A few months ago I adopted a 1,000 year old olive tree on the Taurino's olive farm in Puglia Italy, in memory of a first generation Italian, my father.
I will be visiting 'my tree' for the first time later this year but . Dr Valentino Valzano keeps me informed about what my tree is 'doing'. All the trees are just awaking from a winter nap. The sun is warming the Salento soil in Puglia.
And it is time to prune 60,000 olive trees!
Valentino writes:
. In the coming days we will start with the Pruning Operations;
This operation does not take much time,
but it is fundamental for the final quality (of the oil) We try to have trees in a good
healthy status. We are pruning the old trees in order to also facilitate the
harvesting operations. We use elevators, as you can see in the picture.
OBJECTIVES
of the pruning operations
In mature trees, pruning is mainly required to renew the fruiting surface of the tree and achieve high yields, maintain vegetative growth of fruiting shoots, maintain the skeleton structure, contain tree size, favor light penetration and air circulation inside the canopy, permit control of pests and diseases, prevent aging of the canopy, and eliminate dead wood. Under certain circumstances, pruning can be required to alleviate the effect of abiotic stress, to re-form the canopy after damage by frosts and pests, to rejuvenate old or abandoned trees, and to adapt an obsolete training system to mechanical harvesting. In modern olive growing, the training system should permit easy movement of machinery in the orchard; little attention needs to be paid to specific tree shapes.
In mature trees, pruning is mainly required to renew the fruiting surface of the tree and achieve high yields, maintain vegetative growth of fruiting shoots, maintain the skeleton structure, contain tree size, favor light penetration and air circulation inside the canopy, permit control of pests and diseases, prevent aging of the canopy, and eliminate dead wood. Under certain circumstances, pruning can be required to alleviate the effect of abiotic stress, to re-form the canopy after damage by frosts and pests, to rejuvenate old or abandoned trees, and to adapt an obsolete training system to mechanical harvesting. In modern olive growing, the training system should permit easy movement of machinery in the orchard; little attention needs to be paid to specific tree shapes.
Pruning should be performed between
the end of winter and flowering and because of this we prune in January,
February, and March.
Cutting stimulates metabolism and growth, which makes the plant tissue more susceptible to plant injury. In mild climates, with no spring frosts, pruning can be started in winter. Pruning before bud break is risky in cold climates, however, because of the high probability of frost that may damage the remaining tissue and delay wound repair.
An advantage of pruning after bud break is that even the inexperienced grower is able to assess the number of flowers and the potential crop removed by pruning, whereas flower buds cannot be distinguished macroscopically from vegetative buds at or before bud break.
Cutting stimulates metabolism and growth, which makes the plant tissue more susceptible to plant injury. In mild climates, with no spring frosts, pruning can be started in winter. Pruning before bud break is risky in cold climates, however, because of the high probability of frost that may damage the remaining tissue and delay wound repair.
An advantage of pruning after bud break is that even the inexperienced grower is able to assess the number of flowers and the potential crop removed by pruning, whereas flower buds cannot be distinguished macroscopically from vegetative buds at or before bud break.
