Field Notes | Seven Olive Pruning Tips from Farmer Brooke Hazen

Olive Pruning at Gold Ridge Organic Farms typically  occurs in the mid to late winter months, several weeks following the conclusion of harvest and pressing of the estate olives. Learn best practices for caring for and tending your olive trees with Farmer-Founder Brooke Hazen.

1.    Why do olive trees need to be pruned?  Olive trees need to be pruned for several reasons. The first reason is to allow light to penetrate the canopy so that the fruits can ripen well. The second reason also has to do with allowing light penetration, but this has to do with reducing scale. The third reason is to allow air flow to reduce fungal disease, as well as better penetration of organic sprays. And the fourth reason is to control the size of the tree, both for in-row access of cultural controls and harvest, as well as topping them for light penetration to the food canopy.

2.    When is the time range to plan pruning of your olive trees?  We are limited mainly by how much time we have during the months we are not harvesting olives and apples to get this done. In general, pruning in winter will promote a stronger response of growth from the trees during the upcoming season. Pruning in summer slows down this growth simply because growth is already being stopped and even taken away. Spring pruning would straddle these two different effects. I prefer winter pruning because I want to take away vegetative growth for better light and air penetration. Most importantly, winter pruning allows for the trees to recover and produce flowers and fruit as quickly as possible. This minimizes the negative impact on fruit production.

3.    How do you know the perfect timing and what do you look for? There really is no perfect timing to look for. When you have the time and energy, just go for it!

4.    Is there a difference in pruning considerations depending on your climate/location? There are differences based on different harvesting techniques, such as Super-High Density or High-Density over-the-row harvesters, valley-floor mechanical arm-shaking harvesters, hand or pole raking, and, of course, good old-fashioned hand harvesting. Most of us use either hand or pole raking, or hand harvesting techniques. In this case, Open-Vase Bush pruning is the best shape because it keeps the trees shorter and allows light and air penetration.

5.    What are the necessary tools for pruning? If you start early in the life cycle of your trees and stay on it annually or bi-annually, you really only need hand pruners and loppers. Felco brand makes great tools for hand pruning. Maintaining a sharp blade with a hand stone or file is important. Keeping your tools clean is important too, in order to present the potential spread of disease from one tree to another.

6.    What are the steps in pruning? Avoid pruning the outside of the tree, unless necessary for access. This is what I call the Food Pantry. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Early in the life cycle of your tree, you will want to form a main scaffold of the strongest branches. Central branches and suckers that block light and suck energy should be removed. Suckers at the base of the tree should also be removed. And lastly, the trees should be topped around 11 feet to enable easy harvest, as well as allow light and air flow.

7.    Any other considerations? You can learn this, and you can do this! Farming is a wonderful process of intuition, observation, and constantly growing. I learned all of this myself over my 30-year career from trial and error.