C
Chip00
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Does anybody know where one can get a kalamata tree in the DR? I tried to grow one using some pits but to no avail. I think the climate should be ok.
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Kalamata Tree in the DR
You mean olives yes? Did a considerable amount of research into this at one stage. Yes, the trees grow, with lovely shiny leaves, and they look healthy, but they do not bear at all. The winter is not cold enough for the trees to go into a hybernation stage. Strangely, it is not the heat, but the cold that is the problem. I know of a friend with two trees growing nicely, but have no idea where one could buy some.
You mean olives yes? Did a considerable amount of research into this at one stage. Yes, the trees grow, with lovely shiny leaves, and they look healthy, but they do not bear at all. The winter is not cold enough for the trees to go into a hybernation stage. Strangely, it is not the heat, but the cold that is the problem. I know of a friend with two trees growing nicely, but have no idea where one could buy some.
I asked the same question, and was told by an expert that the problem is not the temperature, but the seasonal dark-light cycle. I wonder if anyone has tried creating an artificial environment with artificial illumination within a green house? By the way, the olive trees grow wild in many places in the DR, including the Southwest...
I asked the same question, and was told by an expert that the problem is not the temperature, but the seasonal dark-light cycle. I wonder if anyone has tried creating an artificial environment with artificial illumination within a green house? By the way, the olive trees grow wild in many places in the DR, including the Southwest...
Yes, they grow indeed. But they do not fruit. I cannot remember exactly the reasons but where I come from, an olive industry was successfully started some 15 or so years ago. So, I spoke to some of the folks that became expert there, having brought the industry in to the country, from Israel. We definitely need about 10 degrees cooler in winter, than what we are getting. Obviously it would be great to do an experiment somewhere in the mountains. But the Dominican farmers that we had dealings with at the time were too funny. They said: "What? 5 or so years before the first harvest! We'll rather grow bananas .." :laugh:
At the time when I did this research, I gave specific temperatures to the people that were giving me advice. Dark/Light never came up as an issue as where I come from, we have as much hours of sunlight as in the DR. But temperature was certainly an issue. I do not know the mountainsides in the DR very well but would have loved to work with someone in a more temperate climate mountainside ... to grow a few experimental trees. There are varieties that fruit now within 3 years, but obviously the first harvests are poor and basically non-usable.
Good olives is probably the one thing I miss most in the DR. The 'out-on-the-fringe' environmentalists call the growing of olives/goats/cheese combination poverty ecology. The prevailing wisdom is that the soil has been impoverished to the extent that it can only support olives and goats. Funny, it is indeed some of my favorite foods .. besides avocados, which is probably number 1.
Yes, they grow indeed. But they do not fruit. I cannot remember exactly the reasons but where I come from, an olive industry was successfully started some 15 or so years ago. So, I spoke to some of the folks that became expert there, having brought the industry in to the country, from Israel. We definitely need about 10 degrees cooler in winter, than what we are getting. Obviously it would be great to do an experiment somewhere in the mountains. But the Dominican farmers that we had dealings with at the time were too funny. They said: "What? 5 or so years before the first harvest! We'll rather grow bananas .." :laugh:
At the time when I did this research, I gave specific temperatures to the people that were giving me advice. Dark/Light never came up as an issue as where I come from, we have as much hours of sunlight as in the DR. But temperature was certainly an issue. I do not know the mountainsides in the DR very well but would have loved to work with someone in a more temperate climate mountainside ... to grow a few experimental trees. There are varieties that fruit now within 3 years, but obviously the first harvests are poor and basically non-usable.
Good olives is probably the one thing I miss most in the DR. The 'out-on-the-fringe' environmentalists call the growing of olives/goats/cheese combination poverty ecology. The prevailing wisdom is that the soil has been impoverished to the extent that it can only support olives and goats. Funny, it is indeed some of my favorite foods .. besides avocados, which is probably number 1.
Did you check in the region of Contanza. This is one of the few places in Dominican Republic where the temperature has been registered under 0 in some mountain.
Did you check in the region of Contanza. This is one of the few places in Dominican Republic where the temperature has been registered under 0 in some mountain.
No, I did not. Not because I did not want to, but because there is a limit to what one can do, just 'cause you want to :classic: The olive trees had to take a back seat to other stuff.
We too have a friend who has successfully grown olive trees (brought frtom Italy) near San Cristobal. He (being Italian and having much experience in olives) also told us that while the trees grow beautifully they will not fruit because the temperature does not stay cool enough, long enough to trigger the period of dormancy the tree needs to fruit.
He thought Constanza might be a suitable area but doubted even there the temps would remain cool enough and long enough for the trees to bear fruit.
Also Kalamata 'pits' would not sprout and grow because those olives are 'preserved' so the endosperm is dead and not viable. Only 'fresh' olives that have not been salted/brined/processed can be used as seed.
He thought Constanza might be a suitable area but doubted even there the temps would remain cool enough and long enough for the trees to bear fruit.
Also Kalamata 'pits' would not sprout and grow because those olives are 'preserved' so the endosperm is dead and not viable. Only 'fresh' olives that have not been salted/brined/processed can be used as seed.