I took part in an olive picking yesterday. It was the first time I had really looked up close at these wonderful fruits on the tree - the sheer variety of colour and shape, the feel of them, the abundance, the combination of textures between fruit and leaf. Divine!
This was a young olive grove with heavy "life support" - almost constant irrigation and fertilizing from March to October, and regular chemical treatments to get rid of pests. BUT - I know that this is not necessarily needed; I have seen people here with trees in poor soils that receive no water and no feeding, beyond an occasional manuring, and these trees still produce very decent fruit.
Our trees suffer with the fly and the moth caterpillar and goodness knows what else, so we don't see much of a harvest at all. My question is: how can one treat these plagues organically? Is it possible? Will I really need to do a chemical blast first? If anyone could recommend a good book on the subject I would be most grateful, have not had much luck looking online. I am sure people must be farming organically but the message I have been getting back from agronomists and the internet so far is, CHEMICALS CHEMICALS CHEMICALS!