Da tre anni a questa parte, "grazie" alle siccitose e torride temperature estive, tra gli ulivi del Salento, colpiti dal CODIRO (complesso del disseccamento rapido dell'olivo), si nota un graduale miglioramento. Dopo anni di lotta e contrasto al disseccamento, anche i più scettici, hanno dovuto ammettere la ripresa vegetativa, tant'è che, dopo anni di magra, i frantoi nella campagna olearia 2024-25 hanno molito centinaia di migliaia di quintali di olive. Un dato eccellente è quello della Cooperativa Agricola Olearia Sannicolese, una realtà che comprende più di 1.500 soci dei comuni dell'arco jonico salentino che ad oggi ha molito circa 19.000 quintali di olive, di cui, il 40% di varietà Cellina di Nardò e Ogliarola Salentina.
Purtroppo, le Istituzioni e la "Scienza", non accettano la realtà dei fatti e continuano imperterrite a finanziare la distruzione del nostro bellissimo paesaggio, attraverso gli espianti. Nonostante ciò, molti agricoltori e proprietari olivicoli, incoraggiati dalla ripresa vegetativa degli ulivi, chiedono come intervenire per consolidare la ripresa vegetativa.
Il primo intervento è la corretta potatura.
Prima di eseguire la potatura, affilare bene gli attrezzi da taglio, disinfettare le lame ogni volta che si passa da una pianta ad un'altra.
ATTENZIONE: QUESTO TRATTAMENTO È SOLO PER LA PARTE LEGNOSA DELL'ALBERO, NON IRRORARE DIRETTAMENTE SULLA CHIOMA!
Per l'irrorazione utilizzare l'ugello più grosso e continuare a mescolare il preparato nel bidone senza fermarsi durante l'esecuzione.
These are the recommendations of Ivano
Gioffreda, the best olive grower in Salento, whose results I have directly
experienced on olive trees affected by CoDiRO (Olive Quick Decline Syndrome)
The rebirth
of Salento's olive trees. The serene after the storm
For the
past three years, ‘thanks’ to the dry and torrid summer temperatures, a gradual
improvement has been noticeable among the olive trees in the Salento region,
which were affected by CODIRO (rapid olive tree desiccation complex). After
years of fighting and combating desiccation, even the most sceptical have had
to admit to a vegetative recovery, so much so that, after years of lean years,
the mills in the 2024-25 oil campaign have many hundreds of thousands of
quintals of olives. An excellent figure is that of the Cooperativa Agricola
Olearia Sannicolese, a reality that includes more than 1,500 members from the
municipalities of the Salento Ionian arc, which to date has milled around
19,000 quintals of olives, 40% of which are of the Cellina di Nardò and
Ogliarola Salentina variety.
Unfortunately, the institutions do not accept the reality of the facts and continue undaunted to finance the destruction of our beautiful landscape through uprooting. Despite this, many farmers and olive growers, encouraged by the vegetative recovery of the olive trees, are asking how to intervene to consolidate it.
The first step is correct pruning.
Before pruning, sharpen the cutting tools well and disinfect the blades each time you move from one plant to another.
1) Suckers and suckers take energy away from the plant, so they must be removed, except in cases where they are needed to replace a main or secondary branch.
2) Remove all dry branches, even the smallest ones, (see photo) and leave as much green as possible.
3) Respect the physiology of the plant, and absolutely avoid pruning, always preserving the apical parts of the branches (lymph pulls). Pruning blocks the normal flow of sap.
4) Make cuts with extreme precision, just above the collar line to facilitate the healing of cutting wounds. Do not leave spurs etc, (as in the photo) these become the gateway for all fungal pathogens.
5) After pruning, disinfect (spray) the entire plant, trunks, branches and crown, with self-produced Bordeaux mixture.
How to prepare Bordeaux mixture:
Doses per
100 litres of water: 1 kg slaked lime (lime paste, the kind commonly used in
construction, packaged in plastic bags) and 1 kg copper sulphate pentahydrate.
Dissolve
the two minerals separately and then pour into the container with the water.
Shake well
during use.
It is
advisable to brush cut wounds larger than approx. 5 cm in diameter with
Bordeaux mixture (as thick as necessary).
6) Treatment of trunk and branches with lime putty and 4% iron sulphate.
Fill the
container with 100 litres of water, take some water from the container with 2
separate buckets and separately dissolve 4 kg of iron sulphate in one bucket
and 1 kg of slaked lime in the other bucket.
CAUTION: do
not mix iron sulphate and lime together, otherwise the mixture will coagulate
and no longer be usable.
Once
dissolved, pour everything into the bucket with water using a fine-mesh sieve
and stir continuously.
ATTENTION:
THIS TREATMENT IS ONLY FOR THE WOODY PART OF THE TREE, DO NOT SPRAY DIRECTLY ON
THE CROWN!
Use the coarsest nozzle for spraying and continue to mix the preparation in the drum without stopping while doing so.
The two
minerals act; the lime as a disinfectant, the iron sulphate nourishes and
regenerates the bark.
Treatment
to be carried out in winter.
7) In spring, I recommend spraying the entire plant, trunks, branches and foliage with potassium bicarbonate, at a dose of 700 g per 100 litres of water. To be repeated when climatic conditions of high humidity persist.
Potassium
salt increases the pH of the leaves towards basic and creates a hostile
environment, a barrier to fungal pathogens, causing them to die of dehydration.
In addition, potassium salt increases the plant's natural defences.
8) Soil care and fertilisation. I recommend not ploughing, encourage grassing to increase the biodiversity of wild grasses. Grass, contrary to what we have been led to believe, enriches the soil with micro and macro organisms which, in turn, by feeding on the grass roots, increase the organic substance in the soil. It also increases the porosity of the soil, favouring the infiltration of rainwater into the ground, avoiding water stagnation, which is harmful to olive trees.
TO AVOID:
9) Avoid chemical fertilisation, nitrates, urea, ammonium sulphate etc., damage soil and groundwater, nitrogen promotes the proliferation of fungal pathogens through raw sap.
10) Irrigate only if necessary. Moisture promotes the proliferation of fungal pathogens.
11) Do not plough near the trunk to avoid injuring the roots. Every wound is a gateway for pathogens.
Ivano Gioffreda
info mail: ivanogioffreda@gmail.com
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