Olive Tree Garden Harvest
The earlier you harvest olives the more bitter they will taste.
Olive tree garden harvest. Harvesting generally takes place from mid autumn to early winter. Harvesting once the tree is four or five years old it will start to bear fruit. Olives can be picked at any point from green to completely ripe. Olive trees are usually purchased in either 4 inch pots with numerous side branches and a height of 18 24 inches or in a 1 gallon pot with a single trunk and a height of 4 5 feet.
Olives become milder in flavor as they mature but can be picked at any point when they reach desired size green or full ripe. Hit the tree with a rod to harvest a lot of olives at once. First place tarps under the tree or trees. Unless you are growing an olive tree for a strictly ornamental purpose it is most advisable to plant a specimen with a single trunk for ease of harvest.
You may also use a ladder and handpick the olives. Using a rake gently dislodge the olives. Harvest olives from late august through november depending on your location and desired ripeness. If you ve ever eaten an olive straight from the tree you will understand why they need to be cured.
For green olives pick your fruit when it turns from dark green to light green or you can wait for them to turn black but still firm for black olives. Harvest the olives in late autumn. This dwarf growing olive tree has attractive grey green foliage and masses of fruit in spring and summer. Then lightly hit olive bearing branches with a rod or long stick.
If you are picking for oil harvest all the olives in this manner and gather up any strays on the ground. Olives left on the ground will rot and can foster disease and olive fruit flies. The flavor will vary at each point. For fresh eating it is best to hand pick to avoid bruising.
Olives will be detached from the branches and fall to the tarp below. Gather up all the loose olives that you knocked off the tree once you re done. Your olive tree may never fruit but if it does it will take at least four years for the tree to be mature enough. Lay down a plastic tarp under the branches of the olive tree.
Olea europaea garden harvest dwarf olive tree. Determine the flavor profile you desire. It can be used as a hedge. In this challenging time we remain open to all online business both wholesale and direct to public.