This document discusses different tree pruning and shaping methods for olive groves. It presents various tree shapes used by grove owners, including clusters of cones, single-leader monocone shapes, and shapes designed for hand harvesting. The objectives and suitability of different shapes depends on factors like harvesting method, machinery use, and management priorities. Participants are encouraged to consider how shaping methods are adapted to different farming systems and objectives.

1. The base-approach of this course was used in many different occasions and set
for different kind of audiences. Its aim is not to enable followers to prune –
pruning cannot be learned only indoor and require practicing – but to understand
what pruning means and its economic and technical consequences.
This third part presents my vision about most suitable tree shape.
As previous sessions, also this presentation is intended as part of a course to be
accomplished in the grove.
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5. Trainees can rise their own points so to finally set up and discuss a common list.
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8. Two schools of thought behave differently on this issue.
Some growers do not prune at all for the fist three years so to allow the tree to
develop an healthy canopy and then manage to use available branches to get as
closer to the selected tree shape.
Others begin production pruning since after tree plantation.
Between them there is a variety of behaviors.
The objective of shaping by small cuts instead of eliminating shoots or branchesj p g y g
is more easily achieved if plants are pruned twice per year. In the Mediterranean
regions, young plants performs two growth peeks before and after mid summer.
Bearing trees most grow at spring while in autumn energy is allocated for fruit
development and ripening.
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10. Reference tree shapes only give an idea of the general characteristics.
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11. The owner of this grove (cv. Nocellara del Belice for table olives) shaped his trees
so to facilitate manual picking (with ladders), avoid damages from grazing sheep,
leave wide spacing for the root system to effectively intercept soil water.
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12. In this orchard, trees canopy is shaped like a cluster of several cones. This
allows to adopt narrow spacing and maximize production per surface unit.
Roventini (the designer of this shape) operated at the beginning of XX century
when labor costed almost nothing.
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13. This grove was rehabilitated after a severe frost event (winter 1985) destroyed
the main trunks. The grower grew basal shoots into new branches.
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15. These trees in the Belice Valley in Sicily are shaped as monocone so to facilitate
mechanical harvest by trunk shaker. The efficiency of this machinery is higher
with all single leader shapes since vibrations propagate more efficiently upward
than along long leaning shoots.
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16. The ratio of productive canopy per land surface is very high.
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17. Olives of this cultivar are small and this tree is shaped to facilitate harvest by
hand held devices. These machineries are tiring and their efficiency depends on
easy access to fruit bearing shoots.
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18. The owner of these trees might not be able or willing to shape them. In this case
the efficiency of operation and productivity fall.
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19. The owner might need to shape his trees so to favor another more rentable crop
and avoid the shadow. In this case the productivity of olive trees is a minor issue.
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20. Participants become aware that suitability of shapes depends on management
factors.
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29. Although specialised olive groves first appered in Italy in 17th century, untill 1970
most of groves were managed in extensive farming systems.
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30. It measures the capacity of the plants to intercept light .
Cactus plants have very low LAI (in the environment they grow, light is
overabundant).
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31. New plantations in Brindisi (Apulia). After resizing the traditional giant trees, LAI
must be restored to efficient value.
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32. New plantations in Gioia Tauro (Calabria) after the traditional combination crop
(oranges) was removed.
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33. Modern groves tend to maximise LAI.
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34. The use of low vigor varieties and narrow spacings allows modern grove to reach
high LAI.
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35. If spacing between the rows has to consider needs for machinery maneuvering,
the distance along the raw can be further reduced so to keep LAI high.
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36. Comparing traditional and modern groves.
The table can be used as model to consider other options accordingly.
All external surface (exposed to direct light) counts as productive.
The highest LAI, the highest is the yield.
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