Oregon Olive Trees™

Oregon Olives 

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Oregon Olives

Oregon Olive Oil

Oregon Olive Trees

Trees for Sale

Introduction

Planting

Growing

Cultivars

And below is Mt. Hood to the right of another Leccino.  This year, this is about how ripe Leccino got: sort of a sun blush brown-orange on the southern side.  Reken Estate: 11/29/08

Since we seem to have a volcano / Leccino thing going on, here is another Leccino with Mt Jefferson in the background.  Kathy’s Grove: 11/15/08

 

 

So far, of all our cultivars, the highest yielding tree has been a Leccino olive tree: about a pound and a half of olives from a tree planted from a 2 gal. pot and growing in the ground for two growing seasons.  Bearing for us starts almost always the season after they are planted or re-potted to two gallon pots.  No special problems from diseases or pests have been note; so far the only “cold damage” ever noted has been a broken branch or two due to snow, ice and wind (and usually this occurs where the bark has already been scarified, like by the tree rubbing against a bamboo support).

 

The only downside to Leccino: it is reputed to be self-sterile, and needs a pollinator (typically other Tuscan cultivars: Pendolino, Frantoio, Maurino, and Moraiolo are all commonly used).

 

                                       Picking Leccino olives.  Kathy’s Grove: 11/29/08

Leccino is mostly used to make fine olive oils, but recently has been used for Greek-style in brine table olives.  It is also said that Leccino may be a poor performer in hot growing areas; well, we wont worry too much about that!

 

A beautiful mess of Leccino at the Dec 2009 harvest.  This appears to me to be the exact time we want to pick olives for olive oil production, when they are 50% colored up:

Leccino (origin - Tuscany, Italy)

 

Uses: traditionally used to make fine olive oils, but recently has been used for Greek-style table olives in brine.

 

Productivity: precocious and most productive and constant bearing of our olive trees cultivars.  Small crops are possible the year after planting, with the crop increasing every year thereafter; with commercial crops in 6 - 8 years.  Another cultivar is needed for cross pollination, Pendolino is commonly used.

 

Fruit: amongst the larger of the classic oil types, freestone with a flesh to pit ratio of around 5:1, medium oil content with relatively early and simultaneous ripening fruit.  Leccino produces good quantities of a consistently high quality oil.  The oil is pale, gentle, mellow and only lightly fruity - it will be excellent for toning down other strongly flavored oils, or to produce a delicate style of oil in absence of oil from strongly flavored cultivars such as Frantoio and Coratina.

 

Tolerances: high to cold; medium to drought.  In general very adaptable to different growing conditions, but may be a poor performer in hot growing regions.  Probably one of the best adapted to cold growing regions, in Italy it is referred to as one of the "super-Tuscan" cultivars, and has been rapidly spreading and replacing other traditional cultivars.  Vigorous fast growing broad upright tree with a dense canopy.  Unlike most olive trees, Leccino wants to be a tree more than a bush.  Note however that there different clones, specifically some of which are a lot more pendulous in form.  Know what clones your supplier offers!

 

Comments: the main component of our experimental production grove at 50% of the trees planted.  Although it appears to be more sensitive to extreme cold events than Frantoio, it far out produces Frantoio in a tree for tree comparison.  Once the trees reaches appreciable size, they appear to be much less sensitive to cold (as is also true of other olive trees).

 

If you are looking for a fast growing productive olive tree for olive oil production, especially if you like a more delicate style of olive oil, then Leccino should be at or near the top of your list.

 

If your idea is that an olive tree should be a tree, Leccino fits the bill too.  In the picture on the left, you might just be able to make out Mt. St. Helens on the skyline to the right of the Leccino tree.  Reken Estate: 09/15/08

A pair of Leccino trees after 5 growing seasons without pruning (Reken Estate 02/11).  The tree on the right is the same one featured in our introduction to olive trees

 

Oregon Olive trees - Introduction

 

A beautiful winter day with Mt. Hood in the background: