Olive tree diseases

The olive tree

The olive tree is a fruit plant that originates in the Near East that is usually used for food, for the preparation of oil or for direct use, but also as an ornamental plant due to the particular shape of the trunk and for the beauty of her hair. For direct use in feeding the olives must follow a deamarification process to reduce the polyphenol content. The olive tree is a very long-lived plant that reaches full maturity around 50 years, even if fruiting begins around the 4th year and full productive activity around 10 years. The roots of the olive tree are mostly superficial, in fact they never reach depths greater than 100 cm. The stem has a cylindrical shape with a gray bark. It is an evergreen plant,

Diseases of the olive tree

In order to thrive for a long time, the olive tree needs care because it can be affected by various diseases, caused by fungi and bacteria, or by parasites. The diseases that could cause damage to the olive tree are peacock or cyclonium eye, Gleosporium olivarum or olive leprosy and olive tree mange. The main parasites that could infest the plant are the olive fly, the half peppercorn cochineal and the cottony cochineal, the olive thrips, the moth and the green margaronia moth. eggs inside the olives, once the larvae grow they rot the fruit and dry it.The peacock eye is a fungus that has brown spots, lighter in the center, which affects the leaves causing them to fall prematurely.

Pathologies of the olive tree

Smoke is a disease that affects plants, this disease is caused by the development of saprophytic fungi that cover the leaves and younger branches with black-sooty deposits, thus causing damage to the leaf cover and flowering. pathology that can affect the olive tree is mange. It is a pathology of bacterial origin that manages to produce cancerous formations on the branches that have been injured due to hail or beating (the operation performed to make the fruits fall from the branches). The leprosy of the olive tree occurs in the winter period at the beginning of the rainy period. This disease affects the fruits forming foreign spots with chalky pustules, or the twigs and leaves with the formation of yellow spots that cause the leaves to fall.

Olive tree diseases: Parasites of the olive tree

The olive tree is also affected by pests such as the olive fly. The larva feeds on the fruits by digging inside, damaging them and causing them to rot, it is the main vehicle of mange.Another harmful parasite is the thrips, a very widespread species in the Mediterranean. The damage is caused on the shoots, on the leaves, on the fruits and on the flowers due to the bites for the nourishment of the insect, which cause wounds in which the pathogens penetrate. defoliation, drying of the branches and little fruiting, directly affecting the branches and the lower part of the leaves.The moth is an insect that attacks the leaves, flowers and fruits depending on the stage of development in which it is found: larva, chrysalis or butterfly .