Olive Growers Diary

The following provides a guide for activity in a south-eastern Australian Olive grove. There will be variation in the monthly timing of activities in different regions, however the seasonal activity will be similar between regions.

There are varying opinions as to the best time to plant, fertilise and prune olive trees. The timings below are provided as a guide and growers should do their own research to arrive at the timings that most suit their environment and management.

The stages of the fruiting cycle are spread over a few months to allow for the different olive varieties progress through the fruiting cycle at slightly different times.

Month	Season	Stage of flowering cycle	Fruit ripening	Activity
September	Spring	Differentiation Good health of trees critical for next year’s production	Ripe fruit falls	Plant trees Harvest black olives Harvest shrivelled black olives Pruning Maintenance of soil moisture critical Irrigate if necessary
October	Spring	Flowering		Irrigate Fertilise newly planted trees
November	Spring	Flowering		Irrigate
December	Summer	Flowering		Irrigate
January	Summer	Fruit set	Fruit pit hardens	Irrigate Fertilise newly planted tees
February	Summer	Fruit set	Fruit pit hardens	Start harvesting for green olives for fresh fruit market Irrigate
March	Autumn	Initiation	Fruit pit hardens	Harvesting green olives for fresh fruit market and table olive processing Irrigate
April	Autumn	Initiation	Olives start to turn from green to black	Finish harvesting green olives
May	Autumn	Initiation	Olives turning from green to black Fruit reaches maximum size	Start harvesting for oil Start harvesting for black table olives Process for oil
June	Winter	Differentiation	Oil quality declines	Harvest oil and black olives Process for oil
July	Winter	Differentiation Good health of trees critical for next year’s production	Oil quality declines	Harvest oil and black olives Start pruning Process for oil Fertilise trees
August	Winter	Differentiation Good health of trees critical for next year’s production	Fruit falls off	Harvest black olives Pruning