# Cutting down olive trees



## Poloss (Feb 2, 2017)

In early August we visited a couple of farms for sale in the Alpajurras. 
Olives, almond, fig and citrus trees. Mostly olive trees - too many of them.
Dilemma. 
We live at the extreme northern limit of the olive tree culture in France, so it's a kind of sacred symbol of our attachment to the mediterranean climate. 
Abandoned olive groves haunt the prickly hillsides, witness to the rural exodus and the terrible winter of 1956 which killed off millions of olive trees. 
The absolute must for a rich newcomer is to install one or more of those bonsai style olive trees with trunks like dripped candlewax in front of their proud stone villa.

So I have a soft spot for olive trees - a fetish?
So how could I bring myself to gun up my chainsaw, cut half of them down, dig up the roots and plant other stuff? 
Freshly cut olive wood does smell good though...

A couple of days later we were staying with friends in the Sierra de Segura, cutting lavender to distill essential oil. 
My friend said that he'd have absolutely no scrupules about cutting them all down. 
Every year he does the olive harvest, trying to work at least the 35 days necessary to get unemployment pay. 
He hates the olive monoculture in his region - an endless, monotonous desert where every trace of the former forests has gone, except the steepest, rockiest slopes and crests.
Too many of them, cut 'em all down!

In oven-hot Baeza, I sat down on the bench next to the statue of the poet Antonio Machado. 
What would the great man think of me hacking down olive groves to plant plums, pistachio or avocado?
I walked back to the van in the heat, feeling like Frodo on mount Doom. 
Something moving way down below like waves caught my eye; turning around to check I registered that very "ocean of olive trees" billowing in the wind.

That was a nudge and a wink from Machado.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

Well are they old trees?

As you say people tend to buy these things, they could be worth a bit of money. Be a bit of a job though trying to keep them in tact. 
That said it does make great firewood too.

I know if I knew someone cutting them down I would hit them up for a bunch of gnarly root cuttings.


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## snikpoh (Nov 19, 2007)

I thought they were protected? Perhaps it depends on the area?


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## BobfromFrance (Aug 21, 2017)

They are only protected if they are 1000s of years old.

Olives are hard work for very little money - I would cut them down and replant them with fruit or nut trees if you have a water source or are willing to pay for the water needed to keep them alive.

Anyway, the bacteria (tree ebola) now spreading thru Spain will kill them anyway or the local government will make you cut them down.


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## Megsmum (Sep 9, 2012)

BobfromFrance said:


> They are only protected if they are 1000s of years old.
> 
> Olives are hard work for very little money - I would cut them down and replant them with fruit or nut trees if you have a water source or are willing to pay for the water needed to keep them alive.
> 
> Anyway, the bacteria (tree ebola) now spreading thru Spain will kill them anyway or the local government will make you cut them down.



Jeez your a ray of sunshine

Olives are hard work.... for little money depends very much on your concept of "little money". Our friends here rely very much on the 2-3k euros per year from their olive harvest as they do for their fig and Uvas


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## The Skipper (Nov 26, 2014)

Megsmum said:


> Jeez your a ray of sunshine
> 
> Olives are hard work.... for little money depends very much on your concept of "little money". Our friends here rely very much on the 2-3k euros per year from their olive harvest as they do for their fig and Uvas


I have 200 olive trees that are looked after by a Spanish neighbour who has 500 of his own and is responsible for another 900 belonging to three other neighbours. Last year, a bad one, he said he grossed only €32,000 from the harvest compared to €40,000 the year before. This year is looking like one of the best, he says, providing we don´t get any weather problems, like a hailstorm. He and his wife work seven days a week from the beginning of November until the end of the year collecting the olives. At other times of the year he is keeping the land free from weeds, pruning and spraying. Yes, it is hard work - and I certainly wouldn´t want to do it! - but it seems to give them a reasonable standard of living and they genuinely seem to enjoy working the land.


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## Poloss (Feb 2, 2017)

Good advice. Helps me along with my thinking!

If I ever bought the place I'd cut them down. There's water enough for other stuff and harvesting olives is long, hard work even though the money can be good in the end. 
I worked years as an farm worker in Greece in my twenties and the olive season was always very, very long....

With all the neighbouring olive plantations there'd be too much risk of getting contaminated by olive fly or woolly aphids etc if I didn't spray poison like everyone usually does unfortunately.

Buying a place then cutting down all the trees doesn't make sense anyway; better to find something already fitted out the way I prefer in the first place!

BobfromFrance, do you have sources documenting the advance of olive ebola through Spain?


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## Isobella (Oct 16, 2014)

My post seems to gave disappeared, maybe they didn't like the link. I said I thought all these vast sums were Estate agents myth. If you do a search you will find many who finished up with a few litres of oil.
If they are all that profitable why are they selling for a pittance?

Ps. Just seen the explanation.


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## BobfromFrance (Aug 21, 2017)

Poloss said:


> BobfromFrance, do you have sources documenting the advance of olive ebola through Spain?


Got it from the department of agriculture's website in Spain, in Spanish.

It was found on the Balearic Islands in February and has reached the mainland.


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## baldilocks (Mar 7, 2010)

This village is considered to be really quite wealthy and most of that wealth is built on olives. Some comes from other agricultural sources such as cherries (we export one variety to Ferrero in Italy for the Cheri chocolates,) almonds, peaches, nectarines, figs, quinces, apples, walnuts, nisperos, melons, kiwis, kaquis, pomegranates, etc.

We are surrounded by millions of olive trees - our province is the world's largest producer of olives and extra-virgin olive oil (that is real extra-virgin not just labelled as such) so we get rather bored with them but they are evergreen so, although drag, we do get to see green all year, however we do take our annual holiday over Christmas and New Year in the Natural park of the Sierras of Cazorla, Segura and las Villas where almost every tree is a conifer (mostly pines)

The olive bug is currently still to the east of us having recently arrived from the Balearic islands so we are hopeful that it will be a few years before it gets this far. We run our log-burner on olive wood which is the old wood and thinnings that has to be burned to prevent the spread of pests and diseased wood.


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## Poloss (Feb 2, 2017)

BobfromFrance said:


> Got it from the department of agriculture's website in Spain, in Spanish.
> 
> It was found on the Balearic Islands in February and has reached the mainland.


Xylella also affects almond trees, citrus, vines, oaks, elms - a disaster for many hard working people who were just on the up after the 2008 crisis.

https://www.elconfidencial.com/tecn...a-olivo-almendros-alicante-guadalest_1409774/

https://www.asajajaen.com/tag/xylella


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