February in the Olive Grove

The first two months of Summer have thrown everything at us.  Hot dry winds and scorching temperatures, gloomy overcast days with endless drizzle and then occasional downpour days with a rapid drop in temperature.  Your trees will think its more like spring than summer.
Fruit set should be very clear now.  After an abundant flowering Marlborough seems to have a rather patchy spread of olives.  Some trees have no fruit while others have a sparse spread over the canopy.  Fruit size seems to be larger than normal for this time of year probably because of the rain we have been getting intermittently all Summer leaving Marlborough much greener than usual for February. There are definitely not the bumper cropping levels of last year but then your trees could probably do with a less demanding season.

​Nevertheless,  it’s still worthwhile nurturing your trees to maximise their fruit load.  Do a summer tidy up removing those niggly basal shoots, unruly or rogue branches and anything that looks out of place.  This will ensure the fruiting canopy gets the best light, nutrients and air movement to minimise disease.  Also minimise the weed growth under trees as these will compete for nutrients and potentially harbour disease.
This is a good month for doing a leaf analysis. Trees will be growing strongly now with regular doses of sunlight and intermittent bouts of rain so demands for nutrients will be high.  Any deficiencies will be very obvious at this time of year.  Yellowing leaves may indicate a deficit of nitrogen and drying out on the tips of leaves may show a lack of potassium. All nutrients are more easily absorbed from the soil when moisture levels are optimal.
Demand for water is higher now after the fruit pit has hardened (January) and irrigation will help to bulk out the olive flesh and increase the size of the fruit.  If trees are stressed by drought the internal water supply will favour leaves over fruit.  Fruit will be aborted to reduce the trees water requirements.
Let’s hope we get a little bit of sunny, warm weather for the last month of summer.