Soil Management Practices, Fertilization, Pruning and Harvesting of Olive Groves

Abstract

The cultural practices used in olive grove depend on cultivation method: traditional olive grove or modern olive grove. This chapter will analyse the practices of soil management, fertilization, pruning and harvesting methods in different cultivation methods. In traditional olive groves, producers tend to not invest significantly in the inputs as the groves do not provide great economic returns. In the majority of the cases, these producers only harvest the olives. On the other hand, modern (high density and hedge) olives groves drip irrigated with high productivities are made under intensive management making systematic use of pesticides, fertilizers and pruning. Currently, the producers are incorporating fertilization practices to minimize the impacts on soil, water and air. Biostimulant application is increasing, which contributes to improving soil fertility and plant resilience and reducing inorganic nutrients application and soil and water salinization. Lastly, it will be analysed the pruning and harvesting methods used. Manual pruning with chainsaw is the common practice used by growers. Mechanical pruning tends to be more applied in hedge groves due to the high work rate registered in the control of canopy height (“topping”). Trunk shaking and collecting canvas are the harvesting solutions used in traditional and high-density olive groves, while the over-the-row harvesting machine use is generalized in hedge groves.