Olive Preparation - Tips On Nurturing Your Olive Trees

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Just like other plants, olive trees too can catch diseases, thus ruining any chances of a good harvest! Olive Preparation for a good harvest, therefore, is a long drawn process that starts soon after planting the tree.

At the end of the day olive preparation is about keeping your tree healthy, diagnosing the disease at the right time and protecting them from insects, so that fruit that is olives tastes good and can be put to proper use.

One of the first steps that you need to take for olive preparation, therefore, is diagnosing the tree's diseases in time so that they do not spread and affect the fruit.

Pest, fungal and bacterial infections are the biggest threat to a good olive harvest! Olive knot, verticillium wilt, peacock spot or leaf spot, phytophthora, nematodes, etc, are some of the diseases that you need to protect your tree from. As far as pests are concerned, snails, olive shoot moth, apple weevils and birds are the most annoying ones!

One thing that you must remember, however, is not to use generic chemical pesticides or fungicides, as olives absorb chemicals very fast. Copper based fungicides and pesticides meant for olive trees in particular are your best bet! You can in fact even try organic and/or non-chemical methods to get rid of certain pests. For example, birds can be distracted by planting some attractive trees around your olive tree.

Pruning at the right time is another crucial aspect of olive preparation. Ideally, you should start pruning early in spring and make sure that your tree gets rid of all suckers and dead branches. Trees that are not pruned in time do not get sufficient sunlight and that has a serious affect on their health and growth.

Providing olive trees the right nutrition is also important if you want a good harvest. Kitchen compost and animal manure are also important elements of olive preparation. Without good nutrition your olives won't grow healthy, tasty and meaty.

At the end of the day your tree's health is in your hands. The right steps and the right time can save it, carelessness and ignorance on your part, on the other hand, can kill your precious olive tree.

During the harvest season, olive preparation involves picking the fruits at the right time, using the right methods, so that they can be put to their intended use. For example, if you have a huge olive orchard and you want to pick olives for producing excellent quality olive oil, then manual harvesting when the olives are reddish violet.

After the harvest, the next step in olive preparation involves getting the olive ready for consumption. The fact is that fresh olives are not edible; they need to be pickled before they can be used in salads and meals.

So, if you want a good harvest, you need to take steps to protect and nurture your olive from the day the tree is planted.