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planting instructions

Click here to download our Olive Planting Instructions pdf. (1.5 mb)

These recommendations are intended as a guide only. Soil types and climate vary throughout California and must be taken into consideration on a specific site basis. We support and encourage sustainable growing practices.

Climate
Extreme cold is not compatible with olive production. They do require some chilling for fruit set: about 200 hours of winter temperatures below 45º F. The University of California guidelines state that temperatures below 22º F can kill young trees and cause branch die back on older trees. Mature trees are said to be at risk at temperatures below 15º F.

There are many variables in cold tolerance, including the variety, the severity of temperature fluctuations and water status. Microclimates can also be critical when temperatures are low, so avoid frost pockets and stagnant areas. Cold temperatures, or extremely hot and windy conditions, during bloom in April or May can be a problem, causing poor fruit set. Freezing before harvest is troublesome also. Temperatures below about 29º F will freeze the fruit and cause defective flavors in olive oil.

Soil
Olive trees can thrive in a fairly wide variety of soil conditions with one exception: they are completely intolerant of poor drainage. Waterlogged soil causes the death of more olive trees than anything else. Soils with a moderately high clay content are not completely off limits, but you must compensate by planting on a hillside or on a berm. A soil test will reveal any nutrient deficiencies or toxicities in a particular location. Olive oil production does not benefit from first-rate soil; modest fertility will produce the best olive oil. One other important issue when selecting a site is the cropping history of the location. If the field has been planted in tomatoes, cotton, peppers or any other verticillium susceptible crop, the soil should be tested for the presence of the pathogen.

Water
New plantings of olive trees will do best if they are well watered. Even though olives are famously drought tolerant when established, they benefit from regular, deep watering, especially when young. Your soil type will have a big impact on water needs, so monitor your irrigation carefully; you want to give the trees adequate water but avoid “wet feet.” When the trees are first planted, it is critical that a drip emitter be placed close to the trunk so that the root ball of the tree is being watered. As the tree grows, however, you want to move the emitters away from the trunk to encourage the roots to spread. The majority of a tree’s roots are at the drip line of the canopy, so don’t crowd the emitters close to the trunk.

Pruning and training
In general, olive trees should not be pruned for the first four or five years. The more foliage an olive tree has, the more energy it produces, so you don’t want to remove growth when the tree is getting established. The primary exception to this is training to a single trunk to make weed management, harvest and other practices easier. Remove suckers and large branches that develop below three feet on the trunk. It is not necessary to strip the lower trunk completely during the first few years, but cut back any substantial branches to eight inches so that they don’t compete with the main trunk. At four or five years you will do the first major pruning to open up the center of the tree and create a good scaffold.

Planting
Dig a hole that is one-and-a-half to two times the diameter of the container. Pay close attention to the soil level when you plant an olive tree; you want the final soil level of the planted tree to be at the same place as the ground level was in the container. Don’t dig the hole too deep or you can have problems with the tree sinking. This is bad because it allows water to pool around the crown of the tree. Score the sides of the planting hole to roughen it and avoid root circling. Make a mound of soil in the bottom of the hole for the root ball to sit on. When you remove the tree from the pot, loosen the roots and unwind any that are circling. If they are troublesome, go ahead and cut them. You want the roots to be untangled and draped down around the mound of earth to encourage them to grow outwards. Plant the tree a little bit high to allow for settling.

Weed management
Controlling competition from weeds will make a big difference for your newly planted olive trees. There are many ways to manage weeds, from organic mulch to synthetic herbicides. Each method has its pros and cons so you need to make a decision based on your needs and convictions. But be sure to do it. Poor weed management will stunt the growth of your trees and delay the onset of production.

Practices Novavine recommends:
1. Use of sea kelp products, specifically liquid extracts of Ascophillum nodosum.

When the first irrigation after transplanting is made with a 1:500 (2,000 ppm) solution of liquid kelp, the transplant shock will be greatly diminished and the trees will receive an excellent dose of a wide range of microelements contained in the kelp.

When anticipating temperatures low enough to cause tree damage, an irrigation and/or a foliar application of 2,000 ppm liquid kelp solution is recommended. An abundance of Potassium ions and other elements in the plant tissue will increase the plant’s resistance to freezing at threshold temperatures.

2. Use of organic mulches to reduce soil moisture evaporation and enhance soil biological activity. Especially when planting larger size trees, we recommend the use of an organic mulch such as (weed free) straw or tree chippings. A three to five inch layer of these materials applied under the trees will significantly reduce water evaporation from the soil’s surface, suppress germination of weed seeds, and will slowly decay, providing a source of carbon—food for microorganisms in the soil. Since olive trees thrive on free calcium, applications of lime (mined lime, oyster shell lime, dolomite, or gypsum depending on soil needs) at a rate of 1 lb per one-gallon tree or 5 lbs for a five-gallon tree are advised. The lime should be sprinkled under the trees and then covered with the organic mulch. Mycronized or very finely ground rock (basalt, granite, other igneous rock) can be used in the same manner at several times the rate for lime.