One Thousand Questions in California Agriculture Answered Part 16

The fungus of which you have heard is the "black s.m.u.t." It is a result, not a cause. It grows on the honey dew exuded from scale insects and if your trees have no scale they have no fungus. The olive trees and pepper trees may communicate this trouble to citrus trees, or vice versa - whichever gets it first gives it away to the other. If you will work hard enough to kill the scale wherever it appears you can have all these trees, but, of course, it costs a lot to fight scale on big pepper trees, and it is, therefore, wisest usually to choose an ornamental tree not likely to accept the scale.

Budding Olive Seedlings.

I have planted olive seeds which are just sprouting now. Can these be budded next June or July in the nursery row, or can they be bench-grafted the following winter?

Your seedlings may make growth enough to spur-bud this summer. The ordinary plate-bud does not take freely with the olive. Some of them may do this; other seedlings may be slow and have to be budded in the second summer. Watch the size and the sap flow so that the bark will lift well - which may not be at just the time that deciduous trees are budded. It may be both earlier or later in the season. Graft evergreens like the olive in the nursery row; not by bench grafting.

Budding Old Olives.

I have seedling olive trees, set out in 1904, which I wish to change over to the Ascolano variety. Which is the best way to do it, by budding or grafting, and what is the proper time?

Twig-budding brings the sap of the stock to bear upon a young lateral or tip bud, which is much easier to start than dormant buds used either as buds or grafts. A short twig about an inch and a half in length is taken with some of the bark of the small branch from which it starts, and both twig and bark at its base are put in a bark slit like an ordinary shield bud and tied closely with a waxed band, although if the sap is moving freely it would probably do with a string or raffia tie. Put in such buds as growth is starting in the spring.

Olives from Small Cuttings.

In the rooting of small soft-wood olive cuttings is it necessary to cover same with gla.s.s - say perhaps prepare a cold-frame and put stable manure in the bottom with about eight inches of sand on top?

It ceases to be a cold-frame when you cover in manure for bottom heat; it becomes a hotbed. Varieties of olives differ greatly in the readiness with which they start from small cuttings. Some start freely and grow well in boxes of sand under partial shade - like a lath house or cover.

Some need bottom heat in such a hotbed as you describe with a cloth over; some start well in a cold-frame with a lath cover. To get the best results with all kinds, it is safer to use some more heat than comes from exposure to ordinary temperatures - either by concentration, as in a covered frame, or by a mild bottom heat. If you have gla.s.s frames or greenhouse, they are, of course, desirable, but much can be done without that expense.

Olives from Large Cuttings.

I am about to take olive cuttings from one-half to one inch thick and 54 to 20 inches long, and wish to root them in nursery rows. Please advise me if it is necessary to plant under half shade? Also, can same be planted out right away, or should they be buried in trenches for a while before setting out? Would it be best to strip all leaves or branches off, or leave one on? How many buds should be left above ground?

Plant in open ground in the coast district generally; in the interior a lath (or litter shade not too dense) is desirable in places where high dry heat is expected and where sprinkling under the cover may be desirable. Plant out when the soil is right as to warmth and moisture, which is usually a little later than this in the central and northern parts of the State. Remove all leaves and twigs and plant about three-quarters of the length in the soil, which should be a well-drained sandy loam. The cuttings can be taken directly from the trees and need not be bedded. If the cuttings come some distance and get end-dried, make a fresh cut at planting. If shriveled at all, soak a few hours in water before planting out.

Tr.i.m.m.i.n.g Up Olives.

Limbs are shooting out too low on my olive trees. Would it be right to trim them up while dormant this winter, or should I let them grow another year before doing so? I think I want the first limbs to start at 18 to 20 inches above the ground.

Take off the lower shoots whenever your knife is sharp. Do not let them grow another year. Theoretically, the best time to remove them is toward the end of the dormant season, but if they are not large as compared with the whole growth of the tree, go to it any time.

Canning Olives.

What is the recipe for preserving olives by heat, and how long do they have to remain in the heated state?

Canning olives is a process, not a recipe, and it has to be operated with judgment. It resembles, of course, the common process of canning other fruits and vegetables. It has been demonstrated that heating up to 175 Fahrenheit is effective to keep olives in sealed containers for over two years. The heating was done in the jars in the usual canning way for several minutes after 175 was reached, to be sure the contents were heated through.

Renewing Olive Trees.

I have olive trees on first-cla.s.s land; no pest of any kind is apparent.

The trees look healthy in every way, and average about 12 inches at the b.u.t.t and 30 feet high. They have borne fruit, but for the last three years have not borne. I am advised to cut back to stumps, 5 or 6 feet high, and start new tops.

Unsatisfactory olive trees may be cut back, but not to such an extent as you mention. Thin out the branches if too thick and cut back or remove those which interfere, but to cut back to a stump would force out a very thick ma.s.s of brush which you would have to afterward go into and thin out desperately. The branches which you decide to retain may be cut back to twelve or fifteen feet from the ground. This would have the effect of giving you plenty of new thrifty wood, which is desirable for the fruiting of the olive, but we cannot guarantee that this treatment will make the trees satisfactory bearers. Are you sure they are receiving water enough? If not, give them more next summer. Also give the land a good coat of stable manure and plow under when the land is right for the plow.

Growing Olives from Seed.

How are seedlings grown from olive seeds?

Growing olives from seeds is promoted by a.s.sisting nature to break the hard sh.e.l.l. This can be done by pinching carefully with ordinary wire pliers until the sh.e.l.l cracks without injury to the kernel, or the sh.e.l.l may be cut into with a file, making a very small aperture to admit moisture. The French have specially contrived pliers with a stop which admits cracking and prevents crushing. Olive seeds in their natural condition germinate slowly and irregularly. They must be kept moist and planted about an inch deep in sandy loam, covering with chaff or litter to prevent drying of the surface. Before experimenting with olive pits, crack a few to see if they have good plump kernels. Seedling olives must be grafted, of course, to be sure of getting the variety you want. For this reason growth from cuttings is almost universal.

Neglected Olive Trees.

I have a lot of olive trees which have grown up around the old stumps.

They are large trees and some of them have six or eight trunks. Should I cut away all but one trunk or let them alone? There are some of the trees with small olives; others none.

If the olive trees which were originally planted were trained at first and still have a good trunk and tree form, the suckers which have intruded from below should be removed. If, however, the trees have been allowed to grow many branches from below, so that there is really no single tree remaining, make a selection of four or five of the best shoots and grow the trees in large bush form, shortening in the higher growth so as to bring the fruit within easier reach and reduce the cost of picking. You can also develop a single shoot into a tree as you suggest. Of course, you must determine whether the trees as they now stand are of a variety which is worth growing. If they are all bearing very small fruit, it would be a question whether they were worth keeping at all, because grafting on the kind of growth which you describe would be unlikely to yield satisfactory tree forms, though you might get a good deal of fruit from them.

Olives from Cuttings.