31/08/2026
We grafted 10% of our olive trees over from Manzanillo to Frantoio today.
Always looking for ways to improve our olive oil, and Frantoio has a very good reputation. The trees we cut are 20 years old. This little section of our grove has been quite disappointing for the last few seasons — big trees, not a good yield of fruit. Manzanillo is also challenging to harvest, and the oil yield could be better.
The scion wood came from an ultra-healthy, vigorous Frantoio in a local biodynamic garden. One-year-old growth, which gives the grafts a good chance of taking. Four pieces of budwood per tree — those will become the new fruiting branches.
I cut the trees on Saturday, collected the budwood yesterday, and all were grafted by lunchtime today, thanks to the skills of Macca and Silva. Taped, sealed, wrapped against the weather, with paper bags for a bit of extra cover.
If they take, we’ll see shoots as it warms up. A couple of years before they’re back in production.
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