Oregon Olive Trees™

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Oregon Olives

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Introduction

Planting

Growing

Cultivars
Text Box: Arbequina is a natural low vigor olive cultivar, and the plantings have been of especially selected clones that exhibit the best production (e.g. IRTA i-18). They are planted at “super high density”, as close as 4’ by 10’, and pruned and trained in a very strict manner into hedge rows. The idea is to bring the groves into production as soon as possible, with as high a yield as possible, and as cheap to harvest as possible. For the small scale boutique producer, like us and like the people this web site is intended for, here is what this means. First, low vigor just means that the tree grows slowly; ultimately they will be the same size as any other olive tree. None of these super high density plantings have been around a long time, and there is some level of expectation that a grove’s lifetime is only 15 to 20 years. The trees are not dwarf - there is no such thing as a dwarf olive tree currently. The highest cost of commercial groves has been picking, the second highest cost is pruning. As the groves get older, it will be harder and harder to keep them in a machine harvestable form, and takes a lot more expensive skilled pruning labor to even attempt it. Second, you absolutely just can’t compete with this scale of operation. For example, unless you have access to some sort of modifiable harvest equipment like an over-the-row straddle grape harvester, and plant around 100 acres of olives, your picking costs will be no different than any other non-super high density grove, and far higher than those super high density groves. There are several others in our area that have put in smallish Arbequina groves using the super high density format. I personally think this is a questionable idea (why make a “me too” product, and try to compete directly with the “big boys”, when there are other options?); but hey, may a thousand flowers bloom, may many ideas compete, and may all live long and prosper! That said, Arbequina is a good choice for the “urban homesteader” looking to put in a couple of trees. The trees are smaller, they don't grow as fast, they are productive, and are reasonably hardy (more on that shortly…), and they are commonly available. They do make good (albeit small) green table olives. And you don’t have to stress out about how ripe they will get, as they will never get much beyond green ripe in our climate. Reken Estate: 11/15/08

Arbequina trees are indeed precocious, and can carry large loads of fruit while still achieving some new growth to bear the next year’s crop (note new sucker replacing the main trunk, which has been bent over by the weight of the crop).  Reken Estate: 11/15/08

However, it does seem that Arbequinas suffer winter debilitation, perhaps best shown by comparing these two photos.

 

   Left: 10/31/07                                                               Right: same tree, 05/27/08

After the cold, snow, and ice spell of December, 2008, the Arbequina trees are the only well established trees showing major leaf necrosis.  Reken Estate 01/02/09

My best guess is that this phenomena is a result of heavy bearing creating stress in the ensuing winter.  If so, it may also show up on other cultivars as they come into full bearing… time will tell.

 

Arbequina from the Reken Estate on 11/21/10.  Note the olives have just the slightest yellowish tinge.  This is just about the right color for picking Arbequina - even in California.  Of course, they reach this color stage earlier in California (October), but none-the-less Arbequina is probably one of the very few oil olives where we can reach the same stage of ripeness as they do in California.  We just flat run out of time in the season.  As pinot noir is a short season wine grape cultivar very well suited to Oregon's climate, so is Arbequina well suited to growing in Oregon.  Just don't plant them using the SHD system, OK?

They are easily grown in pots, growing very slowly, but still bearing fruit (this one has 33 olives). 

Reken Estate, 11/13/08

Arbequina (origin - Catalonia, Spain)

 

Uses: Arbequina has been the most commonly planted olive in the U. S. for the last several years, intended exclusively for extra virgin olive oil production.  Vast “Super High Density groves” are going in, primarily in the Sacramento Valley of California.  Arbequina is also undoubtedly the most common olive tree planted in Oregon, all of the large groves from Jacksonville to Dayton consist of a majority of Arbequina trees in the Super High Density format.

 

Productivity: precocious (early bearing).  In California, commercial harvests start in the second year in the Super High Density plantings. 

 

None of these SHD groves have been around a long time, but the feeling is that production may peak in these groves around the sixth year, and slowly decline from there.  Alternate bearing sets in and becomes a fact of life (or you could say, the learning curve is ongoing and it hasn't been figured out how to stop this undesirable behavior).  The economic lifetime of Super High Density groves may be as short as 15 years.  Note: these are defects due to the planting system (SHD).  Arbequina itself, as an olive tree, has a lot of value to Oregon; just not planted in SHD!  You would be wise to talk to Oregon Olive Trees further before planting a SHD grove!  You have been warned!!

 

In California, Arbequina is considered self pollinating and is planted as a mono-culture; in Oregon the feeling is that pollinator trees are needed.

 

Fruit: small in size amongst the classic oil types, clingstone with a flesh to pit ratio of around 4:1 to 6:1; high oil content on fruit that are typically harvested when just beginning to turn slightly yellowish (i.e. harvested "early" in the season).  The oil is easily extracted, delicate and very fruity, but low in polyphenols and oleic acid (which means it is not going to be a pungent and bitter oil, and will have a relatively short storage life.  Which are not of themselves particular problems, but does make Arbequina an excellent addition to blended oils made from other olives grown in Oregon).  In Spain, they are commonly processed in brine to make a nutty brown table olive.

 

Tolerances: high to cold, humidity and salinity, susceptible to lime induced chlorosis.  Considered to be a low vigor tree, it is relatively slow growing but is not a dwarf, it will eventually get just as big as any other olive tree.  Note that the larger groves in Oregon are all Super High Density Arbequina, and every one of these large groves has suffered heavily due to winter cold, with losses in the range of 85 - 200% (one grove has been planted at least three times now.  One has to admire persistence, but at some point...).

 

Comments: I personally think the super high density system is an extremely poor choice for Oregon, and should not be attempted in our marginal climate.  However, the cultivar, as opposed to the planting system, does have a lot of value for Oregon.  Planted in a density format of around 200 trees an acre, as a part of a field blend such as our "Short Season Soft Field Blend" it has a lot of value; or as specimen trees for the smaller suburban yards; or in planted in pots in really cold season climates (e.g. east of the Cascades).

Two Arbequina trees side by side.  The one in the ground, on the left, was propagated about fall 2004; the one in the 12" clay pot was propagated about a year before that.  Olive trees planted in the ground do indeed grow faster than those in pots.  Pictures taken Fall 2010.

However, olive trees in pots can be very productive none-the-less.  The Arbequina in the clay pot has had well over 300 olives in each of the last two years, and at least some olives every year I have had it.  The Arbequina tree in the ground had about 5 pounds of olives this year, but not a single one last year.

 

So, if you live in a really marginal place, consider planting olive trees in pots!

All five of the Arbequina trees we field planted in the spring of 2006 from 4" x 4" x 6" (AB46) pots.  Picture taken 02/11.  None of these trees has ever been pruned, excepting that which Mother Nature has supplied in our extreme cold spells.  Note that really want to be smallish round bushes, at least at a young age!