Pre-Planting Maintenance

• Test the soils

• Plant cover crops while in process of setting up the rest of the farm

• Figure out a good groundcover crop

The Trees

• Oriented North to South in order to optimize sun exposure

• M160 trees grow to be around 4-5 m tall and need 5m spacing

• M26 trees grow to be between 3-4 m tall and need 4m spacing

• Each tree is given an assumed area of 5 m for branches and 5m between branches for an overall of 10m from trunk to trunk.

• This reduces the competition for sunlight, water and nutrient resources.

• The trees should be planted at least 2 feet into the soil to establish a strong base.

• The trees should be planted with roots close contact to the soil.

The Ground Cover and Surrounding Orchard

• There should be a ground cover around the trees in order to prevent erosion.

• From climate data, the wind is predominantly from the North West at about 12 knots. In order to reduce the effect of the wind on the orchard the fence can have a wind screen or we can plant wind buffer trees, such as the Afghan Pine.

What is compost? Why do we use it?

Compost is decomposed organic matter used to return nutrients to the soil.

• • It adds nutrients to the soil

  • It can loosen clay soil and allow it to aerate

  • It can help sandy soil hold water

  • Turns organic waste into good soil

How to Compost

• A series of techniques to speed up decomposition

• Need a proper mix of ingredients, place to put the organic material, and time.

• Ingredients

  • Brown organic material (carbon)

    • Leaves, Waste straw or hay, Corn stalks, Saw dust, Dead or dry plants, Wood chips, Shredded paper

  • Green organic material (nitrogen)

    • Food scraps, Animal (horse, camel, cow, goat) manure, Hair, Tea and coffee, Grass clippings

  • Water

  • Good microbes

  • C:N= 50:1 or 30:1

• Can be in a container or in a pile, the container will speed up the process and work better through the winter

• Green and brown ingredients should be added in 5 to 30 cm layers starting with a brown material

• Collect brown material in a pile before the compost pile

  • Stockpile the brown material until you have enough to make a large pile

  • Too small may not cook well.

• Ingredients chopped up will decompose faster.

• Use twice as much green material as brown by weight.

• Add some water with each layer, continue the layers until you fill the container or run out of material.

• Importance of water

  • Add some each layer

  • Should be damp enough that a handful should feel moist (not too much, not too littler) but dry enough that a hard squeeze produces a drop or two of water

• Good microbes: naturally present in air, soil and water and will grom naturally, you can get it started by mixing in a handful of compost from another pile and mixing it in

• The pile should be stirred at least once a week, this gives air to the good microbes and moves the material in the middle that has the most decomposition.

  • Can be stirred with a fork or shovel or use a compost mixer.

• Compost will start to get hot, in a closed container the temperature will get higher and decompose faster, it should go from 20C to 60C, the higher temp will kill bad microbes, pathogens, plant diseases and weed seeds.

• Done when:

  • Temperature drops

  • Not recognize the original ingredients

  • Compost is dark brown or black

  • Crumbly and earthy

• Olive trees grow best from softwood and semi-hardwood cuttings.

  • Softwood: cuttings taken from fresh, new growth in the spring and summer before the stem matures and forms hard bark. It should have green bark.

  • Semi-hardwood: cuttings taken in mid to late summer or when it begins to mature but is not fully hardened. These cuttings should have light brown bark with pliant tip. These cuttings are slightly hardier and less prone to heat stress and failure.

  • Hardwood: taken from two to three year old wood in the winter. They are slower to root and have high failure. These cuttings will have dark dardened bark.

• Cutting Lengths:

  • Softwood and Semi-hardwood cuttings should be between 6 to 12 inches long with a diameter of ¼ inch, no active flowers or buds. The ideal cutting is a straight stem with a few leaves. This will create a sapling with good growth habits.

  • Hardwood cuttings should be 1 inch thick and 8 to 12 inches long. The cutting should be taken ¼ inch below a pair of leaves.

  • Rooting process

  • Strip off the leaves along the bottom half of the cutting.

  • Dust the bottom half with .1 to .2% IBA (indolebutyric acid) rooting hormone.

  • One common producer is the Hormodin 2 meant for semi- and hardwoods. One pound of this dust can treat 35,000 average cuttings.

  • The cuttings should be fresh and moistened before dusting.

  • Pour the dust in a pan.

  • Dip the end without leaves and lightly dust the bottom half.

  • Tap the excess dust off the cutting.

  • Pot them in 1 gallon nursery pot with a mix of one part peat moss, one part sand, and one part vermiculite.

  • If the outside temperature is below 65 degrees Fahrenheit, warm the pots with a heating coil.

  • The rooting process takes around 3 to 4 months.

• Care

  • Water 1 inch of water weekly.

• Transplant

  • One month after rooting, transplant to a 1 gallon pot with potting soil.

  • Grow in light shade until autumn and move to a sheltered area in full sun in the winter.

  • Transplant them to the ground in spring.

  • They do best in a sunny bed with fast draining soil in hardiness zones 8 to 10.

Info from: https://homeguides.sfgate.com/cut-olive-tree-branch-create-new-plant-99927.html