After a milder winter in 2022 led to reduced olive oil production in Greece this year, the recent onset of colder weather – which the trees require during winter – has raised hopes that the 2024 yield will be greater.
The trees must be exposed to a certain period of relatively low temperatures in winter, known as chill hours, to break bud dormancy and produce olive fruits. Chill hours are counted only when the tree is dormant, meaning it is not actively flowering or growing.
“The olive tree is one of the few evergreen trees that need the influence of cold to bloom,” agronomist Nikos Bartsokas told Olive Oil Times. “The buds that emerge in the summer need low temperatures in the winter to differentiate into flowers and then fruits.”
“Some Greek olive varieties, including the Koroneiki, Megaritiki, and Kolovi, can form flowers at a maximum temperature of 16 ?C,” Bartsokas added. “Other varieties, mostly grown in northern Greece, such as the Halkidiki and Amfissis, need lower temperatures of around 12 ?C.”
“On the other hand, prolonged exposure to freezing temperatures below –7 ?C can seriously damage the olive trees,” he said.
“In May each year, new vegetation is formed simultaneously with the tree’s flowering, which can reach a length of a few centimeters up to 30 to 50?centimeters,” he said. “In May of the following year, this vegetation will produce flowers, which will finally become the olive fruits.”
He said producers use amino acids and trace elements to make them bear fruit annually and that the next two months will be critical in determining the fruit setting of olive oil grees in the country for the 2024-25 crop.
“On average, and depending on the olive variety and the area of cultivation, olive trees in Greece need around 200 chill hours to bear fruit in spring,” he said. “Given that we had warm weather in the country until Christmas this year, the trees need about 20 to 30?days of continuous mild cold weather in February or March to be productive in the next crop year.”
“This is the most burning issue in the Greek olive sector this time of the year, and it remains to be seen whether the weather conditions will favor the olive trees and the farmers in our country,” Bartsokas concluded.
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