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<pre>Greetings! I have been reading this list for a few weeks, but have not
seen anything related to the info I'm looking for; growing/processing
olives at home.
We live in Eastern Washington in a major apple/grape/soft fruit growing
area - so many wineries its beginning to look like a California Valley!
Anyway, the soil here is rich but rocky with the Yakima River running
between 2 sets of mountains/hills and a wide valley floor between. Lots of
sun, little rainfall, good irrigation and the winter is usually mild - this
year we had snow 3 times for a total of about 3 inches and only about 20
says below freezing an dnone below zero.
Wife is interested in planting about 5 olive trees and processing the oil
for home use and local specialty markets - farmer's market, local
restaurants, etc. Is there a website/book/expert we can access for info?
Will olives trees grow well in our area? Minimum equipment needed
(cost-wise) for processing? type of tree to look for?
As you can tell, we know nothing of the olive oil business, but my wife
has worked in the lab of fruit juice manufacturing plans for almost 20
years and I am fairly handy around the ranch/farm. I'm sure we have the
basic skills needed for such a low production set-up, but we do need advice.
Can anyone on this list help us or point us in the right direction? Is
such a plan feasible?

Thanks,
Pat L.
Prosser, WA
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<pre>I wish to plant somewhere between 3000 and 4000 olive trees. Can
some one tell me where I can get a difinitive answer on exactly how
much water is needed in the first three years after planting
(assuming 250 trees to ha). If the rainfall in my area is 400mm pa.
Where should I go for info on grove design?
Who can I consult regarding Irrigation systems and their
installation? Is there such a thing as remote watering (ie from
Melbourne to Sheparton)?
Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks
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<pre>I was faced with the same problem when I planted 3000 trees in Adelaide. My
rainfall is 800mm or thereabouts and almost all of it falls in the winter.
I finally settled on running my sprinklers for an hour in the first year i.e.
about 36litres of water every 13 days in the summer. While the ground is wet
in the winter and spring I did not water.
As the trees grow larger to about three years I plan to increase watering to
two hours or 70 litres every two weeks. Of course I also monitor ground
wetness. My sprinklers have a little tab I can break off to increase the
throw of the spray. I will do this when the trees reach 2 metres.
Sprinklers are great if you can be on site as you can tell if they are
working or not. Things that stop them are
dirt in the line
Snails crawling on them
Blades of grass caught in the rotating head
Hares that bite through both small and large hoses
joins pulling apart

You can operate a system remotely by phone. Talk to your local irrigator/
Can't give you contacts in the sheparton region as I am in Adelaide. But
there ought to be some there. Find out other clients and ask them about the
service and prices of selected irrigators.
I don't like drippers as they only deliver about 6 litres an hour and it is
very hard to tell if they are not working without spending a lot of time
checking each tree. With sprinklers you can just drive up and down the rows
and see what is happening.
If you want more contact me off line at drewbrow@...
Best regards

Andrew Brown

zubraaman wrote:

> I wish to plant somewhere between 3000 and 4000 olive trees. Can
> some one tell me where I can get a difinitive answer on exactly how
> much water is needed in the first three years after planting
> (assuming 250 trees to ha). If the rainfall in my area is 400mm pa.
> Where should I go for info on grove design?
> Who can I consult regarding Irrigation systems and their
> installation? Is there such a thing as remote watering (ie from
> Melbourne to Sheparton)?
> Any help would be much appreciated.
> Thanks
>
>
> *************************
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> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
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</pre>
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<pre>> I wish to plant somewhere between 3000 and 4000 olive trees. Can
> some one tell me where I can get a difinitive answer on exactly how
> much water is needed in the first three years after planting
> (assuming 250 trees to ha). If the rainfall in my area is 400mm pa.

I asked a similar question a couple of months ago. The answers I received
were:

The information that I posted was for mature trees. 200-350/Ha. Young
trees require about 20 litres/week over summer to reduce stress. In dry
winter conditions similar amounts are required.

Prof Stan Kailis


The Californian Manual suggests that a mature olive tree is likeliest to
reach its maximum production capacity if it receives 1000mm a year. As the
olive is a Mediterranean tree it probably prefers to receive its rainfall in
a pattern as close to that in the Med as possible. Olives Australia's web
site contains rainfall patterns for many areas in the Med but in short, wet
autumns, cold, damp winters and wet springs followed by dry summers.

Yours,
Dan Burnett


I saw a figure of 4Ml per hectare. In practice I am watering my trees on
hills
soil (contains some clay so water retention is good) at the rate of 35litres
every 2 weeks. Trees are 1 year in the ground. You can also check the leaves
and
also the sol to see if you are doing ok. But I guess you want to plan rather
than check existing trees.
Our rainfall is around 800mm per annum in the wintermonths mainly.

Hope this helps along with the rest of the responses you are sure to get.
Best Regards
Andrew & Val Brown


Based on my local conditions and these three excellent comments, I settled
on 30 litre per hour sprays, run for an hour a week in mild weather and two
to three hours a week in hot dry weather. This is switched off when we get
summer rain.

Regards,

Mike Wilson
Hunter Valley
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<pre>Have you taken a soil profile down to a depth of 1.5 meters and had the
soils analysed. If not suggest you do so and this should assist in a big way
for your soil annalasis and then you will know what water to apply.
I have done an experiment over 2 years with no irrigation on 150 trees and
the rain fall is only 400mm / year the loss was only 5 trees all by doing
soil checks to a reasonable depth. I am not sure how cold you get in winter
but becareful of winter irrigation.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Wilson" <mike.wilson@...>
To: <OliveOil@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2002 10:50
Subject: Re: [OliveOil] Olive Trees


>
>
> > I wish to plant somewhere between 3000 and 4000 olive trees. Can
> > some one tell me where I can get a difinitive answer on exactly how
> > much water is needed in the first three years after planting
> > (assuming 250 trees to ha). If the rainfall in my area is 400mm pa.
>
> I asked a similar question a couple of months ago. The answers I received
> were:
>
> The information that I posted was for mature trees. 200-350/Ha. Young
> trees require about 20 litres/week over summer to reduce stress. In dry
> winter conditions similar amounts are required.
>
> Prof Stan Kailis
>
>
> The Californian Manual suggests that a mature olive tree is likeliest to
> reach its maximum production capacity if it receives 1000mm a year. As
the
> olive is a Mediterranean tree it probably prefers to receive its rainfall
in
> a pattern as close to that in the Med as possible. Olives Australia's
web
> site contains rainfall patterns for many areas in the Med but in short,
wet
> autumns, cold, damp winters and wet springs followed by dry summers.
>
> Yours,
> Dan Burnett
>
>
> I saw a figure of 4Ml per hectare. In practice I am watering my trees on
> hills
> soil (contains some clay so water retention is good) at the rate of
35litres
> every 2 weeks. Trees are 1 year in the ground. You can also check the
leaves
> and
> also the sol to see if you are doing ok. But I guess you want to plan
rather
> than check existing trees.
> Our rainfall is around 800mm per annum in the wintermonths mainly.
>
> Hope this helps along with the rest of the responses you are sure to get.
> Best Regards
> Andrew & Val Brown
>
>
> Based on my local conditions and these three excellent comments, I settled
> on 30 litre per hour sprays, run for an hour a week in mild weather and
two
> to three hours a week in hot dry weather. This is switched off when we get
> summer rain.
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike Wilson
> Hunter Valley
>
>
>
>
>
> *************************
> Drive traffic to your website
> Details: http://sadoun.com/submit
> *************************
> ---
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
</pre>
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