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<pre>Dear all,

As the temperature has now started to plummet and reports of frost start to
come in, my attention turns to frost-proofing olive trees. I have one
particular problem grove, and I would welcome any advice.

The soil is a light sandy loam, not particularly good at holding moisture,
and the grove is located in the bottom of a picturesque but steep sided
valley. The area is prone to frost, and a couple of years ago we suffered
frosts of minus 8 and lost almost all of the Kalamata trees, although the
Manzanillo planted alongside did far better. We have since replated with the
more "frost-tolerant" Leccino.

However, my dilemma is whether or not to irrigate over winter. Does having a
degree of soil moisture help or hinder? Many of the trees have split bark,
indicating old frost damage. I will be using a spray of a plastic polymer
(Envy / Bond /Anti-stress) as this was used last season and the damage was
minimal.

Typical winter weather can be expected to be: cold nights down to minus 3
fairly regularly, mild days up to about 17 - 20C most days. Low humidity,
next to no rain. Cold, dry winds on a fairly regular basis, but nothing
destructive, just damn unpleasant to work in. Morning mists burn off by
about 9-30/ 10am as the sun comes over the rim of the valley.

I do have micro-spray irrigation available, and will use the plastic polymer
spray at least 3 times over winter.

Any suggestions (Other than "dig them out and plant somewhere more
suitable")?

Regards,

Mike Wilson.
</pre>
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<pre>Mike, I would water to increase the latent heat holding potential of the
ground to ameliorate the frost intensity.
Sharn

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Wilson" <mike.wilson@...>
To: "Olives Groups" <OliveOil@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 4:35 PM
Subject: [OliveOil] Soil moisture and frost damage


> Dear all,
>
> As the temperature has now started to plummet and reports of frost start
to
> come in, my attention turns to frost-proofing olive trees. I have one
> particular problem grove, and I would welcome any advice.
>
> The soil is a light sandy loam, not particularly good at holding moisture,
> and the grove is located in the bottom of a picturesque but steep sided
> valley. The area is prone to frost, and a couple of years ago we suffered
> frosts of minus 8 and lost almost all of the Kalamata trees, although the
> Manzanillo planted alongside did far better. We have since replated with
the
> more "frost-tolerant" Leccino.
>
> However, my dilemma is whether or not to irrigate over winter. Does having
a
> degree of soil moisture help or hinder? Many of the trees have split bark,
> indicating old frost damage. I will be using a spray of a plastic polymer
> (Envy / Bond /Anti-stress) as this was used last season and the damage was
> minimal.
>
> Typical winter weather can be expected to be: cold nights down to minus 3
> fairly regularly, mild days up to about 17 - 20C most days. Low humidity,
> next to no rain. Cold, dry winds on a fairly regular basis, but nothing
> destructive, just damn unpleasant to work in. Morning mists burn off by
> about 9-30/ 10am as the sun comes over the rim of the valley.
>
> I do have micro-spray irrigation available, and will use the plastic
polymer
> spray at least 3 times over winter.
>
> Any suggestions (Other than "dig them out and plant somewhere more
> suitable")?
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Wilson.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>
>
>
>
>
</pre>
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<pre>> Mike, I would water to increase the latent heat holding potential of the
> ground to ameliorate the frost intensity.
> Sharn
>

Thanks Sharn, that was Steve Sibbert's suggestion too. However, I am still
very wary as this soil does not hold water well, but it does heat and cool
quite quickly - black, sandy loam - so I am tempted to put a pile of loose
lucernes straw mulch down to try to hold the warmth that way. Water is
something we don't have abundant amounts of.

Mike.
</pre>
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<pre>Mike,

My grove adjacent to Mt. Buffalo,Victoria has heavy loam soil, very wet from
recent rains. The first mild frost damaged half the Manzanillos and no
others.The trees [from Olives Australia] always lose their tips in winter and
do poorly compared to others . A grove in the Kiewa Valley has the same problem
with M.s on the river flats, OK on the slopes. We plan to inter plant with
another variety and pull the Manzanillos out when they start to compete.

Would have thought straw would worsen the problem in that it would keep the heat
in the soil and not allow it to soften the effects of frost on the fruit. Good
luck, Don Grimes
----- Original Message -----
From: Mike Wilson
To: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, May 06, 2004 8:09 AM
Subject: Re: [OliveOil] Soil moisture and frost damage




> Mike, I would water to increase the latent heat holding potential of the
> ground to ameliorate the frost intensity.
> Sharn
>

Thanks Sharn, that was Steve Sibbert's suggestion too. However, I am still
very wary as this soil does not hold water well, but it does heat and cool
quite quickly - black, sandy loam - so I am tempted to put a pile of loose
lucernes straw mulch down to try to hold the warmth that way. Water is
something we don't have abundant amounts of.

Mike.





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</pre>
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<pre>> Mike,
>
> My grove adjacent to Mt. Buffalo,Victoria has heavy loam soil, very wet
from recent rains. The first mild frost damaged half the Manzanillos and no
others.The trees [from Olives Australia] always lose their tips in winter
and do poorly compared to others . A grove in the Kiewa Valley has the same
problem with M.s on the river flats, OK on the slopes. We plan to inter
plant with another variety and pull the Manzanillos out when they start to
compete.
>

I found that Manzanillo was more frost tolerant than Kalamata, but under
advice from Andrew Burgess of Modern Olives, we replanted with Lecchino &
Coratina. So far so good, but very early days.

> Would have thought straw would worsen the problem in that it would keep
the heat in the soil and not allow it to soften the effects of frost on the
fruit. Good luck, Don Grimes

I'm not worried about fruit at this stage, just about stopping the bark
splitting. As I see it the water in the sap is freezing and expanding,
causing the bark to split and then peel back later when the next growth
spurt comes along. As a result of the spliting I have many trees with the
bark only one-third the way round the trunk. Not quite ringbarked, but the
next best thing. This reduces the sap flow and the tree struggles.

Mike.
</pre>
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