Feeding my olive trees with natural nutrients

I use the manure of my farm animals as a natural fertilizer for my olive trees.

With a special electric machine, I crush the manure so it becomes a thick powder.

Crushing manure

Crushing manure

Using a spade, I then put it into sacks which I take to my olive groves with my tractor.

Collecting the sacks of manure in the tractor

Loading the manure into my tractor

Then I unload the sacks and place the content of one full sack underneath each olive tree.

I normally carry out this job in November and just place the manure close to the trees, leaving it to nature to do the rest, with the rain allowing for the manure to penetrate the soil. This year however, I waited until spring because we had insufficient rain in November. I combined this input of organic nutrients with the irrigation of my olive trees, which I always carry out in spring. I therefore positioned the manure at the exact spots that get irrigated when I open the water vans.

Distributing the manure bags to each of my olive trees

Olive trees ready to be watered after the organic manure has been placed

Manure at the foot of every olive tree of my olive groves

This year, I gathered 600 sacks of manure! This was just enough to feed each of my olive trees, as well as each of my vines, as my grapes also greatly benefit from these organic nutrients. I had so much work that I had to recruit for help in order to complete the task in a timely manner!

Feeding my vines with the organic manure from my farm

Pouring the crushed manure into my vines

The manure of my farm animals (sheep, goats, horses, cows, chickens, geese, pigeons and rabbits) is an excellent fertilizer, naturally rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

These minerals, especially when used in the form of natural, organic manure, optimize the growth of the trees and improve the soil structure and soil aeration. They also improve water penetration and help the soil retain moisture.