IMMORTAL TREE OLIVES
The olive tree (Olea europea) is a delicate tree. Despite its slow growth rate, it is quite long-lived. The average life span of an olive tree is 400 years, but olive trees that are 3,000 years old have also been encountered. For this reason, the name of the olive tree is the "immortal tree" in mythology and botany. The most productive environment for the olive tree, which is suitable for cultivation in calcareous, pebbly, stony and arid soils thanks to its deep roots, is the climate with hot summers and mild winters._cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_Because olive tree loves light, sun and temperature above 15°C. An average of 200 mm of precipitation per year is sufficient for the efficient growth of the olive tree. The olive tree usually grows in low altitude geographies. However, olive cultivation can be done at an altitude of 1000 meters from the sea. The leaves of the olive tree, which looks like a bush, are dark on the upper side and silver on the underside.
The leaves emerge from both sides of the branch in a perfect order. Average 40 – 50 cm. wide trunk is very resistant to rot. As the tree ages, new tips that develop from the tubers refresh the trunk. The olive tree, with an average height of 4 - 10 m, yields abundant crops one year and less one year. The flowering season is from April to June in the northern hemisphere. Green olives ripen in the period from late August to early November. The way of harvesting olives has hardly changed for thousands of years, and the method of picking or shaking by hand has been used for centuries. There is also a method of collecting fallen olive fruits. Harvest is done between November and March. But the general method is shrugging. In manual picking, milking or carding method is used, and in picking from the ground, roller or brush is used. Today, machinery (shaking and collecting the fruits on the ground with absorbent equipment) is also used in olive harvesting. Hand picking is the most labor-intensive method in practice. This method, in which a maximum of 10 kilograms of olives are collected per hour, ensures that the best quality olive oil is produced if the fruit is intact.