Crushing pruning in organic olive grove
A few days ago we did an article about pruning in the olive grove.
Now we want to tell you what we do with all the leftover firewood after pruning.
In this short video you can see a little how we do it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3XsfKpqkig
And all this leftover material has characteristics that make it quite interesting and can be used in different ways, but it needs to be processed.
We, having three properties far from each other, take advantage of this material in two different ways:
- On the 2 furthest farms we shred and add the shredded firewood directly to the ground.
This practice has several advantages. With the contribution of this crushed material we cover and protect the soil while improving its structure. In addition, the microorganisms will act on these plant remains, slowly disintegrating them, helping to form new nutrients and form humus.
This is a way to return important trace elements and nutrients to the soil, thus promoting soil activity.
- On the farm where we have the composter we use all of this crushed to incorporate it (along with the alperujo left over from the extraction of oil, manure and other materials) and make our own compost.
The pruning remains will have different functions within the compost bin:
They will help us maintain the balance between the amount of carbon (these remains provide more carbon) and nitrogen (manure has a high nitrogen content), thus compensating for these essential nutrients that are essential for the composting process to be correct.
They also help to absorb any excess water that may be present, providing volume and sponginess, allowing air to enter for good oxygenation.
Clearly, this well-managed practice provides many benefits to the soil and the farmer, hence its importance.
Normally the most common thing that is seen is how all these remains are burned. But if burning is carried out, the ideal would be to distribute the ashes, which contain all the mineral salts, although no organic matter, over the entire surface of the olive grove and take advantage of at least the mineral part.
We hope you found it interesting!
Health and good food
