Report From The Field - 5/24/05 Coke Ranch Corning Ca.

Here are a few pictures from the Coke Ranch in Corning, Ca. In general, this ranch is a bit behind some of the other ranches in terms of its bloom progress. All in all, the bloom looks consistently decent throughout the ranch. Some trees are especially heavy. Here is a picture of one of the younger trees at the ranch with nice, even bloom coverage.

Here is a close-up of some olive blossoms. These are a week or more behind the Mission olive blossoms pictured in the previous post.


Here are some general numbers that are thrown about regarding olive germination. The average number of blossoms per mature tree is taken to be around 500,000, 1% germination is considered to be a respectable rate. This means that there would be approximately 5000 olives per tree.

Since olives are largely self-pollinated, weather is especially crucial. We want the wether to be reasonable still, perhaps lightly breezy. The temperature should be below 90 degrees fahrenheit and there should be enough moisture in the orchard to keep the blossoms moist. Strong, hot winds can be cataclysmic since they dry the blossoms out very quickly and decrease the possible number of viable blossoms.

Please feel free to post your qusetions if you have any. I will add more information as the olives develop.

Sincerely - Brian - The Classicist - Sales and Marketing Manager