The olive tree is a tree of great importance around the Mediterranean, very popular in Spain, being able to find about 250 varieties of this spice. The olive tree is a tree of the family Oleacea which has thin leaves perennial type and twisted trunk, these qualities make it relatively resistant to adverse weather conditions that allow you to live for hundreds of years.
The olive tree easily live in summer seasons, however, during the winter is to take certain measures to help the tree to spend rainy days and cold without any problem.
Some care of the centenary olive tree during autumn and winter are:
- Check frost: some species of olive trees are well adapted to the low temperatures of winter, just as is recommended planting young olive trees in sheltered areas and protect their roots by the technique of padding ground, this technique is to cover it with organic materials that besides protecting against cold provide valuable nutrients to the tree.
- Control excess water: to be trees that require little water, irrigation is necessary to reconcile producing rainfall with irrigation using different irrigation systems. During the winter it is better to spread the water and during the summer and spring you can use the drip irrigation method.
- Keep subscriber: Although the olive tree grows in almost any soil, alkaline limestone soils are the most recommended for the olive tree, the soil should be paid to early spring when temperatures start to rise.
- Collection and pruning: olive tree harvesting olives or olives should be performed during September and October for table fruit should be collected during December and January if you want to get the oil. Pruning should be done periodically to allow the passage of light and heat, dry and crossed branches removed, in addition to branches that sprout directly from the trunk and roots.
How to pruning centenary olive trees
Centennial olive trees must be pruned every year, usually during the autumn or spring seasons and to perform the correct pruning of the centenary olive tree there are several methods that depending on what you want to achieve can be realized. These methods of pruning of centenarian olives are:
Pruning training: This type of pruning determines the shape of the tree crown and the shape that the tree will adopt when it matures. Branches that protrude from the desired design are removed. This pruning is done during the first years of development of the olive tree.
Reform pruning: this technique is used to change the shape of the centenary olive tree or reduce its size by eliminating protruding branches and selecting the shoots that are sought to prioritize.
Pruning of rejuvenation: Pruning centenarian olive trees through the removal of wood allows you to grow more vigorously and regain productivity.
Pruning of production: this technique of pruning of olive trees is used to make the tree more productive and is realized after the passage of the seasons of cold and frost eliminating old branches so as to favor the development of those that can produce more fruits.
Another technique less used but with good results consists of pruning centenarian olive trees that are in very bad condition by the strong climatic conditions to which they can be exposed totally, cutting the trunk underneath so that it shoots again and forms a new tree.
