European Olive is a species of small tree and this tree belongs to the Oleaceae family. Olive trees traditionally found in the Mediterranean basin. Olive botanical name is Olea europaea meaning “European olive”.
Where olive tree grow
Olive tree is a popular tree worldwide, hence grown in the entire world. Olive trees are cultivated in all countries of the Mediterranean.
- Olive tree growing in Australia
- Olive tree growing in NZ
- Olive tree growing in Georgia
- Olive tree growing in Florida
- Olive tree farming in Israel
- Olive tree cultivation USA
- Olive tree cultivation UK
- Olive tree growing in Ireland
- Olive tree cultivation in Spain
- Olive tree growing South Africa
- Olive tree farming in South Africa
- Olive tree farming in Nigeria
- Olive tree farms in California
People often ask can olive trees grow in North America or South America! Do olive trees grow in the United States! Then we would definitely say yes, olive trees can grow in North America as well as in South America.
The popularity of the olive tree can be gauged from the fact that school children are asked to write an olive tree essay in english, hindi, african, nigerian or other local languages. Olive tree is the main source of olive oil and it is majorly cultivated in the Mediterranean region for olive oil. It is one of the core ingredients in Mediterranean cuisine.
Olive tree description
Olive tree brief description is given below
Olive tree is an evergreen tree meaning it grows throughout the year. It is a shrub meaning a small to medium sized perennial woody plant native to the Mediterranean, Europe, Asia and Africa. However, geographical variants might produce some difference but it does not matter much on the physical height of the tree. Olive tree height UK or olive tree height NZ, Australia, it rarely grows more than 40 ft to 49 ft tall. Olives are harvested when they are in the green to purple stage. Black olives that are canned are artificially blackened. Olea europaea contains a pyrena
Olive tree height and width - It is a short and roost tree that hardly exceeds 8 m to 15 m (26 ft - 49 ft) in height.
Olive tree fruit description - The fruit of the olive tree is also called “olive”. The fruit is 1 to 2.5 cm long when ripe. It has thinner flesh.
Olive tree leaves description - Pisciottana olive is a unique variety of olive and Found in the area around Pisciotta in southern italy. Pisciottana has silver green color leaves 4-10 cm long and 1-3 cm wide with gnarled twisted trunk.
Olive tree flowers - Generally olive flowers are white in colour. They are white feathery flowers with ten cleft and corolla, 2 stamens, and bifid stigma.
What country is the largest producer of olives
Biggest olive trees producing countries in the world are given below
- Italy
- Spain
- Turkey
- Greece
- Syria
- Egypt
- Israel
- Tunisia
- Gulf countries
- Morocco
- Nigeria
Now you can easily find which country has the most olive trees from the above column.
Olive tree production in India
Olive tree farming in Israel, Nigeria, Kenya, UK, Florida, Australia, Ireland and Pakistan is already popular and now olive farming is gaining popularity in India since the last five years. Slowly but steadily people started asking is olive farming profitable! is olive farming sustainable! How to start an olive farm! Olive cultivation in India is growing regularly and people are releasing olive farming courses as well.
Olive farming states in India are given below
Major olive growing states - Olive farming in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh are done on a large scale. Rest states also started participating rapidly in commercial olive cultivation in India.
- Punjab
- Bihar
- Rajasthan
- Uttarakhand
- Maharashtra
Olive farming area in India is covered by the above states and also spreading in other states of India including north and south regions.
Olive farming in Rajasthan
Rajasthani state of farmers and Olive farming in Rajasthan started way back. The Rajasthan government is also running an olive tree subsidy in Rajasthan.
Olive local names in India
- Olive name in Hindi - Jaitun
- Olive in Hindi - Jalpai
- Olive in Bengali - Jalpai
- Olive name in Kannada - Julipe
- Oliv name in Gujarati - Oliv
- Olive oil in Malayalam name - Oli
- Olive name in Tamil - Saidun
- Olive name in Telugu - Olives
- Olive oil name in Urdu - Zeitun
Olive varieties in India
Pickle olive and oil olive varieties are two major types of varieties in India.
Pickle type olives
- Mission olive variety
- Ascolano olive
- Gorsseune olive
- Picholine olive
Oil olive type
- Olive varieta coratina
- Coratina olive variety
- Olive varieta canino
- Aglandeau olive
- Frantoio
- Pendolino olive variety
- Ascolanaterena
- Carolea
How to start olive farming in India
Commercial farming of olive tree is on the upside and people are making good benefits of the olive oil farming business model. Olive growing in America is quite often whereas olive farming in Australia and olive growing in UK is also consistent. If you want to start Olive tree cultivation in Spain, India, Netherlands or in any region you need to follow the basic steps that are given below. However, olive farming in Spain may differ from olive farming in tamilnadu. Moreover, it's up to you to choose organic olive oil farming or intensive olive oil farming
Olive planting season
- January to February - Irrigation
- July to August - no irrigation drought areas
- Heavy rain areas - planting need to be avoid in rainy season
- Water stagnation - avoid water stagnation and also provide a proper drainage system because water logging can damage the roots of the olive plant.
Olive planting distance
Plant distance should be 8 m in Olive farming.
Olive trees per hectare
Around 250 to 300 olive trees per hectare can be planted with a spacing of 6 m to 7m.
Rectangle planting - planting distance 6 m x 5 m and 250 to 350 trees can be planted. With the spacing of 8 meter x 5 meter 250 to 330 plants
How many olive trees per acre
With the spacing of 6 meter 150 to 180 olive trees are sufficient due to the huge canopy they need some open space.
Climate required for Olive plantation
- Olive cultivation requires warm climate
- Olive tree cultivation requires subtropical conditions
- Olive crop in India can be cultivated at the altitude of 1500 m above sea level.
- Olive tree crops are sensitive to frost conditions.
Olive trees temperature range
Temperature for Olive trees plays a crucial role in olive oil farming
Ideal temperature for Olive tree is 15° C to 20° C
Soil requirements for Olive trees
Olive tree soil requirements - Olive tree soil type are given below
- However, olive can grow in a wide range of soil but these are the ideal soil for olive trees.
- Deep rich soil
- Well drained loamy soil
- Well drained clay loam soil
Deeper soil layer role - Deeper soil layer plays a more important role in comparison to an upper soil layer for better plant growth in olive farms.
Water stagnation or water logging are enemies for olive trees due to root damage in such conditions, so avoid water logging. For proper root development soil should be five feet deep in olive farming.
Best soil ph for Olive trees
Soil pH range from 6 to 7.5 is best soil for Olive trees UK, India or other regions.
Olive tree rain
During Olive growing period the tree needs 100 cm of well scattered rainfall.
Olive tree propagation methods
In Olive farming propagation can be done in two ways either from cuttings or from seeds
Olive tree propagation from cuttings
- Select 10 to 15 cm long branches along with 3 to 4 nods from the parent tree.
- Cuttings need to be treated with 500 ppm NAA+3,000 ppm IBA for 8 to 10 seconds.
- Select a Mist chamber to plant these cuttings.
- 22° C to 26° C is ideal rooting temperature with 75% humidity.
- You should take out the rooted cuttings after 11 to 12 weeks.
- Keep these rooting in the hardening chamber for a short period.
- Now these plants are ready to transplant in the nursery beds.
Olive tree grow from seed
- Collect semi ripe olive fruits in the month of September to October.
- Dip olive fruit in caustic soda containing 10 % Na OH.
- Dipping process is necessary to separate stone from fruit pulp.
- Wash stone properly and remove the traces of chemicals.
- Washed stones need to be sown immediately on raised nursery beds.
- Create row to row distance 15 cm and seed to seed distance 5 cm.
- Regular irrigation and mulching is required for nursery beds for better germination.
- You will see that olive seeds will start germinating before spring.
Grafting - Tongue grafting process is used for grafting seedlings of olive. March to April are ideal time for grafting, moreover patch budding and i budding are most effective methods.
Rootstock propagation - Wild olive seedlings can be used for propagating commercial varieties as rootstocks.
Land preparation
- Start with ploughing and harrowing, at least three to four times ploughing is necessary while olive farm preparation.
- Weed removing should be practiced in regular intervals.
- For Olive cultivation fertile loamy soil is required, pit size should be 60 cm x 60 cm in fertile soil and 90 cm x 90 cm in poor soil.
- You need to dig the pits 8 weeks before planting the olive plants.
- Fill the pits with farmyard manure (FYM).
- Add organic nitrogen, phosphate and potash in these pits.
- Mixture of soil and fertilizers can improve fertility.
- After adding soil mixture, cover up with topsoil.
- It is recommended to plant Olive trees 3 to 5 cm deeper in comparison to a nursery.
How to fertilize Olive trees
Olive trees fertilization program - Recommended fertilizer for a 1 year old olive tree is given below. It is advised to increase the fertilizer in the same proportion till the tenth year.
Olive tree fertilizer
- Farmyard manure 10kg per tree (increase 5kg till 10th year)
- NPK = 70/50/50 gram per tree
- Super phosphate 285 - 300 gram per tree
- Calcium Ammonium Nitrate 285 - 300 gram per tree
- Potash 78 - 80 gram per tree
Harvesting olive trees
- Harvesting olives needs to be performed at the correct time.
- Harvesting delay will result in fruits with higher acid.
- Hand picking is an expensive and slow process.
- Instead of handpicking go for a mechanical process.
- Right time to harvest olive - When oil is found with pleasant aroma.
- Olive pickle variety harvesting time - 7 months after flowering is a decent time to harvest this variety. You need to note that the olive will be in black purple colour at this stage.
Health benefits of olive
- Olive controls all Alzheimer's.
- Olive is helpful in controlling cholesterol levels in the blood.
- Olive maintains blood pressure.
- Olive is a good source of vitamin E and dietary fibre.
- Olive keeps the immune system strong.
- Olive helps to prevent blood clots.
- Olive contains a good number of antioxidants.
- It is also helpful in enhancing fertility.
- Olive health benefits skin
Olive tree farming FAQ
Explain Olive tree production cycle?
As per olive tree production cycle they produce a large amount of small fruits in one year that is called their ‘off year’ and this tree produces small amounts of large fruits in the next year and that year is called their ‘on year’. Producing small and large fruits in two different years in different quantities is known as olive tree production cycle.
Does olive trees grow in India?
Yes olive trees do grow in India; earlier olive tree growing regions in India were limited and it was majorly grown in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu Kashmir but now other states are also participating in growing olive trees in India.
Is olive tree farming profitable?
Yes, olive tree farming is profitable and farmers can produce more than 2673 dollars ( Rs 2 lakh) after 3 years.
How much do olive farmers make?
Olive farmers are earning good amount from 1 acre land. They are making more than $2673 from one acre in 1 year.
Where olive trees grow in India?
Due to olive oil farming profit now olive trees are cultivated in most regions of India. Olive farming profit in India made growing olive trees in India throughout the country. Now olive is majorly cultivated in this Asian cricket playing country India. Olive producing states in India are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Jammu Kashmir, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh etc.
Where Frantoio olive tree found?
Frantoio olive tree NZ, frantoio olive tree in australia.
Why do olive trees drop fruit?
Olive tree fruit drop - Prolonged dry and hot spells with water stress may result in Olive tree dropping fruit. Therefore this condition is not considered for the olive oil cultivation process.
Olive tree profit per acre
1 Olive tree can produce 15 to 20 kg of olive fruits each year which is nearly 3 to 4 litre of olive oil per year.
- Olive oil price per litre varies between Rs 500 to 1200
- In 1 acre land 150-180 olive trees can be planted easily
- If 150 olive trees in 1 acre
- 1 tree can produce 3 to 4 litre olive oil
- 150 trees x 3 litre olive oil = 450 litre oil
- Olive oil price per litre is between Rs 500 to 1200 accordingly
- Lets take the price as Rs 500
- 450 litre x Rs 500 = 2,25,000
- Profit - Rs 2,25,000
Note - Reduce the cost to get actual profit
