked. Using machinery to shake the fruits out of the trees is not such a good idea as the fruits will bruise quite easily. The results though can be fantastic with wonderful olives great for pickling or producing olive oil.