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Growing
Olives
By
Jennifer
Brundal
Farms in the mountains above the
Costa Del Sol tend to be “secano” or dry, non-irrigated land and the normal crops on these are olives, almonds and carob beans. I will share with you my limited knowledge on the cultivation of olives. There has been a massive study of all the trees for olive production carried out by the “powers that be” and finance to assist in the production of this crop can be obtained. Ask at your local
Banco Caja Rural for the appropriate forms.
The land between the olives is usually ploughed or harrowed and the trees need to be heavily pruned and the
“bravillos” (suckers / shoots) that have reverted to type cleaned off from around the base of the trees.
Olives are usually ripe from October - the first ones are picked and pickled. There are many varieties of olives, and depending upon this they are either used for oil or pickling. Varieties intended for oil are picked later. The best way to find out exactly when is to ask the local people, the governing factor being,
“when does your local olive oil mill open?”
Harvesting for pickling is usually done by hand so as not to bruise the fruit. When harvesting for oil, cloths are set out under the trees and the olives knocked down by using long sticks. The olives are then packed into sacks and sent off to the mill.
After the harvest (January / February) the trees should be pruned. The large branches can be chopped for logs, but the smaller prunings MUST ALL BE BURNED as they can infect the tree with pests and disease.
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