Introduction Herbicides are essential tools in modern agriculture, but their unintended impact on pollination is a growing concern. Recent research by Dummer et al. (2025) has revealed that glyphosate and 2,4-D, two commonly used herbicides, can severely impair olive pollen germination, raising serious questions about their effects on fruit set and overall productivity in olive…
Category: Grove Management
Gas Gun Comparison: Guardian Gas Gun vs. Vinetech Bird Scare Electronic Gun
When selecting a gas-powered bird scarer, two notable options are the Guardian Gas Gun and the Vinetech Bird Scare Electronic Gun. Both are designed to protect crops from avian pests, but they differ in operation, features, and coverage.
Understanding Fruit and Flower Abortion/Drop in Fruit Trees: Causes and Remedies
During the 5th International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Biosystem, Researchers in Iran assessed various techniques for producers to consider reasons why fruit and flower losses occur. Here we delve into the presentation and look at the causes and potential remedies for avoiding flower and fruit losses. The cultivation of fruit trees holds immense economic…
Understanding the Nutritional needs of olives
Understanding the Nutritional Needs of Olives Many growers in Australia have experienced their trees not cropping well or not cropping at all. There are many factors that affect the cropping aspects of olive trees but I believe that one important factor of cropping is having balanced soil with available nutrients to ensure microbes are being…
The Objectives of Pruning Olive Trees by Marcelo Berlanda
The Objectives of Pruning By Marcelo Berlanda, Agronomist & Consultant for The Olive Centre “It is a fact that to produce fruit, olive trees need to grow and produce new branches each year” Training helps give the tree the optimal shape to allow for efficient harvest as well as achieving early crops. Once the trees have…
Handy Conversions for Olive Growers
Handy Conversions for Olive Growers from Bulk Inputs, Tree Spacing, Air Pressure, Flow, Water and Specific Gravity of Olive Oil
Feral Olives and what to do?
Hi Amanda, What can we do to get our olive growers to control the huge number of wild olive seedlings growing on the roadsides and waterways As I drive around our state I see dozens of wild olive seedlings growing in the adjoining areas to our olive groves. They are spreading like weeds and if we…
Is your spraying equipment well adjusted?
Orchard Spray Equipment: Set Up and Calibration by Dr Greg O’Sullivan Efficient pest and disease management require the setting up and calibration of spray equipment so that application of pesticides is controlled and accurate. With correctly set up and calibrated equipment an operator can accurately control the quantity of chemical and volume of water…
Do hormones play a role in Alternate Bearing of Olive Trees?
At the 2017 Olive Exposium, a presentation made by Paul Vossen, Emeritus Olive Consultant, brought up a pertinent point about hormone deficiency and the role they play in unproductive olive trees. This is the first time some of the delegates heard this concept. Here is an abstract and details about a study from Turkey and…
A new government website dedicated to Climate Change for Australian Primary Producers
5 Major elements of THE LONG PADDOCK website include; Webinars.. read more Watch recorded webinars that showcase some science and products developed by our scientists. Topics include: remote sensing and ground cover, scientific capability in grazing land systems, a national grass production model (AussieGRASS), climate risk assessment, learning from history in climate & grazing management,…
How to flush your irrigation lines?
Flushing constitutes an important maintenance routine. In micro-irrigation systems, provisions must be made to flush mains, submains and lateral lines to remove settled sediments. The mainline should be flushed at scour valve locations, whilst submains are flushed at slushing points usually located at the ends of the lines while the system is running and allow…
How to calculate Readily Available Water – RAW
What is RAW? Readily available water (RAW) is the water that a plant can easily extract from the soil. RAW is the soil moisture held between field capacity and a nominated refill point for unrestricted growth. In this range of soil moisture, plants are neither waterlogged or water-stressed. Plant roots will continue to take water…
Amanda Bailey on Olives by The Olive Centre 