Would you like to know which are the most common illnesses which affect olive trees and how they’re treated? Well, pay close attention. Because we’re going to tell  you all the diseases which affect olive trees. For us, at Masía El Altet, it’s absolutely necessary to know all of the diseases which affect olive trees. It’s only in this way that we’ll be able to preempt the illnesses which affect the olive trees.  And if they do appear, fight them effectively. If an olive tree contracts a disease, there are two disastrous consequences:
  • The tree’s productivity decreases
  • The extra virgin olive oil which we produce isn’t of  the high quality which we’re seeking for our consumers
For this reason, we’re constantly watching out for the diseases which affect olive trees and we act accordingly if one of the more than 10,000 trees we have contracts one. That said, would you like to know which are the most common diseases which affect olive trees?  We’re now going to give you a detailed account.  But before that, we’d like to tell you that we’ll explain the name of the disease, give its scientific name and give you a link so that you can see the treatments authorized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. So, let’s get started.

The most common diseases which affect  olive trees

Olive moth

Scientific name: Prays Oleace This lepidopteran   or insect is grey in colour.  It attacks the olive tree in three stages.  First it eats the leaves; after that, it eats the shoots and finally, it feeds on the olive itself. So the number of leaves is reduced  and the shoots and buds are eaten. In the last stage, it destroys the flowers and finally, the fruit. Link to treatment: CLICK HERE

Olive Fly

Scientific name: Bactrocera oleae Another of the diseases which affects  olive trees is olive fly.  This normally occurs during the months of April and May. How does it damage the olive? Well, the fly lays its eggs inside the olive  and as a consequence, it loses all of its commercial value because the fruit is pitted. This fly, or more correctly, its eggs, also make the olive lose weight. Link to treatment: CLICK HERE

Black scale

Scientific name: Saissetia oleae This disease is known as simply black scale  or sooty mould. When does it attack the olive tree? After periods of rain and when there is humidity. It extracts the juice and the sugar from inside the olive and creates a thick substance. This thick substance or  honeydew is  what causes the blackness or  soot which ends up developing   on the  leaf of the olive. Link to treatment for black scale: CLICK HERE Link to treatment for soot: CLICK HERE

Tabby knot-horn

Scientific name: Euzophera pinguis This insect attacks the interior of the olive tree because it feeds off the wood. This occurs in young trees  above all.  It’s necessary to take action when the first holes in the wood are observed. It acts primarily in spring and is to found mainly in the cuts caused in pruning. But also from the damage the tree might suffer after a frost or a hailstorm. Link to treatment: CLICK HERE

Anthracnose

Scientific name: Colletotrichum gloesporoides This is another of the diseases olive trees might suffer and originates in the presence of humidity and during periods of rain. Here, we’re speaking about a fungus which attacks leaves, wood or the olive indiscriminately.  When it’s  found in the leaves, these turn a brown colour,   wilt and finally drop off. Link to treatment: CLICK HERE

Olive leaf spot or peacock spot

Scientific name: Spilocaea oleagina Here, we’re faced with one of the most common diseases  which affect  olive trees. You know that the tree has contracted the disease because on the upper part  of the leaves, you’ll see circular marks ranging from yellow to green in colour.  If olive leaf spot  isn’t controlled, the marks turn black. Link to treatment: CLICK HERE

Olive knot

Scientific name: Pseudomonas savastanoi Olive knot or olive tree scab.  You can find this disease under these two names.  It’s caused by a fungus which develops most naturally in places where it rains a lot and in damp and shady areas.  The bacteria is deposited in the wounds on the tree.  It’s the youngest branches which are most affected.  The bacteria causes a type of tumour which prevents the sap from moving round the tree properly.  The consequence of this is that on branches where olive knot is to found, productivity is zero. Link to treatment: CLICK HERE These are the most common diseases which affect olive trees and also the most serious.  They can affect the wood, the leaf or the fruit itself.

Keeping an eye on the diseases which affect olive trees to maintain quality

What is clear is that if a tree is infected, its production diminshes and the quality of the olive also decreases. If the quality of the olive goes down, it goes without saying that the quality we want for our clients also goes down. For this reason, it is so important to be very vigilant. Knowing the diseases which affect olive trees and being one step ahead is the best way of acting to be able to achieve a product, high quality extra virgin olive oil,  awarded prizes in hundreds of international competitions. As you’ve seen, in this post, we’ve told you briefly about what the disease is and we’ve offered you a link to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries web page where you can see the treatments. Did you know that these diseases existed? Have we omitted any other serious ones? Give us your opinion in the comments section. Do you like what we’ve told you? Did you find it useful? If that’s the case, we’d love you to share this post with the people you know on your social networks. We’d be so happy if you did. Source: Agromatica