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…

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…

The importance of Boron & Calcium in Olive Trees

In the lead up to flowering, you need to ensure your trees have adequate nutrition, particularly of Boron and Calcium.  A lack of Boron and Calcium may lead to decreased fruit set, oil quality and oil stability. The application of Boron and Calcium can never be overstressed.  It is a requirement for your olive trees. In Brief A…

Olive Growing: Soil biology as a part of soil health.

Soil organisms contribute to soil structure, water-holding capacity, pH, and nutrient availability, while the physical and chemical soil environment determines what organisms can live in the soil profile.  There is a strong interaction between all of these components, where changes in one aspect will influence others!  The holistic approach of looking at the soil as…

Can Olive Lace Bug defoliate olive trees?

Hi Amanda, About our recent phone call to sort out our issues with our trees. Just thought I would send you some photos of my trees at Temora. Not sure if they are past help or not, certainly very sad. Spent yesterday modifying my paddock spray boom to spray trees. It looks as though it…