Getting the Olive groves ready for harvest

We always like to leave the natural habitat in the olive groves alone, not disturbed, we know it is home to so many animals, insects and flowers and having a healthy ecosystem I think goes a long way to reducing any need for pest control, we let nature do the work.

Before the olive harvest we like to cut the grass to facilitate laying of the nets and basically navigating the olive grove and this year due to the early spring rains, that occurred very frequently, the grass really got some good growth in with some grasses growing up to 2metres.

Laying the nets is very time consuming, so prior to olive harvest we cut the grass around and under the trees neatly, allowing us to easily get the olive nets under each tree’s, and easily allow us to reposition the nets as needed, and allow us to catch all the olives that fall, even towards the center of the tree.

We utilise the tractor and a grass cutter to get the job done then we finish up with our stihl electric strimmer and finally a trim of any olive shoots by hand with pruning shears. it takes some time, but the end result is well worth it, and saves many headaches on the days of harvest.