Soil Management Practices, Fertilization, Pruning and Harvesting of Greek Olive Groves

During the past, frequent soil tillage and herbicide spraying were increasingly employed in olive groves in Greece contributing in soil erosion. In the recent decade, a different rural movement has evolved in Greece aiming at sustainably growing olive trees and preventing soil erosion. Fertilizing is still applied empirically in most olive orchards in Greece. Boron deficiency is quite common, followed by K and N deficiencies. On the contrary, phosphorus is usually found in excess in soils, mainly due to the extensive use of composite fertilizers. In olive groves destined for olive oil production, most farmers apply pruning every 2–3 years, with extensive use of handheld machined chainsaws at an indicative cost of 4–7 € tree−1. On the other hand, trees grown for producing table olives are pruned annually. Harvesting is also differentiated between production systems at an indicative cost of 0.15–0.20 € kg−1 fruit. In the case of table olives, fruit is harvested manually by workers, and this is a very costly practice. When olives are grown for olive oil, the dominant practice is to use handheld machined harvesting sticks at significantly higher cost compared to over-the-row harvesters or trunk vibrators employed in other countries.