During March and April we prune our olive trees. Thanks to the teaching of the Peasants’ School of Mondeggi Bene Comune we quickly proceeds in this work which is fundamental to the well-being of olive trees and the good production of olives and extra virgin olive oil. We prune first of all in order to give light to all the branches of the tree and to keep the tree of the shape and the size we wish in order to facilitate the olives’ harvest. We use tools that allow us to prune always from the ground, without using stairs and without mounting on the tree. The principle we follow is that of “polyconic vase”, entailing a linear and gradual development of the branches, concentrating the productive part in the lower part of the plant, and leaving the higher part more light, with the duty of giving signals to the rest of the plant. The cut branches are then crushed on the ground using the tractor, in this way we give back to the soil some organic substance. During the last three years we gave the right shape and size to all our 1300 trees. It was long work, and Andrea has been doing it mostly alone, but now we are satisfied!
Heartfelt thanks go to the peasant school of Mondeggi and in particular to Giovanni and Irene.
