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 ORGANIZATION & DEVELOPMENT
Oil Of Magnesia | Olive Oil Production Volos Magnesia
Besides the harvest which is our busiest period, engaging and organising manpower, transportation and work schedules, tools and equipment and a short break for Christmass including a short trip to London the remaining of the winter and weather allowing, all orchards are been cleared up of dead wood branches, leaves, and feeding trees with horse manure, reshaping tree basins, repairing retaining walls and bringing the fields back to shape.
Pruning begins in mid-February and ends in the first week of May in the coldest climates.
Pruning is a very challenging task but also the most vital for healthy trees and productivity. newly planted trees also need a great deal of care and in their 4th year they need their first shaping. From 10cm to a max of 80 cm 2 to 4 branches max.should be left.; in later years, 2-3, one or two can be added depending on the type of tree, for my personal preference the cross base should never exceed 80cm.
As the trees grow taller and by the 10th year of growth when fruit bearing is heavier the branches begin to bend down and outwards. The side sprouting of the branches should be carefully controlled avoiding or allowing too many at the end of the branch. Just before the bend of the branch 1 or 2 even 3 sprouts should be left but should not be allowed to grow too tall;.this procedure is necessary to keep the balance of each branch because on heavy cropping or snow fall the branch might break and usually breaks from the bend or the trunk and in which case it will be replaced by one of the fully grown sprouts.
A fully grown tree after 15 years looks like an umbrella.this type of pruning is called apron (podies) since the fruit grows on the outside of the tree allowing the picker workers to stroke with with plastic combs downwards and fall gently and softly on the plastic sheeting thus avoiding bruising the fruit.
The tree should not exceed 4m.height and should allow lots of ventilation.
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