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Spring winds have been off the scale these last few weeks so hopefully your trees are still standing! If so they should be budding up nicely ready for flowering later this month. These winds will certainly have cleared any debris from the tree canopy and there is no chance of disease getting foothold in a constantly moving branches. The regular top ups of rain will also help maintain good soil moisture levels at this critical time. This, along with the warmer than usual temperatures, seems to have helped with a vigorous start to tree growth this Spring.  As these little buds open into flowers to be pollinated the strong winds could be a problem. Pollination is a passive process whereby pollen is spread by the wind either from the tree itself or from other nearby olive trees. For pollination to be successful, a pollen grain must land on a viable flower stigma and stick there. Hot dry winds will dry out the stigma and make it less sticky hence less likely to enable pollination. Rain or high humidity can also reduce dispersal of pollen by washing pollen off the stigma or by saturating the pollen grain so it becomes too heavy to be carried by the wind.
Pollination is a critical time for olive trees but all we can do to help is hope for dry weather and gentle winds as we progress through November. Extra Virgin Olive Oil Awards Every year the Olives NZ awards reflect the exceptional producers we have in New Zealand. Olives NZ is the industry standards regulator/monitor maintaining our high standard of olive oil certification. Microfact: the laboratory standards for Extra Virgin Olive Oil in NZ are higher than that required by the International Olive Council. Each year NZ producers can submit their olive oil for certification as Extra Virgin. That involves laboratory testing and organoleptic assessment i.e. taste test and labelling criteria. Only after all those parameters are achieved will an olive oil be certified as Extra Virgin. Only certified oils can be entered into the Olives NZ EVOO awards. This year three producers in Marlborough entered four oils into the competition. The results were perfect. Everyone medalled. Faversham Olive Grove - GOLD for the grove blend RSA Three Services - SILVER for the grove blend Isobel Olives - SILVER for Koroneki and SILVER for the grove blend All were pressed at our local olive press and they are certified the best of the best. Your olives were pressed there too and although you didn’t go through a certification process you can probably rest assured that your olive oil is pretty much up there too. Look after those trees they grow a precious commodity.
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Marlborough has certainly seen the Spring nor’westerlies return with a vengeance blowing around pollens, blossoms and anything else not secured. Olive trees are quite flexible and can bend in the winds but make sure the canopy it kept light so the winds can blow through. Shallow rooted olive trees can blow over easily in these ferocious winds if top heavy with foliage. It certainly pays to stake smaller trees securely until they establish a good root system. The weeds have also got off to a good Spring start and the winds have made herbicide spraying almost impossible. Good luck with that. Mowing/linetrimming might be a better option to keep under tree weeds at bay. You should be finishing pruning early this month as we head towards flowering. Continue to remove suckers which may appear at ground level or on the trunk these will just sap energy from the rest of the tree. Kick or cut them off while they are small and soft. They are much harder to remove once they harden off. This is a good month to apply soluble boron in anticipation of flowering next month. It is not essential but it will help with flowering and fruit set. Boron is a trace element that can be lacking in soils and becomes available to plants as organic matter decomposes. The availability of boron will depend on the amount or organic matter in your soil over time.
Olive Pomace Waste What have you done with your pomace waste? Have you applied it to your olive trees or is it still sitting in a heap? It is an effective weed suppressant so you may have bald spots where it has sat - that’s the polyphenols working – so it could be useful for under olive tree weed control as well as nutrition. It is high in potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen all of which are essential for tree growth. Mixing it with sawdust, tree mulch, straw, leaves and twigs, horse manure or any other coarse organic material will enhance the texture and help to dry out the pomace faster. Or you could go the other way and dilute it more and apply as a slurry under olive trees – full of nutrients, easily absorbed and weed suppressant effects all in one!! Let us know what ideas you come up with or discuss thoughts on our private Facebook page. We have got through the Big Wet and now can enjoy our lovely blue sky Marlborough days, hopefully!! With all the rain we got in July you will have noticed any drainage problems around your trees. Olive trees do not like wet feet so now is a good time to improve drainage and get rid of wet spots while the ground is soft. If you are wanting to move any of your trees this is the best month to do so with the trees being close to dormant. Larger trees should have a third of their top and sides removed at replanting to help with re-establishment. Stake well to ensure the roots are disturbed as little as possible. Preparation for planting new trees can start but hold back planting until later in the month when it’s a bit warmer. It’s now time to prune those olive trees. Pruning is probably the biggest job of the year in the olive grove, it is also arguably the most important. When pruning for olive production you need to understand the trees fruit bearing habit and the effects of pruning on tree growth.
Drastic prune for reshape Regrowth after 12 months Thinning & reshape
Harvest, Harvest, Harvest. June is harvest month in Marlborough so select a date and get booked for your pressing. If you haven’t booked a pressing slot yet then you need to get onto it as space is very limited. The Press is already fully booked from 1 – 15 June. We are extremely busy this year with heavy crop loads and many growers doing multiple picks as fruit ripens. Crop volumes are also coming in above estimates. Don’t panic, because you still have time, but get organised to insure you get a booking without leaving it to the last minute. We will be open for pressing all through June with our last delivery day being 30 June. Some fruit seems slow to ripen this season despite colour change. Do check your fruit’s maturity (use the colour maturity index in the April newsletter) so you pick at a time that maximises your oil return per kilogram of fruit. Otherwise, it could be very expensive olive oil per litre. Oil percentages have ranged between 6 -16%. All the information you need to book in a pressing and to find past newsletters is on our website olivepressmarlborough.co.nz but here is a summary below: Harvest 2025. What to do to get your olives pressed. The first thing you need to do is read the Supplier Responsibilities form which outlines our Food Safety and Workplace Safety requirements. Next you must fill out the Supplier Declaration and email that to the Booking Coordinator at [email protected] with a proposed delivery date and estimated volume of fruit. We cannot make bookings without this paperwork. We will then negotiate a delivery time. When you deliver the fruit you will need to bring in your completed Supplier Delivery/Collection Declaration along with clean and appropriate receptacles for your oil and something to take away your pomace waste. All clearly labelled. Appropriate Receptacles for oil are: food grade plastic or stainless steel storage containers. Ideally these should be a minimum capacity of 5 litres as it is very fiddly and time consuming to fill smaller containers. Glass is unacceptable. We will reject inappropriate or dirty receptacles. Pomace Waste containers: these should be leak proof and large enough to hold an amount equivalent to your fruit volume. They could be the container you bring your fruit in if appropriate. Pomace is sloppy so a lid may be useful. If you are unable to take your pomace you will be charged a waste fee on top of your pressing fee. Leaf blowing: please ensure your fruit is as clean as possible. If it is full of leaf, twigs and other debris it will have to go through the leaf blower and you will be charged a fee for this. Excess leaf will be identified at weigh in.  Happy Harvesting and enjoy your fresh, bright and tasty olive oil, maybe over Matariki weekend with family and friends.
With some timely rain your olive trees would have had the refresh needed to help them through to pending harvest. Make sure you check the weeds and grass under the trees so they don’t interfere with your harvest method. Keep it clear and clean. Continue to monitor your fruit for ripeness (see last month’s Maturity Index) and organise a harvest and pressing date to maximise your fruit’s potential for flavour and oil content.  Harvest 2025
We will start taking bookings from 7 May but the Press will not be open for pressing until 19 May. Do not pick any fruit until you have a booking as this is going to be a busy season and space will be carefully allocated. The first thing you need to do is read the Supplier Responsibilities form which outlines our Food Safety and Workplace Safety requirements. Next you must fill out the Supplier Declaration and email that to the Booking Coordinator at [email protected] with a proposed delivery date and estimated volume of fruit. We cannot make bookings without this paperwork. We will then negotiate a delivery time. When you deliver the fruit you will need to bring in your completed Supplier Delivery/Collection Declaration along with clean and appropriate receptacles for your oil and something to take away your pomace waste. All clearly labelled. Appropriate Receptacles for oil are: food grade plastic or stainless steel storage containers. Ideally these should be a minimum capacity of 5 litres as it is very fiddly and time consuming to fill smaller containers. Glass is unacceptable. We will reject inappropriate or dirty receptacles. Pomace Waste containers: these should be leak proof and large enough to hold an amount equivalent to your fruit volume. They could be the container you bring your fruit in if appropriate. Pomace is sloppy so a lid may be useful. If you are unable to take your pomace you will be charged a waste fee on top of your pressing fee. Leaf blowing: please ensure your fruit is as clean as possible. If it is full of leaf, twigs and other debris it will have to go through the leaf blower and you will be charged a fee for this. Excess leaf will be identified at weigh in. The Press will be open all through June and into the first week of July. Demand will be high this year with good crop levels all through Marlborough so don’t rush to harvest. There is plenty of time to pick and enjoy the annual abundance with friends and family. You will have noticed that some of your olives are changing colour as we get closer to harvest. Over the next few weeks olives will transition from green through yellow-green to then show a blush of purple. This will progress at different rates for different varieties and is also influenced by the amount of sunshine we get during that time. Any one tree will have olives with a variety of colours. When the olives turn deep purple/black they will also start to feel a little soft if squeezed but they may not necessarily be ripe enough to harvest. The chart below shows the different stages of ripening. You will see 4-7 show olives black on the outside but 4 and 5 are still creamy on the inside, 7 is black right through the flesh. Take some samples from your trees and cut a wedge out to check the inside colour change. Creamy flesh on the inside (4) is less ripe and will have a lower oil content and a more bitter flavour. Olive flesh which is all black (7) will have a mild flavour but a higher oil content. A good olive oil will be a mix of both ends of the scale and also your personal taste.  There is a bit of observation and judgement, personal preference, logistics, weather and timing to consider when preparing for your upcoming olive harvest so start thinking about it now. Gather a team of pickers, get your equipment – bins, rakes, mats, collect/buy your food safe containers for the olive oil.
Harvest 2025 Olive harvest season usually runs from late May, through June finishing in early July. We will give you definitive dates in the May newsletter as well as information about booking a pressing and how to access the necessary forms. If you want to do a bit of pre reading to see what the forms entail then have a look on our website olivepressmarlborough.co.nz. but don’t send anything in until we are up and running. Olive Pomace Waste Charge This end product of processing is a product which is increasingly difficult and expensive to dispose of on a large scale. Last year we offered a pressing fee rebate for growers to take their pomace waste away and use it in a variety of ways –garden mulch, compost mix, nutrients for olive trees, etc. We had a 50% uptake and have had a wide variety of mostly positive feedback scenarios. We believe growers should be taking their pomace away. So, this year we have added a waste charge. Those who do not take their waste away will be charged 10 cents per kg based on the weight of olives in. For example, if you bring in 400kg of olives you will be expected to take away 400kg of pomace. If not, there will be an extra charge added of $40. Olive pomace is quite sloppy so you will need a leak proof container to bring in with you, for the return of waste, when you bring in your olives for processing. For example if you bring in 400kg of olives in a large grape bin you could take the pomace away in the same bin. Just another thing to plan for!! Pressing charges for 2025 Processing costs will remain the same as last year. Shareholders will pay $1.25 plus GST/kg and non shareholders/casuals will pay $1.75 plus GST/kg. The leaf blowing charge will also remain the same at .50cent/kg plus GST and will be applied at the discretion of the press operators at receival. Trees to harvest Olive Trees are full of fruit this year so don’t let that go to waste. Mandy is compiling a list of people who have trees full of fruit but won’t be harvesting. She also wants to know from people who want to harvest but don’t have their own trees. Get a group together and have a day harvesting someone else’s trees and you can have your own olive oil without needing to look after the trees. If you are keen to harvest and are looking for trees send her an email at [email protected]. Also if you have trees loaded with fruit and won’t be harvesting them get in touch and Mandy will do a Mix and Match. Shareholdings We have growers wanting to buy shares. If you have shares that you will never get a benefit from (i.e. more shares than you are ever going to use when offsetting the cost of pressing your olives) then we encourage you to sell those shares. Please let me know as soon as possible and I will send through the necessary paperwork. There is a lot to do during harvest so doing share transfers now is preferable to a last minute transaction This month is when we transition into cooler night time temperatures and there will be less heat stress on your trees and need for water. It’s pretty much ‘steady as she goes/grows’ while the fruit will be bulking up.
The fruit pit will have hardened up in January and now its all about the flesh of the olive growing around that pit. This usually takes about 5-6 months, depending on the variety. In dry years the fruit will mature earlier as it will in low cropping years. This early maturity doesn’t necessarily equate to good oil percentage though and in fact early maturing fruit tends to yield less oil. Marlborough crop levels are looking very good this year so with a heavy load on each tree maturity will be slow and steady. We have a few months to go yet. This should be the last month for spraying weeds under the trees. You want a 60 day with- holding period prior to harvest. Make sure all those basal shoots are also cut off underneath so it’s a nice clear, flat surface to lay those harvest nets on when the time comes. Continue to irrigate if you have that facility. That will help with the growing olive flesh and bulking that up. This is particularly useful if you want bigger fruit for pickling later. It does not necessarily mean more oil content though. Shareholdings We have been getting requests for shares already and as it looks to be a bumper season the interest is sure to increase. If any shareholders out there want to sell or reduce your shareholding please contact Janine at [email protected] as soon as possible. A share transfer can be done quickly by email with just a couple of bits of paper to be completed. Harvest 2025 We still have a few months to go before harvest so just to allay any anxiety we will give you information about pressing rates, preparation and what to look for in your fruit in the April Newsletter. In May we will have Press opening dates and information about the booking system and how to get your fruit pressed. Relax and enjoy the buzz around the region for grape harvest knowing that it will all be well over before your olives are ready to harvest. Well, the grass is still green and the weeds are still growing as we head into our driest month. The olive trees have also continued to grow and put out many suckers/basal shoots. Continue to keep the weeds and grass down around the base of your trees and cut out those suckers before they get too big and harden off. By now you will have a good idea of your crop load. Those promising little olives will be well set and unless we get a run of 30 degree days the trees should be well able to hang on to the crop without too much stress. A mature tree may produce anywhere between 10 -30kg of fruit. However, the yield depends on the tree’s age, size, variety and growing conditions so there is huge variation. Fruit may be evenly spread over the whole canopy or it could be clustered on one side if that got better pollination.  This is a good month for a leaf analysis if you are concerned about your trees’ nutrition. The crop has been set and the tree is now focussing on growing that crop so its at its highest nutritional need. Any glaring deficits will be most evident now. You can pick up a sample bag from Fruitfed or contact Hills Laboratories to send you a sample pack and instructions. It’s not something you need to do every year but it is interesting to know what your trees might be lacking and if it’s a quick fix then you could increase your cropping levels for next year.
If you are nuturing young trees then make sure they are well irrigated during this dry month. Check the new growth for leafroller infestation (they like young plants) and spot spray with an all-purpose insecticide. Check stakes and ties are not too tight after a lot of new growth. If you are using spray guards check there is airflow around the trunk and the guard is not causing a ‘glass house’ effect. Lift guards to keep air moving. If your trees get through February in good shape then the next few months until harvest will be all just ‘grow baby grow’!! Happy New Year to all our Marlborough Olive Growers. We are looking forward to an abundant year in 2025. After scorching heat and drying winds before the Christmas break the weather has done an about face and calmed down to cooler, cloudier days with a bit of rain tossed in for good measure. These conditions are much more tolerable for your olive trees. January is the month that you will get a good idea of fruit set on your trees. There will be small, pea sized fruits in amongst the foliage that you may be able to see if you look closely. It is a bit like ‘seek and find’ at the moment with the olives the same colour as the foliage but they will grow steadily to a more visible size over the next 3 months.  With all the very strong growth over summer it is worth monitoring your mature trees for drooping branches and trimming those back now before the crop load gets heavier. Keep a good manageable shape, always with harvest in mind, and keep foliage up off the ground.
Small newly planted trees will have put on a lot of canopy growth so these may need to be shaped into a balanced structured framework. You can always use spacers between branches of new trees to encourage them into a good form. Trim up an old piece of branch with a fork in it, jam that against the trunk and wedge the new supple branch in the direction you want it to grow. Re check any staking of new trees, its amazing how quickly they grow at this time of year. This is a critical time to ensure your trees get adequate water. New trees are very susceptible to dry conditions until they get their roots down so ensure they get a good deep water regularly. Marlborough weather being rather changeable of late we will no doubt be back to hot and dry again before the month is out. Enjoy the shade of your olive trees and keep searching for those elusive little olives and their promise of abundance. Usually there is very little to do in the olive grove in December, which is not a bad thing at this time of year!! Flowering will be in full swing and soon you will be able to see little fruit buds appear where the flowers once were. That is, presuming a good pollination despite the very strong nor’west winds that have persisted throughout Spring. With all the regular rain Marlborough has been getting the growth has been exceptional and has given the trees really good soil moisture for flowering and all the energy required there. The foliage growth may need to be trimmed if it’s a bit too robust. Clear out young soft growth in the centre of trees before it hardens off and is more difficult to remove. It’s important to keep the canopy light and open now as flowers turn into fruit buds, they need sunshine to grow. Suckers/water shoots are also prolific at this time of year so knock/boot them off from the base of the trees while they are young and pliable. They will sap energy from the trees which would be much better going into fruit development. You’ll probably only have to do this once as all the excessive new growth will ease off as the temperatures increase over summer and we start to dry out. Take some time over the holiday season to enjoy your olive trees and show them off to friends and family who visit. Talk about the wonderful olive oil you are going to produce from those trees and invite them back to help with harvest!! Enjoy the shade of your olive trees over what is shaping up to be a very hot December.  |
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