Thread: Olive harvest 2015

Got my oil back.
There were 90kg of olives.Ended up with 19l extra virgin olive oil.Cost $39.00 to get them processed
Andrew

That's the way to do it ... yourself for fun. My sister inlaw has several hundred trees... They have to hire pickers, pay exorbitant processing costs .... To end up with hundreds of litres of oil they struggle to sell even at very cheap prices as there is so much competition. I reckon it would have cost them tens of thousands of dollars over the last 5'ish years to pick and process them ( I'd burn the bloody trees and rid myself of the nightmare of costs and upkeep).

seeya,
Shane L.

Andy
How many trees do you have & do the smaller fruit give a better oil. We have a couple of 4 y.o. experimental trees which haven't fruited yet & we've often wondered how much water they need?
Steve

Andy, do the olives vary much season to season with regard to yield ....not so much in quantity but quality?

Originally Posted by Saitch

Andy
How many trees do you have & do the smaller fruit give a better oil. We have a couple of 4 y.o. experimental trees which haven't fruited yet & we've often wondered how much water they need?
Steve

We have 12 trees that are producing,1 is too young,they are about 8 years old.
I watered and fed them religiously until last year,this is the first summer they havent been watered regularly.The only watering was when we went away for a week after new year as I ran the retic.
The trick with watering I believe is water/feed them well late winter and they think they are going to have a good season and set more fruit,perhaps treat yours kindly this winter and see how the flower in spring.
The trees are droughtproof once established,the fruiting is all that will suffer.
Yet to taste this oil,they were also picked a month later as my mate that does the town run to the presser was overseas.He thinks the oil should be better seeing they are older.The smaller olives went higher oil content this year 21%,probably due to the lack of summer water.Mine are Kalamata olives,which is a pickling variety,in the past my oil has been around 18% wich is still good for a pickling variety.13% is the norm.
You should get enough to pickle off your trees the first time around.We didnt do any this year,we have cupboards full of them,2 to 3 years in brine makes a tasty olive
Andrew

Originally Posted by daf11e

Andy, do the olives vary much season to season with regard to yield ....not so much in quantity but quality?

They do.But its quantity,quality should remain constant if the water and feed remains the same,they rest every second year,ie dont flower as much.the olives tend to be bigger in the rest year as there are less to grow out.
Andrew

Originally Posted by DoubleChevron

That's the way to do it ... yourself for fun. My sister inlaw has several hundred trees... They have to hire pickers, pay exorbitant processing costs .... To end up with hundreds of litres of oil they struggle to sell even at very cheap prices as there is so much competition. I reckon it would have cost them tens of thousands of dollars over the last 5'ish years to pick and process them ( I'd burn the bloody trees and rid myself of the nightmare of costs and upkeep).

seeya,
Shane L.

Our block is narrow but deep(25m x 75m).Nobody uses their rear of block around us,fences are sheep wire.
We wanted trees that were usable,evergreen and easy care,mainly to provide a screen from the neighbors.Olives were the answer,and we planted them close to form almost a hedge.The have only had minor pruning to date,however they are now in need of a major prune as they are getting too tall and overgrown,makes picking hard.Looking for a decent mulcher so I can use the prunings rather than dispose of them.
Andrew

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Our block is narrow but deep(25m x 75m).Nobody uses their rear of block around us,fences are sheep wire.
We wanted trees that were usable,evergreen and easy care,mainly to provide a screen from the neighbors.Olives were the answer,and we planted them close to form almost a hedge.The have only had minor pruning to date,however they are now in need of a major prune as they are getting too tall and overgrown,makes picking hard.Looking for a decent mulcher so I can use the prunings rather than dispose of them.
Andrew

I see a bonfire coming up The only mulcher I'd bother with is a huge industrial one you tow on a trailer. Even the biggest portable one are hopeless for anything other than small cuttings from a suburban back yard. You sound like your on acerage ..... Give it a crack though, I'd suggest hiring the biggest meanest mulcher you can find to see for yourself how slow and tedious they are

The olive grove they have ? I rekcon it was cover for growing, er, "pretty flowers" by the people that built there house. You see there hay shed has a hard to see "built on bit" at the back with a wall you need to open as a door, in here is many power points, floor drains and lighting all setup ............. No guesses what that was used for

seeya,
shane L.