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<pre>Do any growers have plantings of Hardy Mammoth olives in full production
this season?

Our 4 yr old trees are producing ( finally and minimally ) but after a check
today on the ripening of all the varieties in the grove we noticed that some
of the Mammoths are shrivelling and soft and this seems to be on both semi
and fully black.

Mammoths have recieved the same watering and fertigation regime as our
Manzanillo ( aka Mission), Corregiola and Picual but are the only variety
exibiting this trait, hence the query directed at other growers with
experience in this variety. I would welcome any and all opinions on possible
cause or varietal peculiarities of the breed.

The season in South Australia has been exceptionally hot and dry, but as
stated b4, all other varieties are looking great and almost ready to
harvest.

Regards,
Helen Morgan
Talinga Grove
www.talinga.com.au
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<pre>> Do any growers have plantings of Hardy Mammoth olives in full production
> this season?
>

Depends how you define "full production".

We have 6 yo trees, HMs as well as Manzanillo, Sevillano, Azapa, etc. All
species except HM are bearing reasonably well for was seems to be the "off"
season.

Last year, Manzanillo gave us 15kg per tree, this year 2kg after some heavy
winter pruning.
Last year HM gave us about 50 olives per tree, this year much the same.
Their days are numbered!

> Our 4 yr old trees are producing ( finally and minimally ) but after a
check
> today on the ripening of all the varieties in the grove we noticed that
some
> of the Mammoths are shrivelling and soft and this seems to be on both semi
> and fully black.
>

Is the shrivelling from the end of the fruit back in sort of concentric
rings? We had a lot of this sort of "soft nose" rot in several species last
season but some pruning, spraying, care and attention has whiped almost all
of it out this year.

Mike Wilson.
Hunter Valley.
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<pre>Helen,
We have 100 HM in the ground, a couple of them were early plantings
(from excess stock of another grower) and are about 3 years. The rest
are 2 years.
There is just one single lonely olive on one tree, the rest are still
busily growing vegetatively. I guess that is not such a bad thing, so
long as they are getting ready to make heaps of babies! I look forward
to someone else's experiences with this cv.

John Attwood
Tamworth
(Northern) NSW

D & H Morgan wrote:

> Do any growers have plantings of Hardy Mammoth olives in full production
> this season?
>
> Our 4 yr old trees are producing ( finally and minimally ) but after a check
> today on the ripening of all the varieties in the grove we noticed that some
> of the Mammoths are shrivelling and soft and this seems to be on both semi
> and fully black.
>
> Mammoths have recieved the same watering and fertigation regime as our
> Manzanillo ( aka Mission), Corregiola and Picual but are the only variety
> exibiting this trait, hence the query directed at other growers with
> experience in this variety. I would welcome any and all opinions on possible
> cause or varietal peculiarities of the breed.
>
> The season in South Australia has been exceptionally hot and dry, but as
> stated b4, all other varieties are looking great and almost ready to
> harvest.
>
> Regards,
> Helen Morgan
> Talinga Grove
> www.talinga.com.au
>
>
>
>
>
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<pre>Mike,

No. The syptoms are unlike "softnose" as it affects the whole fruit and is
evident on fully black, semi and some green fruit. The shrivelling looks
very much like overripe fruit left too long on the tree and the olives are
soft ( even the green ones) There is also unaffected fruit on the same
trees which is quite firm and glossy.

Regards,

Helen Morgan
Talinga Grove
www.talinga.com.au


> Is the shrivelling from the end of the fruit back in sort of concentric
> rings? We had a lot of this sort of "soft nose" rot in several species
last
> season but some pruning, spraying, care and attention has whiped almost
all
> of it out this year.
>
> Mike Wilson.
> Hunter Valley.
>
>
>
> ************************************************** ***
> INVITE OTHERS TO JOIN THIS OLIVE OIL INFORMATIVE GROUP!
> ************************************************** ***
> Post message: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: OliveOil-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
> Unsubscribe: OliveOil-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> List owner: OliveOil-owner@yahoogroups.com
> URL to this page: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/OliveOil
>
>
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>
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<pre>> Mike,
>
> No. The syptoms are unlike "softnose" as it affects the whole fruit and is
> evident on fully black, semi and some green fruit. The shrivelling looks
> very much like overripe fruit left too long on the tree and the olives are
> soft ( even the green ones) There is also unaffected fruit on the same
> trees which is quite firm and glossy.
>
> Regards,
>
> Helen Morgan

Hmm, well in that case, sorry but I have no idea, and am just glad its you
and not me!

There was a chap doing a thesis for uni asking questions like this in the
Hunter a couple of months ago. I'll try to track him down and see what he
came up with.

Mike.
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<pre>Regarding problems in fruit - difficult to give specific advice at a
distance. The following may prompt a better understanding of the
problem.

¥ Abnormally shaped fruit - nutritional deficiencey
¥ Wrinkled fruit
- heat stress can affect all fruit
- water stress (fruit at all all stages)
- over-ripe fruit - naturally dries out - olives are les bitter
- Mummified fruit (wrinkled and hard)- possible fungus infection
- trees with good fruit and wringled fruit - may be a specific root
problem - each
main branch may be feed by a specific section of roots -
water/nutritional/disease
problem all or one of these
- Softnose - anthracnose, Too much nitrogen - not all fruits will be
affected

How do you handle the problem?

Remove all affected fruit - do not process even for oil - fruit can give
off flavours into the oil that cannot be corrected by blending. Have
fruit checked by a plant pathologist -if a fungal problem is present
then the trees need a spray of Bordeaux after fruit has been removed.
Affected fruit - dispose by incineration.

Eliminate any nutritional problem - undertake leaf analysis.

If only a few trees are affected - check sprinklers and roots.

Stan Kailis
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<pre>>
> No. The syptoms are unlike "softnose" as it affects the whole fruit and is
> evident on fully black, semi and some green fruit. The shrivelling looks
> very much like overripe fruit left too long on the tree and the olives are
> soft ( even the green ones) There is also unaffected fruit on the same
> trees which is quite firm and glossy.
>
> Regards,
>
> Helen Morgan
> Talinga Grove
> www.talinga.com.au

Helen,

Is this more like it? This is a copy of an e-mail & reply from one of our
local growers.

Dear Elaine,

While we were at Greg Hatton's we had a quick chat, and you mentioned that
the chap who was doing the study into fungal pests and diseases had come to
some conclusions about use of copper as general fix for some of the
problems. I didn't get the chance to ask you any further questions on the
Sunday, but I'd like to have a chat either to you or to the chap himself
about this subject.

Mike.



The "experts" name is Kevin Melksham from Charles Sturt University.
His contact numbers are

Mobile: 0412 705413
CSU 02 69335218
Home: 02 62864068

He suggested spraying the vines with Mancozeb or Scala at 5% capfall. The
disease which manifests itself as a disgusting looking orange coloured gunk
on the bunches is commonly called "ripe-rot" He believes it is
"collatatritum" (can't guarantee that I've spelt it correctly), the same
disease that affects mangos, bananas and avacadoes.

If you want to know more about it, ring Greg at night at home, or his mobile
number is 0409 243926.

Regards

Elaine.

Fairview Wines
422 Elderslie Road
Branxton Australia 2335
phone/fax 0249381116
fairviewwines@bigpond.com
www.fairviewwines.com.au


I have never personally come across this in olives, but it was a real
problem (I understand) with the wine grapes this year. A very wet, humid
Hunter Valley and well known as a high disease pressure area in wet years.

Regards,

Mike Wilson.
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<pre>One fungal disease for olives is gloeosporium olivareum ulna aka
'leprosy' to the Italians(according to the book) & can be prevented by
copper plus mancozeb in January (Aust). It has been seen just recently
in the Hunter.

As yet there is only Natrasoap (temporarily) registered for use on
olives in Qld & one other state & this runs out this Dec.2001. So the
use or prescription of any other chemicals is illegal. This is a
problem, I have explored the NRA site only to be baffled by the complex
structure & terminology incl lengthy periods of downloading irrelevant
docs & frustrated by the difficulty in extracting any information
whatsoever. It might be prudent to use double speak with chemical advice.

Roger Farquhar

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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<pre>> One fungal disease for olives is gloeosporium olivareum ulna aka
> 'leprosy' to the Italians(according to the book) & can be prevented by
> copper plus mancozeb in January (Aust). It has been seen just recently
> in the Hunter.
>
> As yet there is only Natrasoap (temporarily) registered for use on
> olives in Qld & one other state & this runs out this Dec.2001. So the
> use or prescription of any other chemicals is illegal. This is a
> problem, I have explored the NRA site only to be baffled by the complex
> structure & terminology incl lengthy periods of downloading irrelevant
> docs & frustrated by the difficulty in extracting any information
> whatsoever. It might be prudent to use double speak with chemical advice.
>
> Roger Farquhar
>

Roger,

I heard an unconfirmed rumour (on Sunday at the Co-Op bash) that AOA have
applied for permits to be issued to use a variety of chemicals to treat
specific olive problems. This information is supposed to be on the AOA
website (according to my source), but as yet I haven't looked for it. A job
for later tonight?

In the mean time, there is a procedure in place for "off label" use of
chemicals to treat specific problems ... its on the NRA website, but fairly
well hidden.

Mike Wilson.
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<pre>Mike
the chemical permits as reported in the AOA summer 2000 mag as
an'update' article was not specific in time, advises that any permits
issued will be temporary & also that the contact officer will be on
leave for 6 months. My enquiries are that not much apart from soap has
been permitted. The onus remains on the industry ie growers not
convenors to push for registration. This can be done thru commercial
concerns specialised in this area which govt will apparently partially
fund. One important aspect is nil residue levels at time of harvest.

Roger Farquhar

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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