<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Mike,

The grove you describe could have a severe pollination problem. It tends
to show up in adverse years. That is why Italian growers like to have a
considerable pollination margin.

For the Frantoio a good pollinator is Marino - another one of the
classic varieties of central Italy.

There has been considerable research in Italy and it supports the
traditional method of "free" crossing rather than a single pollinator. A
short summary is in our book on page 40.

The most serious problem is the way your blocks are far apart and
separated by a patch of shrub. In Italy the recommendation is that
pollinators/mixed planting should be no more than 20 or 30 metres apart.

In Italy it is part of the traditional flavour of the olive oil to have
a mixed planting but if you find that too difficult to cope with and want to
follow a varietal system like the wine industry I would suggest that you
have rows of other varieties so they can be easily identified and picked
separately.

I also think that you are taking a chance with varieties of widely
differing origins. They may work together but I don't think anyone really
knows. Australia probably has the widest mixture of varieties in the world
in one spot (here in Umbria you cannot get varieties from other parts of
Italy as there is no commercial demand) and their crossing capacity is
unknown. I have suggested theme planting. By this I mean a grove based on a
central Italian theme. Another on a Spanish theme etc. You will be using
varieties with a proven record of cross pollinating.

Cheers Brian Chatterton.
</pre>
</td></tr></table>