<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Hi Folks

For introduction, my wife Silvana and I (Richard)own a 20 hectare
(50 acre) farm 60Kms out of Cape Town in the Cape Winelands. We have
been farming fruit and wine grapes for the past five years and for a
number of reasons have decided to convert the farm to olives for oil
and grapes for red wine.

We start planting 2000 olive trees next week mainly Frantoio, and a
selection of Leccino, Coratina and the dwarfing variety FS17. The
climate here is Mediterranean, hot dry summers and wet winters and
the farm is on mainly north facing slopes at between 200 to 230
metres. I have a number of questions to ask those with experience in
gowing olive trees ?

1) How do olive trees react to wind as our south easter is as potent
as the "Mistral" in southern France.

2) Is there anybody out there with advice and experience in farming
olives organically.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers
Richard
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Phil:

In California we, on occasion, also experience hot, dry conditions,
sometimes including winds, during bloom. There is no question that either of
these conditions, when they occur during bloom has the potential to severely
reduce fruit set of sensitive varieties.

For sensitive varieties (Manzanillo here is especially sensitive), extent of
damage is both temperature/humidity and tree condition related. Tree
condition is the one part we can control - trees that are stressed have
considerably more damage than those not. The only way to mitigate such a
problem for sensitive varieties is to keep the trees stress free (avoiding
water stress is the most important) during bloom development through fruit
set - this is critical. We advise careful attention to irrigation
(maintaining trees water stress free) and fertility (especially N & B -
these latter elements are critical to bloom development and fruit set and
when lacking, aggravate effects of heat and or wind and low humidity) during
this period. I think some observation of various groves following such an
event will verify the importance of tree stress and "heat" damage during
bloom.

There is no question that some varieties fare far better than others in
reacting to this problem. When I worked in Egypt, their local varieties
(e.g. Hamed) were much less sensitive than many we brought in - we noted
varieties the Bedouins had selected for use in the Sinai desert were regular
producers in those conditions (i.e.. hot and dry all the time). As I recall,
Picual produced good regular crops under Egyptian conditions (maybe Mohammed
can comment). So, parietal selection would be important in those areas where
these conditions occur with some regularity.

Steve Sibbett
U.C. Farm Advisor
Phone - office 559.733.6486
Mobil 559.280.0666
FAX 559.734.2708

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bramley [mailto:bramleyp@one.net.au]
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2000 3:45 PM
To: OliveOil@egroups.com
Subject: RE: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil



Welcome aboard Richard.

Last year, shortly before fruit set, we experienced unusual hot strong winds
pretty well up and down the central and southern coasts of eastern
Australia. In short this damaged fruit set and we had a pretty miserable
harvest this year.

Mohammad el Kholy, in Egypt, posted an interesting item where he said that
in his region they experience the "Khamseen" a strong hot wind coming out of
the Sahara. He said that the olive trees, over time, have adapted to this
regular event and fruit set is timed prior to the Khamseen. Mother Nature
doing her wonderful bit.

Perhaps others with more experience might like to advance some methods of
dealing with this olive growing problem.

Regards,

Phil Bramley

-----Original Message-----
From: atfarm@iafrica.com [mailto:atfarm@iafrica.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2000 3:47 AM
To: OliveOil@egroups.com
Subject: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil



Hi Folks

For introduction, my wife Silvana and I (Richard)own a 20 hectare
(50 acre) farm 60Kms out of Cape Town in the Cape Winelands. We have
been farming fruit and wine grapes for the past five years and for a
number of reasons have decided to convert the farm to olives for oil
and grapes for red wine.

We start planting 2000 olive trees next week mainly Frantoio, and a
selection of Leccino, Coratina and the dwarfing variety FS17. The
climate here is Mediterranean, hot dry summers and wet winters and
the farm is on mainly north facing slopes at between 200 to 230
metres. I have a number of questions to ask those with experience in
gowing olive trees ?

1) How do olive trees react to wind as our south easter is as potent
as the "Mistral" in southern France.

2) Is there anybody out there with advice and experience in farming
olives organically.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers
Richard


------------------------------------------------------------------------
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
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1- Add a general link to the group on your website:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

2- Mention the group and its URL in your newsletters and publications.

3- Invite others to visit:
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4- Add a subscription link on your website. See how here:
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5- If you would like me to send a formal invitation to people you know,
write to me at OliveOil-owner@egroups.com
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Welcome aboard Richard.

Last year, shortly before fruit set, we experienced unusual hot strong winds
pretty well up and down the central and southern coasts of eastern
Australia. In short this damaged fruit set and we had a pretty miserable
harvest this year.

Mohammad el Kholy, in Egypt, posted an interesting item where he said that
in his region they experience the "Khamseen" a strong hot wind coming out of
the Sahara. He said that the olive trees, over time, have adapted to this
regular event and fruit set is timed prior to the Khamseen. Mother Nature
doing her wonderful bit.

Perhaps others with more experience might like to advance some methods of
dealing with this olive growing problem.

Regards,

Phil Bramley

-----Original Message-----
From: atfarm@iafrica.com [mailto:atfarm@iafrica.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2000 3:47 AM
To: OliveOil@egroups.com
Subject: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil



Hi Folks

For introduction, my wife Silvana and I (Richard)own a 20 hectare
(50 acre) farm 60Kms out of Cape Town in the Cape Winelands. We have
been farming fruit and wine grapes for the past five years and for a
number of reasons have decided to convert the farm to olives for oil
and grapes for red wine.

We start planting 2000 olive trees next week mainly Frantoio, and a
selection of Leccino, Coratina and the dwarfing variety FS17. The
climate here is Mediterranean, hot dry summers and wet winters and
the farm is on mainly north facing slopes at between 200 to 230
metres. I have a number of questions to ask those with experience in
gowing olive trees ?

1) How do olive trees react to wind as our south easter is as potent
as the "Mistral" in southern France.

2) Is there anybody out there with advice and experience in farming
olives organically.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers
Richard


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five steps to help promote OliveOil:

1- Add a general link to the group on your website:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

2- Mention the group and its URL in your newsletters and publications.

3- Invite others to visit:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

4- Add a subscription link on your website. See how here:
http://www.egroups.com/promote/OliveOil

5- If you would like me to send a formal invitation to people you know,
write to me at OliveOil-owner@egroups.com
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Thanks Steve for that very useful contribution.

I would have to add that my trees did not receive any extra water during
that hot period and that accounts then for the poor fruit set.

It is possible that these conditions may return again this year, the seasons
do appear to be changing, so your advice is timely.

Regards,

Phil Bramley



-----Original Message-----
From: Steve Sibbett [mailto:sibbett@lightspeed.net]
Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2000 8:33 AM
To: OliveOil@egroups.com
Subject: RE: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil



Phil:

In California we, on occasion, also experience hot, dry conditions,
sometimes including winds, during bloom. There is no question that either of
these conditions, when they occur during bloom has the potential to severely
reduce fruit set of sensitive varieties.

For sensitive varieties (Manzanillo here is especially sensitive), extent of
damage is both temperature/humidity and tree condition related. Tree
condition is the one part we can control - trees that are stressed have
considerably more damage than those not. The only way to mitigate such a
problem for sensitive varieties is to keep the trees stress free (avoiding
water stress is the most important) during bloom development through fruit
set - this is critical. We advise careful attention to irrigation
(maintaining trees water stress free) and fertility (especially N & B -
these latter elements are critical to bloom development and fruit set and
when lacking, aggravate effects of heat and or wind and low humidity) during
this period. I think some observation of various groves following such an
event will verify the importance of tree stress and "heat" damage during
bloom.

There is no question that some varieties fare far better than others in
reacting to this problem. When I worked in Egypt, their local varieties
(e.g. Hamed) were much less sensitive than many we brought in - we noted
varieties the Bedouins had selected for use in the Sinai desert were regular
producers in those conditions (i.e.. hot and dry all the time). As I recall,
Picual produced good regular crops under Egyptian conditions (maybe Mohammed
can comment). So, parietal selection would be important in those areas where
these conditions occur with some regularity.

Steve Sibbett
U.C. Farm Advisor
Phone - office 559.733.6486
Mobil 559.280.0666
FAX 559.734.2708

-----Original Message-----
From: Phil Bramley [mailto:bramleyp@one.net.au]
Sent: Monday, September 04, 2000 3:45 PM
To: OliveOil@egroups.com
Subject: RE: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil



Welcome aboard Richard.

Last year, shortly before fruit set, we experienced unusual hot strong winds
pretty well up and down the central and southern coasts of eastern
Australia. In short this damaged fruit set and we had a pretty miserable
harvest this year.

Mohammad el Kholy, in Egypt, posted an interesting item where he said that
in his region they experience the "Khamseen" a strong hot wind coming out of
the Sahara. He said that the olive trees, over time, have adapted to this
regular event and fruit set is timed prior to the Khamseen. Mother Nature
doing her wonderful bit.

Perhaps others with more experience might like to advance some methods of
dealing with this olive growing problem.

Regards,

Phil Bramley

-----Original Message-----
From: atfarm@iafrica.com [mailto:atfarm@iafrica.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 5 September 2000 3:47 AM
To: OliveOil@egroups.com
Subject: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil



Hi Folks

For introduction, my wife Silvana and I (Richard)own a 20 hectare
(50 acre) farm 60Kms out of Cape Town in the Cape Winelands. We have
been farming fruit and wine grapes for the past five years and for a
number of reasons have decided to convert the farm to olives for oil
and grapes for red wine.

We start planting 2000 olive trees next week mainly Frantoio, and a
selection of Leccino, Coratina and the dwarfing variety FS17. The
climate here is Mediterranean, hot dry summers and wet winters and
the farm is on mainly north facing slopes at between 200 to 230
metres. I have a number of questions to ask those with experience in
gowing olive trees ?

1) How do olive trees react to wind as our south easter is as potent
as the "Mistral" in southern France.

2) Is there anybody out there with advice and experience in farming
olives organically.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers
Richard


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five steps to help promote OliveOil:

1- Add a general link to the group on your website:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

2- Mention the group and its URL in your newsletters and publications.

3- Invite others to visit:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

4- Add a subscription link on your website. See how here:
http://www.egroups.com/promote/OliveOil

5- If you would like me to send a formal invitation to people you know,
write to me at OliveOil-owner@egroups.com





------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five steps to help promote OliveOil:

1- Add a general link to the group on your website:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

2- Mention the group and its URL in your newsletters and publications.

3- Invite others to visit:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

4- Add a subscription link on your website. See how here:
http://www.egroups.com/promote/OliveOil

5- If you would like me to send a formal invitation to people you know,
write to me at OliveOil-owner@egroups.com





------------------------------------------------------------------------
Five steps to help promote OliveOil:

1- Add a general link to the group on your website:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

2- Mention the group and its URL in your newsletters and publications.

3- Invite others to visit:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil

4- Add a subscription link on your website. See how here:
http://www.egroups.com/promote/OliveOil

5- If you would like me to send a formal invitation to people you know,
write to me at OliveOil-owner@egroups.com
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Dear All

In most of the olive growing areas of Western Australia - lack of water
at fruit set is not a major problem. Even with a winter rainfall
pattern, there is still some rain until November and the soil profile
has usable water.

Today I looked at our Mission and Barneas - both had flower buds and I
expect that anthesis is just around the corner. Fruit set will be well
underway October November.

In summer rain areas unfortunately the rain comes after the period of
fruit set therefore irrigation is needed.

Stan
</pre>
</td></tr></table>

<table border=0 cellpadding=2 cellspacing="0"><tr><td>
<pre>Hi Richard

In the Hunter Valley, Australia, the Hunter Olive Association has a monthly
newsletter.with a regular column written by one of our members who is
growing olives using biodynamic techniques. So far this has been very
successful.

Earlier in the year they travelled to Western Australia where they visited
an olive grove about 100km south of Perth where organic techniques are being
used with great success.

If you are interested I can put them in touch with you.

Cheers

Liane



----- Original Message -----
From: <atfarm@iafrica.com>
To: <OliveOil@egroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2000 3:46 AM
Subject: [OliveOil] Organic Olive Oil


>
> Hi Folks
>
> For introduction, my wife Silvana and I (Richard)own a 20 hectare
> (50 acre) farm 60Kms out of Cape Town in the Cape Winelands. We have
> been farming fruit and wine grapes for the past five years and for a
> number of reasons have decided to convert the farm to olives for oil
> and grapes for red wine.
>
> We start planting 2000 olive trees next week mainly Frantoio, and a
> selection of Leccino, Coratina and the dwarfing variety FS17. The
> climate here is Mediterranean, hot dry summers and wet winters and
> the farm is on mainly north facing slopes at between 200 to 230
> metres. I have a number of questions to ask those with experience in
> gowing olive trees ?
>
> 1) How do olive trees react to wind as our south easter is as potent
> as the "Mistral" in southern France.
>
> 2) Is there anybody out there with advice and experience in farming
> olives organically.
>
> Look forward to hearing from you.
>
> Cheers
> Richard
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Five steps to help promote OliveOil:
>
> 1- Add a general link to the group on your website:
http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil
>
> 2- Mention the group and its URL in your newsletters and publications.
>
> 3- Invite others to visit:
> http://www.egroups.com/group/OliveOil
>
> 4- Add a subscription link on your website. See how here:
http://www.egroups.com/promote/OliveOil
>
> 5- If you would like me to send a formal invitation to people you know,
write to me at OliveOil-owner@egroups.com
>
>
>
>
</pre>
</td></tr></table>