Olives are among the best trees in the world and some are thought to live for over 3,000 years. Its fruit is popular worldwide and if you’re one of those people who is harvesting them this year then I bet you’re looking for some tips to make your life easier.
You might think it’s just a matter of picking up each olive and tossing it in the bucket, but there are actually plenty of ways to go about harvesting olives so they don’t all end up on the ground. This post will give you some simple tips for harvesting olive, but before that let’s look at the benefits of growing olive you may not be aware of.
Proven Benefits for Growing Olives
- It contains large amounts of antioxidants. Antioxidants are substances that safeguard your cells from free radicals, which can cause heart disease, cancer, and other severe diseases.
- Protects against heart disease.
- Beauty- olive helps you have soft and healthy skin.
- Pain reduction-It has inflammatory qualities
- Olives are rich in fiber, which aid in digestion.
Now that we know the benefits of growing olives, let’s learn more about how to harvest them.
Tips for Harvesting Olive
What time is the best to harvest olives? When they are fully grown. Knowing this is critical since the flavor of the oil is heavily influenced by when you harvest them.
In general, the best time to select oil olives is when the color changes from green to purple and ultimately black. The olives are ripe at this point, which means they have accumulated the most oil and can readily separate from the tree. However, they rarely fall freely from the branches.
Olives can be harvested in a variety of ways, both manually and mechanically. Choose the best system for your plantation based on the properties of your specific olive type. Even so, here are helpful tips for harvesting olives.
1. Check on Your Garden Frequently
Once your olives begin to ripen, you will notice, so it’s essential to keep checking your garden regularly. You can miss products if you don’t check your garden and let products rot in your garden. Doing this ensures that you reap the benefits of your labor.
Also, remember that picking your olives once they are ripe stimulates the plants to produce more in most circumstances.
2. Gentleness
It is easy for olives to get bruised; make sure you are gentle when harvesting them.
If a friend or a child offers to help you, remind them to be gentle with the produce. It is critical to take them up carefully and deposit them in the basket or bucket.
If you injure the skin of the product, it may decay, reducing the lifespan of the olive once collected.
3. Use Large Buckets or Baskets
During harvest, I prefer using large buckets. If you don’t have any, consider using a washing basin or clothes basin as well. It will create a room for your olives to breathe. Harvesting into plastic bags should be avoided because they can cause olives to overheat and ferment.
4. Check for Diseases
When you’re harvesting your olives, it’s always good to check on the health of your plants.
It would be good if you inspected the leaves for any spots or discoloration.
These could be signs of a disease or pest invading your garden. If you rarely have time to check on your plants, make it a habit to do so every day when you are out harvesting.
5. Harvest Clean Olives
If you have time, clean your olives after harvest, then slit or prick them, do multiple washes over the next few days, but not too many, as you don’t want to flush out all of the sugars used in the fermentation. Then leave your olives to dry up.
6. Use Olive Collection Net
The olive collection nets net allows the olives to be pre-collected while sprawling under the trees without causing any damage or contacting the ground. Drape your net on both sides of the tree then one person from each side of the net quickly gathers.
These nets are available at EyouAgro. They are of high quality and are UV-treated with high tear resistance.
7. Use Tarps to Harvest Your Olives
To begin, place tarps beneath the tree or trees. Place a plastic tarp beneath the olive tree’s branches. Then, using a rod or long stick, lightly strike olive-bearing twigs. Olives will fall from the tree and land on the tarp below. After you’re done, collect all of the loose olives that you smashed off the tree.
8. Handpick Your Olives
Pick the olives you want by hand from the olive bush or tree. Look for olive-covered lower-hanging twigs. Put on a pair of gardening gloves and pick the olives from your tree. To carry the olives, place them in a bucket or a basket.
You can also gather olives that have fallen to the ground beneath the tree.
9. Pitting Your Olives
Put the olive in the pitter and gently press on the handle to extract the pits. You can purchase olive pitter online. A pit is one of the significant sources of sourness in olives.
Remember that pitting your olives is entirely optional. It will simply take longer to treat them if you don’t remove pits successfully.
10. Keep Track
Once you plant your olive plant, it can be hard to keep track of when it will grow, how long it will take to harvest, and what the harvest should look like once you get there.
You’ll know when and how to start looking for yield from each tree if you know when you planted and how long it will take to reach harvest. After learning this, you should have a better idea of what the product should look like, which will help you avoid harvesting mistakes.
Conclusion
These are just a few tips for harvesting olives perfectly and on time. Always make sure you keep checking your olive tree regularly so that any time pests or diseases try to attack it, you are in a position to know. Just implement the tips, and you will see excellent results.
EyouAgro is a leading professional manufacturer of agriculture netting products and accessories since 1996. We have more than 22 years of production experience in agriculture protection products. The netting products protect your crops from diseases, pests, and weather elements.
You’ll are welcome to visit us at www.eyouAgro.com or contact us at info@eyouagro.com and select the best netting products and accessories for your area.
